Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad - Early History

Early 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 on a route, for which a federal land grant was offered, from Flint, Michigan to Lake Michigan at Pere Marquette (now Ludington, Michigan). The early promoters of the road were George M. Dewey and E.H. Hazelton of Flint, with Dewey serving as the first president of the F&PM. Construction started in 1859 in East Saginaw. A more energetic management took charge in 1860 when Captain Eber Brock Ward of Detroit, a prominent lumberman, vessel owner, and steel manufacturer, was elected to the presidency of the F&PM. Service began on January 20, 1862, on the 26.1-mile (42.0 km) section from East Saginaw south to Mount Morris. In December 1864 the F&PM gained access to Detroit via trackage rights over the Flint and Holly Railroad and the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad.

Construction westward from Saginaw commenced in 1866 with the first section of 20 miles (32 km), to Midland, opened December 1, 1867. In the Annual Report to the Stockholders of December 31, 1867, the secretary of the F&PM, Henry C. Potter, called for the continued building of the line toward Lake Michigan: "The importance and magnitude of the lumber traffic on the Muskegon and Manistee Rivers urge this company to speedy construction on its road west."

On September 2, 1868, the F&PM was consolidated with the Flint and Holly Railroad. Besides adding a key segment of trackage to the growing F&PM system, the merger brought into the F&PM the Crapo family - Henry H. Crapo, Governor of Michigan in 1865-69, and his son, William W. Crapo, later president of the F&PM. An extension of 6.5 miles (10.5 km) from Midland to Averill was completed on October 25, 1868, giving the F&PM 60 miles (97 km) of route west from Flint and entitling the company to 76,300 acres (309 km2) in land grants; since 1862 the company had received a total of 307,200 acres (1,243 km2).

Slowly the railroad snaked its way through the forests of central Michigan. It was completed to Clare, 24.4 miles (39.3 km) west of Averill, in November 1870; another 15.6 miles (25.1 km) was finished in March 1871. With the completion of 22 miles (35 km) to Reed City in December 1871, the F&PM made a connection with the north-south main line of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railway. The line was now 48.4 miles (77.9 km) from its goal of Ludington.

On June 4, 1872, the F&PM was consolidated with the Holly, Wayne and Monroe Railroad (opened for service the same day); the Bay City and East Saginaw Railroad (a feeder line leased since 1867); the Flint River Railroad (Flint to Otter Lake); and the Cass River Railroad (East Saginaw to Vassar).