July 21, 2008

Built in the early 1890s by nearly 1,500 laborers at a cost of more than $1 million, the Iron Range and Huron Bay Railroad never completed a haul. Robert Dobson, of Negaunee, will tell the story of "The Railroad That Never Ran" at 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 29 at the Michigan Iron Industry Museum, in Negaunee Township.

Dobson's presentation, the fourth in the museum's seven-part weekday program series, will track the ill-fated rail line that stretched from western Marquette County northwest into Baraga County to carry both iron ore and passengers from the mining district of Champion to the nearest Lake Superior port.

"Despite completion of the line - including a 7-mile-long rock cut that formed walls 60 feet high - and construction of a quarter-million-dollar ore dock, the inaugural run clearly showed those locomotives could not negotiate the line's steep grades," explained Thomas Friggens, a regional manager for the Michigan Historical Center. "Dobson's talk will examine slick promotional shenanigans, construction challenges and the ultimate heartbreak and embarrassment of a railroad that simply failed to make the grade."

Upcoming programs in the museum's weekday lecture series include:

• Aug. 5 - "Company Rule and Community Life: Industrial Fayette, 1867-1891" with Brenda J. Laakso, Michigan Historical Center



• Aug. 12 - "Labor and Conflict: Mining Strikes on the Marquette Range" with Marcus Robyns, Northern Michigan University



• Aug. 19 - "The Making of 'The U.P. Recalls the War'" with Sonya Chrisman, WNMU-TV 13

All programs begin at 2 p.m. Admission is free. Donations are encouraged and proceeds will go to support museum education programs.

The Michigan Iron Industry Museum is one of 11 nationally accredited museums administered by the Michigan Historical Center, a public, non-profit facility of the Department of History, Arts and Libraries. It is located at 73 Forge Road, overlooking the site of the Carp River Forge, a pioneer industrial site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The recently expanded museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information about the summer program series or upcoming events, call (906) 475-7857 or visit online at www.michigan.gov/ironindustrymuseum.