Time Line - 1906

Last Year | Next Year

• January 1: The Copper Range Railroad adds several additional trains between Houghton and Calumet since navigation has been closed.  A train leaves Calumet for Houghton at 7:00 p.m. and returns at 11:15 p.m. giving Calumet residents a chance to witness all hockey games at Portage Lake.  The fare is five cents, the same as the Street Railway. [CCEN]

• January 1: Manistee & Grand Rapids opens line from Peacock to Marion via Luther. [MRRC]

• January 2: The President of the First National Bank at Calumet announces a new railroad, known as the Keweenaw Central is opening up the country to the north and that prospects are good for the area to contain 10,000 to 15,000 more people in the next two years. [CCEN]

• January: Grand Rapids Terminal Railroad completes 2+ mile line in Grand Rapids (became Grand Trunk). [MRRC]

• March. The DSS&A begins using an electric train staff system between Eagle Mills and Negaunee. No trains can proceed in either direction without having obtained from the operator at the block house a train staff, giving them absolute right-of-way between the two stations. [DFP-0301]

• April 8: For the first time in twelve months, it was possible yesterday to cross Portage Lake in Houghton via the county bridge, traffic having been suspended for a year as a result of the destruction of the drawbridge by a lake steamer. [CCEN]

• Winter: An ice famine in the central United States, produces substantial business for the Detroit & Mackinac Ry.  During cutting season, four  solid trains of ice moved south daily. [GW]

• May 5: The first train operates on the Kalamazoo, Lake Shore & Chicago, which uses the former Michigan Central line between Kalamazoo and Lawton.  This line had been sold to the LKS&C after the opening of Michigan Central's "Miller Cut-Off" (the present Amtrak line). [MT]

• June 23  A Copper Range passenger train stuck a cow and killed it, between Calumet and Lake Linden.  Though cows are occasionally struck by trains, this is the first time that the cow was tossed into the air and landed on the coach next to te locomotive. [CCEN]

• July 16: Te Copper Range Railroad institues the "Freda Flyer", a new train operating on Sunday's between Calumet and the railroad's park at Freda, southwest of Houghton. [CCEN]

• July 24: The Calumet & Hecla Mining company announces its intention to change the Hecla and Torch Lake Railroad from narrow gauge to standard gauge in the near future. [CCEN]

• October: The Detroit River Tunnel Co. commences work on a railroad tunnel from Detroit to Windsor. [MDOT]

• December: The LS&MS, in cooperation with the Michigan Central, resumes through passenger trains between Detroit and Hillsdale. These had been reduced when the DH&SW came under LS&MS control in 1881. [MRC-7/1973]

• December: The Fedeeral government begins a group of suits to recover penalties for violations of the Safety Appliance Law. Among the roads sued are AARR, CNW CMStP&P, CH&D, D&TSL, DSS&A, LS&MS, PM and Wabash. [RG-1906-1207:155]

• December 17: A strike of the section hands of the Mineral Range Railroad came to an en this morning. "Officials met the men's demands for $1.75 per day instead of $1.50 that they had been paid previous to the trouble". [CCEN]

• December 27: The Michigan Central purchases the Chicago, Kalamazoo and Saginaw (CK&S). [MT]

  ---

• Consumers Power builds private industrial road 5 miles, from Erwin to Croton Dam in Newaygo Co. [MRRC]

• Erie & Michigan Railway & Navigation Co. opens line from Alabaster to Alabaster Jct. (near Tawas City). [MRRC]

• Traverse City, Leelanau and Manistique completes line from Hatchs to Northport in the Leelanau Peninsula. [MRRC]

• The Kalamazoo, Lake Shore and Chicago interurban line builts tracks from Kalamazoo through Lawton to Paw Paw. The railroad used the old Michigan Central right-of-way (from Kalamazoo to Mattawan) for part of its route. (The MCRR had recently relocated to a new right of way between these towns. The road was operated as a steam road. [AAD]

• The Detroit Terminal Railroad builds from the Detroit River, in a northwesterly direction to a crossing of the GTW Mt. Clemens Subdivision near Mt. Elliott. The line then continues to be built past MCRR's North Yard to Davison and Mound Roads. A yard, engine house and general office is constructed on land west of Mound Road. Over the next five years, tracks are laid to 1/2 mile west of Grand River Avenue. [EMR4]

• The Keewenaw Central standard gauge line is built from Calumet northeast to Manden and Lac LaBelle, serving mines at Mandan and Phoenix. [MOD-6/1985]

• The COPR extends from Calumet on the north via Lake Linden and Hancock, to Houghton Mill Mine Jct. to Mass. They also had branch lines from Mill Mine Jct. southeast to Painesdale, and from Mill Mine Jct. to Freda Park.  Branch lines also existed from Greenland Jct. to Greenland and the Adventure Mine, from Calumet Jct. to Laurium, from Calumet Jct. to Centennial Mine, from Redridge Jct. to Redridge, from Edgemere Jct. to the Adventure Stamp Mill and from the Painsdale Branch to Baltic, Trimountain Mine and the Champion Copper Mine. [CRH]

• Houghton-Hancock bridge is rebuilt and placed back into service with center pilot house. [SSJB]

• NOTE: As of July, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern continue to use "left hand" operation of double track. [LS]

• The Steel Trusts begin to purchase huge tracts of land with limestone deposits for future development. [GW]

• It was reported that signal crews from the LS&MS were preparing their Air Line track to change from "left hand" to "right hand" operation. [LS]

• Pere Marquette operates 2,393.09 miles of track at its peak this year. [COHS-8/1997]

• Kalamazoo, Lake Shore & Chicago (Fruit Belt) leased discontinued line from MCRR between Kalamazoo and Mattawan, and the PM-owned South Haven and Southeastern. [IT-12/79]

• Henry Ford acquires a 60-acre site in Highland Park for a new factory. It is completed in 1914 and includes a moving assembly line. [BOM]

• The Pere Marquette RR began Detroit-Windsor car ferry operations.  [MDOT]

• Michigan United Railways builds Kalamazoo's first interurban depot. [IT-12/79]

• Michigan Central opens new (current) depot in Wolverine in Cheboygan County  [MHM]

• Pere Marquette builds a new single track, steel swing span bridge over the St. Joseph River in St. Joseph. [PM45]

• Grand Trunk builds depot at Saranac.  Depot continues to exist into 1974. [IT-12/1974]

• Pere Marquette RR abandons line from Rodney to Chippewa Lake, 6 miles. [PMHS/COHS-8/1997]

• Congress passes the Hepburn ct which abolishes the practice of granting passes. It also empowers the ICC to establish "just and reasonable railroad rates". [STOV]

• All-steel paassenger cars are placed in regular passenger service. [STOV]

• The upper quadrant semaphore signal is introduced by the Pennsylvania Railroad. [SAM]

• The Pacific Fruit Express is organized to ship perishables from California to the eastern markets. [SAM]

• The "model town" of Gwinn is established in Marquette County by the Clebveland-Cliffs Iron Company. [IOHT]

  ---

 Time line Key:

• Railroad event in Michigan
• Event relating to mining
• Event related to car ferries
• Event outside of Michigan
• Improvement in Technology
• Railroad built or extended
• Railroad abandoned and/or removed
• Economic panic or depression