Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad

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The Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad (F&PM) is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Michigan between 1857 and 1899. It was one of the three companies which merged to become the Pere Marquette Railway.

[edit] History

The F&PM was chartered on January 22, 1857 as the Flint and Pere Marquette Railway, for the purpose of constructing an east-west railway line from Flint through Saginaw to Lake Michigan.^[1] Construction started in 1859 in East Saginaw. From there the line was extended south to Mount Morris and Flint. Service began on December 8, 1862, with services between East Saginaw and Flint (at Mount Morris). In December of 1864 the F&PM gained access to Detroit via running rights with the Flint and Holly Railroad (F&H) and the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad (D&M). In 1867 the F&PM opened two additional sections: a line from East Saginaw to Midland, and a 16.7-mile (26.9 km) line from Midland to Bay City, Michigan. In 1868 the company extended from Midland north-west to Averill, near Lincoln, and bought the F&H. The company also leased the Bay City and East Saginaw Railroad; it took complete control of this road in 1872. The F&PM also bought two small lumber railroads: the Flint River Railroad, which operated along the Cedar River, and the Cass River Railroad, which exploited the Cass River area. By 1874 the northern line out of Midland had reached Ludington, on the coast of Lake Michigan, while the southern line had reached Monroe via the acquisition of the Holly, Wayne and Monroe Railway.^[2]

On July 1, 1879, the F&PM went into receivership, owing $1.2 million in unpaid interest on bonds. The company had built no new track since 1874, while gross revenues had declined every year since the Panic of 1873. The company remained in receivership until September of 1880, when it was reorganized as the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad. While in receivership the company built two new lines: a narrow gauge spur from Coleman to Mount Pleasant (under the Saginaw and Mount Pleasant Railroad), and a branch north from Clare to Harrison (under the Saginaw and Clare County Railroad). In 1881 a subsidiary of the F&PM, the Manistee Railroad, constructed a 26.53-mile (42.70 km) branch line from Walhalla (east of Ludington) north to Manistee. On its opening in 1883 this branch gave the F&PM access to Manistee's share of the lake trade and local salt mining operations.^[3]

In 1889 the F&PM bought out the Port Huron and Northwestern Railway, and constructed a new line east from Yale to Port Huron. It also widened its existing branch line between East Saginaw and Yale. This gave the F&PM a standard gauge line across the breadth of Michigan, from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron. The F&PM merged the Saginaw & Mount Pleasant into the main company the same year. In 1897 the F&PM extended its line south from Monroe to Toledo, Ohio (via the Monroe and Toledo Railway). It had previously operated trains over the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern's line.^[4][5]

In 1899 the F&PM merged with the Chicago and West Michigan Railway and the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western Railroad to form the Pere Marquette Railroad, and F&PM ceased to exist as an independent entity.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Michigan Railroad Commission (1896). Annual Report. 
• Ivey, Paul (1919). The Pere Marquette Railroad Company. Michigan Historical Commission.