Timetable: D&M - Tubbs Branch - Millersburg to Tubbs Branch Jct.

This was a branch south into the forest near Millersburg built in 1907 [DMAR=1907]. The Tubbs branch junction appears to be just west of Case. [ITP-3]

Key: D=Open > Day | DN=Open Day and night | EH=Enginehouse | N=Open at night | P=Passing Track w/40' car capacity | Q=Quarry | S=Scales | T=Turntable | TC=Telegraph call | W=Water | X=Crossing | Y=Wye | Yard=Yard

Source: = From a 1908 railway guide.

Time Line

1907. The D&M builds the Tubbs Branch, a distance of 5.6 miles. [DMAT-1907]

1909. Forest fires have destroyed several thousand dollars' worth of products on the Tubbs branch and Hurst branch of the D&M railroad, Fires started throughout this section which is very dry. Many fear a repetition of last summer's fires. [NDS-1909-0716]

1911. The state railroad commission directs the D&M railroad to relay the track in the Tubb's branch, running out from near Alpena, as petitioned for by the Fletcher Paper Company, the branch to be put in within 20 days. It is stated that a railroad cannot refuse facilities to one shipper granted freely to another under practically identical conditions. [SAG-1911-0807]

1911. September 12. Circuit Court Judge Emerick of Alpena fined the D&M railway and the Lobell & Churchill company of Onaway $100 for not obeying an order of the court. They were served with an order July 21 not to remove any rails from the Tubbs Branch near Onaway, pending a decision of the state railroad commission to determine the rights of the parties in the branch. The order had been issued at the instance of the Fletcher Paper Company. The Lobdell company did not remove rails from the roadbed or right of way after being served with the order, but it did remove rails which had been piled just outside the right of way. [SAG-1911-0912]

1912.  A hearing is held by the state railroad commission regarding the Tubbs Branch of the D&M, a line some 15 miles in length which runs into timber lands in Alpena County. The D&M refuses to replace and operate the branch. The case is in the Detroit courts where the Fletcher Paper company of Alpena is trying to compel the road to comply with the orders of the commission They have several million feet of timber which they want to haul over the branch to their mills in Alpena. The railroad contends that there is not enough business over the road to pay them for operating it further. [SAG-1912-1128]

1915. Next Friday the famous "Tubbs Branch" case, in which the D&M alleges that the supreme court of Michigan overstepped the legal limit in a mandamus, will be argued before the US Supreme Court in Washington. In 1906 the D&M built the Tubbs branch, a line running from the main line of the D&M from Case station into the through the tract of timber owned by the Churchill Lumber company. The Churchill company furnished the right of way and did the grading and laid the ties, and the railroad company furnished and laid the steel. 

The primary purpose of the branch was hauling out to the main line of the D&M of the Churchill Lumber company's timber. Other parties owned timber adjacent to this branch and the D&M also hauled their timber. In 1909, the D&M filed with the Michigan Railroad Commission a log tariff for the branch. One of the other parties for whom the D&M hauled timber was the Fletcher Paper company. On August 3, 1910 the Fletcher company acquired the interest of the Churchill Lumber company in the branch, and the Churchill company withdrew a request for the removal of the branch. September 9 the D&M disconnected the Tubbs branch from its main line by removing a half mile of track. [BCMJ-1915-1102]

1916. April 3. The Fletcher Paper Company of Alpena won its suit today to compel the D&M railroad to relay the so-called Tubbs branch tracks, on which the company shipped its logs to the paper mills at Alpena. The United States Supreme Court affirmed the action of the Michigan Supreme Court in issuing a mandamus to relay rails and accept shipments offered it on this spur (ordered by the Michigan railroad commission in 1911. The Tubbs branch spur was built by and for the Churchill Lumber company, but certain service rights were acquired by the Fletcher Paper company without the knowledge of the D&M according to their assertion. [DFP-1916-0404]

April 3, 1916. D&M Must Relay Spur Track for Alpena Paper Mills. The Fletcher Paper company of Alpena won its suit today to compel the Detroit & Mackinac railroad to relay the so-called Tubbs branch tracks, on which the company shipped its logs to its paper mills at Alpena.

The [U.S.] supreme court affirmed, with costs, the action of the supreme court of Michigan in issuing a mandamus to compel the D&M to re-lay the rails and to accept shipments offered it on this spur by the Fletcher company according to an order issued by the Michigan railroad commission in 1911.

The Tubbs branch spur was built by and for the Churchill Lumber company, but certain service rights were acquired by the Fletcher Paper company without the knowledge or consent of the D&M, according to the latter's assertion. The D&M contended that it was justified in taking the rails up when the Churchill Lumber company requested that this be done, having no more lumber of its own to ship. [DFP-1916-0404]

1917. The Tubb's Branch of the D&M railroad, over whose logging rates the Fletcher Paper Company and several lumber companies have been fighting in the state courts and the US supreme court for years bobbed up again today in the state supreme court. Five cases in which money paid by the paper companies for rates are the issue. The cases have dragged along for years. Three justices have been disqualified from sitting in the argument. [DFP-1917-0620]