One thing associated with Christmas time since the 20th Century is finding an electric model train chugging around the Christmas tree on December 25, complete with railroad crossing signals, crossing gates and other layouts. These things became possible after railroads became a major means of transportation during the 19th Century, including the three main railroads that reached Leelanau County during the same time.
First known as the Empire Lumber Co. RR, the Empire & Southeastern Railroad was used as a logging line, but also was used as a passenger train as well. Beginning at Pearl Lake in northern Benzie County, it ran to Empire, with stops in between at East Empire, High Top (Main Top), which became a watering stop for the train, and Jacktown. If passengers from Empire wanted to travel to Traverse City, they would change cars at East Empire, then again at Platte River Junction (Benzie Co.), proceeding via Solon and Hatches Crossing. The Empire Lumber Co. harvested most of the trees by 1915, and its sawmill caught fire in 1916. The E. & SE. RR continued to carry passengers until 1920.
The Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad arrived up North in November 1872. When the first train pulled into Traverse City, people really felt they were no longer isolated, the only other modes of transportation until then being lake shipping, Indian trails, and stagecoach lines. Carrying passengers and freight, it reached its peak in the early 1900's, but when freight orders declined, the G.R. & I. RR built the Traverse City, Leelanau & Manistique Railroad in 1903, from Traverse City to Northport, with depots at Greilickville, Hatches Crossing, Bingham, Keswick, Suttons Bay, and Omena. At Northport, a railroad car ferry operated from Northport to Manistique, hoping to recuperate lost revenues, but the ferries went out of business in 1908. Passenger service continued on the line to Northport, and during the 1930's and 1940's, a steam locomotive ran on the line that was known affectionately as "Maud," a name given to it by Will Solle of Solle's Bookshop in Omena. Passenger service stopped in 1948, but continued to carry freight. The railroad tracks from Suttons Bay to Northport were abandoned in the 1960's, and from Traverse City to Suttons Bay in 1979. The tracks saw a revival in the late 1980's when some railroad buffs ran a tourist train from Traverse City to Suttons Bay, calling it The Leelanau Scenic Railroad. That train stopped in the mid 1990's, and the tracks were removed to build the Leelanau County Trail in its place.
The Manistee & Northeastern Railroad was the third major line to serve Leelanau County. Reaching Traverse City and Leelanau County in June 1892, it ran from Traverse City to Cedar, with stops in Hatches Crossing, Carp Lake (Fouch), and Solon. In 1903, the line was extended to Provemont (now Lake Leelanau), via depots in Bodus, Schomberg, and Elton. As with other railroads, the M. & NE. RR did a thriving business in logging and passengers. Passenger service reached its peak in 1915, and when the timber ran out, it was hoped that farm produce would take up the slack, but in some places, the soil that once contained trees was depleted after 2 or 3 farm crop seasons, causing depletion of farm freight. In 1932, the Pere Marquette Railroad took over the M. & NE. RR, but abandoned the line from Kaleva (Manistee County) to Solon in 1934. The Provemont branch continued to operate, but with automobiles and commercial vehicles so commonplace, that line was abandoned in April 1944.
In addition to the mainline railroads, there were logging railroads that operated by lumber companies, and Leelanau County had three notable ones. Two of them were in the Glen Lake region, the first one being operated by D.H. Day. The track was built in a loop from the northwest tip of Glen Lake to Glen Haven, the location of Day's loading dock. The Glen Arbor Lumber Co. ran a logging railroad from Glen Lake to its loading dock in Glen Arbor. The third logging railroad was located on North Manitou Island. In 1908, a tract of hardwood timber was purchased by W. Cary Hull (son of Henry Hull, founder of Traverse City's Oval Wood Dish Co.) and Frank Smith, forming the Smith & Hull Lumber Co. They built a sawmill at Cresent, the island's village on its west side, and 5 miles of logging railroad, the Manitou Limited, using a second-hand Shay Locomotive for hauling the cars loaded with logs. In Autumn 1909, 3 more miles of track were built, and a new "sidewinder" train engine was transported to the island. The railroad and its mill ran until 1917 when the timber ran out. During that time, Cresent grew from a handful of people to a population of about 300.
In closing, it is interesting to note that Leelanau County, being so rural, never had any railroad crossing signals or crossing gates at any of its crossings, these being relegated to model trains circling around the bottom of Christmas Trees in some of the homes in the county on the morning of December 25.
~Thomas Baird
Locomotive photo by freefotouk on
Flickr, used under
Creative Commons license