The Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad is the name for two different railroads in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

Historic railroad

The Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad (LS&M) was the first rail link between the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...

and

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

and came into existence in 1863 when financier

Jay Cooke Jay Cooke (August 10, 1821 – February 16, 1905) was an American financier who helped finance the Union war effort during the American Civil War and the postwar development of railroads in the northwestern United States. He is generally acknowle ...

selected Duluth as the northern end of a new railroad. Lyman Dayton, a local businessman put up $10,000 of his own money to do the original surveying work and served as the railroad's president until his death in 1865. Dayton was succeeded as president by

Frank Hamilton Clark Frank Hamilton Clark (September 26, 1844 – November 29, 1882) was an American railroad executive and banker. He was president of the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad. Early life Clark was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Clark was ...

, a Philadelphia banker whose family firm gave Cooke his start in the financial industry. The LS&M was completed in 1870, running through the city of Carlton and running along the path of the Saint Louis River to Duluth. Later that year the first passenger trains started running between the Twin Cities and Duluth. The LS&M was a victim of the

Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the ...

, as Jay Cooke's company was overextended and burdened with financial commitments to the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, wh ...

. The LS&M reorganized in 1877 as the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad. It was later folded into the

. The northern section of the line was moved and carried passenger trains until the 1930s.

Modern railroad

The name of the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad (LSMRR) was revived in 1981 when the volunteer Lake Superior Transportation Club incorporated a

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

company to offer a passenger excursion service along the Saint Louis River. Much of the modern LSMRR route follows the right-of-way that the historic LS&M built in the 19th century. The LSMRR was given the accolade "Best Train Ride" by the St. Paul Pioneer Press (May 18, 2003)

References

The Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Superior Mississippi Railroad Defunct Minnesota railroads Heritage railroads in Minnesota Predecessors of the Northern Pacific Railway Railway companies established in 1861 Tourist attractions in Duluth, Minnesota Railway companies disestablished in 1877 1861 establishments in Minnesota