Copper Country Rail

From the railroads' beginnings in the early 1870s to the complex rail network of the 1900s, the advance and decline of the copper industry in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was mirrored by the railroads that served it. With the abandonment in 1976 of the Houghton tracks of the Soo Line (formerly the Mineral Range, Duluth South Shore and Atlantic), Copper Country was once again without the railroad service that built it. This book seeks to tell this rich story of Copper Country railroads through a collection of pictures from various archival sources, including the authors' personal collections, the Houghton County Historical Society, Keweenaw County Historical Society, the Rudolf Maki collection, the Chuck Pomazal collection, the Michigan Technological University Van Pelt Library Archives, and the National Park Service archives.

George E. Anderson, a founding member and director of the Keweenaw Railway Historical Society since 1980, graduated from the Art Center College of Design in California in 1960, taught at Wayne State University in Detroit, and retired from General Motors after 43 years as a designer. Richard E. Taylor, past president of the Houghton County Historical Society and a railroad historian, is CEO of RailDreams and a graduate of the University of Michigan. He is also the author of Houghton County: 1870–1920 and coauthor of Isle Royale.