Time Line - 1870's - Decade Overview

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• The Milwaukee Jct. station was described as a "grimy, two-story frame structure" which had a waiting room, ticket office, train dispatcher’s office and an office for the Superintendent of Terminals. It was a busy station. [CRP1]

• The "Big Hill" on the Ionia & Lansing, west of Ionia was one of the biggest obstacles in building the road.  Between 1869 and the 1870's the railroad reduced the grade on a number of occasions but the Big Hill still required pusher engines.  In June, 1878,under DL&N ownership, the grade was reduced again by eight feet.  [I&L]

• Early 1870's: P.T. Barnum's "Greatest Show on Earth" begins travelling by rail with more than 60 brightly painted circus cars. This is the first circus-owned train in the United States. [AARQJ]

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