The Commercial Bank of Canada had also advanced the Detroit and Milwaukee a loan of £250,000 ($1.22 million U.S.), its value being substantially greater than this by 1863 with accumulated interest being unpaid. The bank, however, had no recourse since the Great Western had foreclosed two mortgages in 1860 against the railway. A lawsuit also failed. Charles John Brydges, a former Great Western managing director, was one of
An overview of 1869 Grand Haven taken from Dewey Hill. The Detroit and Milwaukee passenger depot is in the foreground, on the channel between the Grand River and Lake Michigan.
Loutit District Museum, Grand Haven, Michigan.
An 1875 view of the first union station in Grand Rapids located at the corner of Island (now Western) Street and South Ionia Avenue. It was built in 1870 and served two major roads, the Detroit and Milwaukee and the Grand Rapids and Indiana. A locomotive of the latter road and an unidentified passenger coach are also pictured.
Grand Rapids (Michigan) Public Library.
the Canadian directors of the Detroit and Milwaukee line with the other two being politicians (James Ferrer and William Molson). Brydges was appointed receiver and soon the Great Western bought the line for a nominal $1 million. Down went the Commercial Bank of Canada in ruin, one of Canada’s largest banks, with shockwaves reverberating across a Canadian economy already depressed by the American Civil War. The Great Western, in the meantime, was “laughing all the way to the bank.”
Detroit, Grand Haven, and Milwaukee Railway depot in Gaines, Michigan. Built in 1884, it has been lovingly restored and is currently a branch library. Note the extensive use of three-dimensional brick trim around the windows, doors, and eaves. This building “yearned to be a big stone building but lacked the budget.”
Author’s collection.
In the late 1860s the railway began to plan a relocation of the Grand Haven depot from the north side (Dewey Hill) to the south side of the Grand River at Harbour and Washington Streets. To lay track on the south side of the river, train equipment was ferried across, track was laid to the shoreline, and sand was brought into the city to make a solid bed in marshy areas. New docks were built near the depot to maintain connections with steamships plying Lake Michigan. The new depot opened January 1, 1870. Freight trains did not take advantage of the new trackage until six months later.
Detroit and Milwaukee/Flint and Pere Marquette joint depot at Holly, Michigan. Built in 1886, it is in poor condition, awaiting restoration. Like the depot in Gaines, this depot is a very functional brick cottage style which, in Europe, is called a “railroad style” or “Italian villa.”
Author’s collection.
In the year ending December 31, 1871, the Detroit and Milwaukee had thirty-four locomotives (fourteen passenger, sixteen freight, and four switchers), fifty-seven passenger cars (thirty first-class coaches, twenty baggage-mail cars, and seven emigrant or second-class coaches), 518 freight cars (330 box or stock [cattle] cars and 188 flatcars), and one auxiliary car.
In the year ending December 31, 1879, the locomotive and car inventories for the Detroit, Grand Haven, and Milwaukee (successor to the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway) were as follows:
A view of the 1869 Detroit and Milwaukee St. Johns depot after the great tornado of 1920. A new station replaced this one and is still standing, fully restored.
Clinton Northern Railway, St. Johns, Michigan.
Grand Haven Detroit and Milwaukee depot post 1869, with nearby stock pen, water tank, three-stall enginehouse, and three major hotels: the Baldwin to the far left, the Parnell to the right of the Baldwin, and the Sherman near the centre of the photograph.
Grand Rapids (Michigan) Public Library.
Map of Detroit and Milwaukee/Detroit, Grand Haven, and Milwaukee Railways in 1865.
Appleton’s Illustrated Railway and Steam Navigation Guide, 1865 edition.
Examples of Detroit and Milwaukee and Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee passes for free travel.
Author’s collection.
Locomotives — 36
Passenger coaches — 28
Baggage/mail/express cars — 16
Boxcars — 324
Stock (cattle) cars — 26
Flatcars — 124
Freight Total — 474
Service cars — 4
Further details regarding the locomotive and passenger car rosters of the Detroit and Milwaukee/Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee are available in chapter 4.
Erie and Ontario Railroad
Erie and Niagara Railway
In light of the revenue lost to the “new” Welland canal starting in 1829, several businessmen from communities along the Niagara River sought a charter to build a railway to bypass Niagara Falls. They were led by John and Alexander Hamilton, sons of the Honourable Robert Hamilton, the builder of the original Niagara Portage Road.
Due, at least in part, to the bitter fight waged by William Merritt and others of the Welland Canal Company, charter legislation failed in the Legislature of Upper Canada in 1831 and 1832. However, the Hamiltons and their colleagues were not to be denied, and assent to the charter of the Erie and Ontario Railroad occurred on April 16, 1835. Of interest, this legislation was delayed by the need to obtain the assent of the Board of Ordnance, which was responsible for military fortifications. Assent was given, provided the railway did not “intrude” within one thousand yards of military fortifications. It appears that the War of 1812 had not been forgotten. Capital stock for the railway was fixed at £75,000 ($365,250 U.S.) and it was to be completed by April 16, 1840 (Acts of the Legislature of Upper Canada, 6 William IV, chapter 19).
Construction began in 1835 but proceeded slowly. By 1837 the line was far from complete and money was running short. A provincial loan of £5,000 ($24,350 U.S.) was arranged. The line has been variously described as beginning operation in 1838 or 1839. Likely both answers are correct in that sections were probably opened as they were completed. The railway was “fully completed” by 1841. However, this may not be entirely correct since there is good evidence that the wharf at Queenston was not completed until 1846!
The railway was an animal tramway in the beginning. Railcars (coaches or freight wagons) were drawn by horses (two to four per car, draught horses for freight wagons and trotting horses for passenger coaches). Coaches/wagons rode upon wooden rails topped with iron strapping. Coaches had the appearance of Stockton and Darlington Railway coaches of 1840s England. Each held twenty to twenty-four people with baggage