The Munising, Marquette and Southeastern Railway (MM&SE) was a short-line railroad that operated from 1911 until 1923 in the central Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. At its height, the railroad operated of track, which was used to help the timber operations then active in northern Michigan. It was controlled by Cleveland-Cliffs, an

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and timber extraction conglomerate, and its successor-in-interest is the Lake Superior and Ishpeming, a railroad that continues to operate as of 2021.

History and description

Two predecessor short lines, the Munising Railway Company and the Marquette and Southeastern Railway Company, were consolidated in April 1911 into the MM&SE. The merged line was incorporated with a declared capital of $1.87 million. This merger created a trackage map that looked like an upside-down T, with the horizontal bar of the T being a main line from Princeton (a junction with the

Chicago and North Western The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

near Gwinn) on the west to

Munising Munising ( ') is a city in Alger County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,355 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Alger County. The city is partially surrounded by Munising Township, but the two are administered aut ...

on the east, and the upright bar of the T being a main line from

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, on the east–west main line, to Big Bay in the north. This Lawson–Big Bay line also served Marquette, the central Upper Peninsula's largest city. The main lines, together, accounted for of track, with an additional of spur lines extending into various groves of harvestable timber. As timber dwindled and was replaced by less profitable

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, Cleveland-Cliffs interests consolidated the MM&SE into another line they controlled, the Marquette-based Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad (LS&I); the 1923 merger ended the MM&SE's existence. The LS&I abandoned the MM&SE's former trackage in the second half of the 20th century. All but a short spur of the last segment, the former main line to Munising, ceased operations in 1979.

References

{{reflist Defunct Michigan railroads Railway companies established in 1911 Railway companies disestablished in 1923 American companies established in 1911