Time Line - 1911

Last Year | Next Year

• January 1: The Copper Range railroad will substitute a telephone system for the former "railroad ticker", and the Kellogg train dispatching system, which is being installed on that road and will be in operation by the first of next January (1911). [CN-1910-1003] The new system was effective April 1, 1911

• January 9: A snow storm hits the Upper Peninsula, dropping more than nine feet of snow in the Steuben area, disrupting M&LS train operation. [AATHA-W/1991]

• April 14: The Ann Arbor Railroad purchases the Manistique & Lake Superior Railroad. [HH/MIRX8]

• June 23: A fire at the White Company Lumber Yard in Boyne City MI spreads and eventually destroys nearly all the rolling stock of the Boyne City, Gaylord & Alpena Railroad. [MT]

• May 5: A fire in the Hartford-Cambria #2 Mine in Negaunee takes the lives of 7 miners.

• May 29: The formal opening of the Crestview Park near Eagle River for the season will occur tomorrow.  The management of the Keweenaw Central railroad has arranged to run the first excursion trains of the season tomorrow and there will be dancing at the popular amusement place both afternoon and evening.  Electric Park, owned by the Houghton County Traction Co. opened for the season yesterday with a concert by the Calumet & Hecla band in the afternoon. [CCEN] 

• July 17: The Munising Railway Co. and the Marquette and South Eastern Railway Company were consolidated to form the Munising, Marquette and South Eastern Railway. [MRC-10/1987]

• July 11: A disastrous forest fire practically wipes out AuSable and Oscoda.  A railroad lineman reports the catatastrophy from a line pole 2 miles south of town, and the D&M sends relief supplies to the scene. [HI/GW]

• August 21: The Detroit Terminal Railroad reaches 1/2 mile west of Grand River, from the east side of Detroit. [EMR4]

• September 18. President Taft begins a railroad tour of Michigan, arriving at the MC station with a special train of six cars. He left the MC depot in Detroit for Saginaw. At 1:10 am his train leaves Bay City arriving at Mackinaw City at 7:15 a.m. At 8:00 a.m. he crosses the Straits via DSS&A train (car ferry) and arrives at the Soo at 12:25 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., leaves the Soo for Marquette, arriving at 11:15 p.m. On Wednesday, September 20, he leaves for Grand Rapids via Mackinaw City and over the GR&I. He leaves Grand Rapids at 1:00 p.m., arriving for five minutes at Monteith, then leaves for Battle Creek and makes speech at the MC depot there. At 4:30 p.m. he leaves Battle Creek, arriving at Kalamazoo and lays the cornerstone for a new YMCA. At 11:30 p.m., he leaves Kalamazoo via the MCRR for Joliet, IL. [Belding Banner, 1911-0911]

• October: Steel car ferry and icebreaker, "Chief Wawatam," is placed in service at the Straits of Mackinac by the Mackinac Transportation Company. It is used until 1989 when it is cut down to a barge. [MDOT/AAD]

• December 14: Detroit & Mackinac Railway opens new depot in Alpena.  The D&M also notes that is has 13 passenger, 17 freight and three switching locomotives on the roster in 1911, as well as 46 passenger cars, 1,561 freight cars, 12 cabooses, 1 derrick and 1 snow plow. [HI/DMAR-1910]

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• Ann Arbor Railroad began 13-year use of gasoline-powered, mechanical-drive McKeen railcars, the first self-propelled passenger cars in Michigan. [MDOT]

• Detroit & Mackinac builds a branch from Roger's City Jct. to Rogers City. [NK]

• The Copper Range rail spur to the lake shore is completed for the Baltic Mining Company stamp mill. [CRH]

• Pere Marquette RR sold to J. P. Morgan interests. [PMHS]

• Pere Marquette purchases a fourth steel care ferry ship. [COHS-8/1997]

• 20 new, larger stalls added to Pere Marquette roundhouse in Saginaw. [PMHS]

• The Michigan Central Railroad builds a new, 40-stall roundhouse on Elm Avenue (Jackson Jct.). The facility is later torn down in 1984. [JCP]

• The Pere Marquette abandons its Quarry Spur from Brown City to Deanville (5 miles). [AB]

• D&M branch from Omer to Au Gres, and Hillman Jct. to Hillman are in service.  Build dates are unknown. [HI]

• The E&LS adds two branch lines off the main line at Turner Jct. which go to two lumber camps. [EDP-12/27/1950]

• Ladders and grab irons on railroad cars are standardized and mandated by federal law to increase safety for train crews. [SAM]

 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