<p>Michigan: the way it was. Michigan Ghost Towns compiles settlements and communities that have faded into Michigan's history and legend: ""Baraga County's $2,000,000 Ghost Railroad"" (Reprinted from the September 23, 1964 Issue of the L'Anse Sentinel by permission) A few rusty nails, some old telegraph poles and a bed grown over with brush and trees in the Huron Mountain district is all that remains today of a $2,000,000 railroad which never ran a train of cars and failed to bring in a cent of revenue. For several years men labored in the wilderness to lay 35 miles of tracks through rocky gorges and swamps from the mining town of Champion (now a ghost town) to Huron Bay. At Huron Bay an immense ore dock, buildings and homes were erected in preparation for a rush of business which the promoters of the Huron Bay and Iron Range Railway thought would make them wealthy. Pequaming: One of the largest ghost towns in the Upper Peninsula with buildings still standing is Pequaming. Located about 8 miles north of L'Anse, the huge smokestacks and water towers are visible from the L'Anse waterfront where the remains of the once prosperous industrial town lies at the tip of a tree-covered peninsula jutting out into the Keweenaw Bay. Emerson: Named after Chris Emerson, Saginaw millionaire lumberman and considered by some an eccentric. Thousands of tourists travel highway M-123 between Eckerman and Paradise each summer and visit the Tahquamenon Falls area, unaware that they pass near the site of this one-time lumbering and fishing village at the mouth of the Tahquamenon River where it empties into Lake Superior. What was once a road to the site is now a marsh- and weed-grown trail almost impassable by automobile. A spring flowing from a weed-covered mound is about all that remains where the town once was.</p>

Michigan Ghost Towns: Of the Upper Peninsula (Michigan Ghost Towns III)

History

Dodge, R. L.

Americas

Thunder Bay Press Michigan

<p>Michigan: the way it was. Michigan Ghost Towns compiles settlements and communities that have faded into Michigan's history and legend: Bamfield and Bryant were stations or stops on the AuSable &amp; North Western Railway, a narrow gauge track extending from AuSable to Commins, in Oscoda County. In 1908 Charlie Cote, a Frenchman, was the only inhabitant of Bryant. Orral A. Wardlow, now living at Glennie (1970), said Charlie could feed and sleep half-a-dozen people and his place was ""modestly"" famous for his pea soup. Wardlow said Harry Garrett and Ray Rose were supervisors on the railroad. ""The train, which made one round trip daily, was made up of 20 to 25 bunk cars for hauling logs, and whatever boxcars were needed to haul freight, which was not much. The daily arrival of this train at Glennie was something to look forward to, and greeted by the whole town."" ""Billie Ellis, the conductor, would go into Joe Solomon's general store and help himself to a smoked herring that was always handy on top of the counter,"" Wardlow said. ""I don't remember that he ever paid for one, and Joe never complained. It seemed to be a matter of course that Billie had his herring."" Averill: The former village of Averill, famous during the early logging days of Michigan and the Saginaw Valley, lays in a built up business section bordering old US-10 highway between Sanford and Midland. Present day signs advertising a lumber yard, cocktail lounge, and other business places named ""Red Keg"" are the only reminders of the notorious saloon with a whiskey keg mounted on a pole and painted red that inspired lumberjacks to call the place ""Red Keg."" Located on the Tittabawassee River, and later the terminus of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad, Averill was the gateway to the vast expanses of white pine timber in the world's most famous lumbering center, the Saginaw Valley. Red Keg was made famous in legends and songs of the lumberjacks. The Valley's most notorious fight between Silver Jack Driscoll and Big Joe Fournier occurred in this saloon, first operated by Billy McCrary, who was no slouch as a riverman and rough and tumble fighter. Later the Red Keg was run by Edward Francis, who moved to Michigan from Canada. After the big fire that destroyed most of the village in 1875-76 Francis moved to Sandford where he opened another hotel.</p>

Michigan Ghost Towns of the Lower Peninsula

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dodge, R. L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dodge, R. L.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dodge, R. L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Michigan Ghost Towns: Of the Upper Peninsula (Michigan Ghost Towns III)

Michigan Ghost Towns of the Lower Peninsula