Location: Calumet, MI - C&H railroad bridge over DSS&A

This bridge carried the Calumet & Hecla railroad (owned by the copper mining company) over the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic (Mineral Range) main line. After a fire in the C&H mines, the company built a spur to a new shaft (the Red Jacket shaft) which could be used to reach the ore body.

The C&H line went to the Red Jacket mine shaft. The DSS&A line underneath went from Hancock to Calumet, with the depot visble through the bridge opening.

Photo Info: Top, a view of the overpass with a DSS&A water tower in the foreground. [Mark Worrall collection]. 2nd photo, a closer view showing the DSS&A depot in the background. 

Notes

The bridge, today without rail on either level, continues to exist at a location north of the intersection of Spruce and Osceola roads in Calumet. 

47.242763, -88.459503

Notes

Comments from WayMarking.com: This abandoned bridge was active when copper mining was the life blood of the area. After the C&H line quit using it was modified to fill gondola’s on the SOO Line.

"It was November of 1887 that a major fire swept through the Calumet Conglomerate workings at C&H. Due to C&H’s heavy use of timbering underground, the fire spread quickly and was soon large enough to force the closure of the entire mine. Shafts were sealed in the hoped to smother the fire, but it would be another six months before men could once again enter the mine. Luckily for C&H, its South Hecla shafts had not been connected with the rest of the mine and was unaffected by the fire. It was the only thing that saved the company from going under.

Desperate not to have the situation repeat itself, C&H embarked on an expensive defensive measure against future fires. The plan involved sinking a new vertical shaft down to the lower reaches of the conglomerate lode – a shaft not connected to the rest of the mine in any way. This way if a fire should once again break out, this new shaft could continue to mine the lode unaffected. This new shaft would become known as the Red Jacket Shaft, and was sunk just to the north-west of Calumet. To reach this new shaft a new branch line of the C&H railroad had to be built – a line that would have to cross the Mineral Range tracks in the process.

As a result C&H had to erect a short trestle to cross the afore mentioned tracks, along with a pair of long earth embankments to raise the tracks to the required height. Once crossing the trestle the tracks would turn northward, and head to the Red Jacket Shaft.

Amazingly that old trestle has managed to remain to this day, sitting alone in a dusty field like a forgotten monument. The old Mineral Range right of way is now a recreational trail, and only ATV’s and snowmobiles pass under the old bridge anymore. What’s more its eastern approach embankment has been destroyed and hauled away, leaving an abrupt dead end in its wake."

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