Railroad Crossings (p1)

When the Copper Range Railroad decided to make a branch line to Calumet, it no doubt ran into an avalanche of obstacles along the way. By the time it started constructing its line around 1902, there were already a great deal of infrastructure blocking its route. Besides the steep terrain and numerous deep gorges along the way, the line also had to contend with existing stamp mills and other railroads which already criss-crossed the hillside. A little creative engineering was in order, on a scale that even today leaves me in awe. The first major hurdle occurred at the Quincy Mills, where the Q&TL railroad was deeply entrenched. Here there were three major spurs of the line the Copper Range had to avoid as well as the mills themselves and the Mineral Range line along the lake-shore. The solution was simple: go under them.

Here is what the Copper Range had to deal with behind the Quincy Mills. The Q&TL consisted of two parts: the main branch serving the original mill, and the newly built spur feeding the second mill. For Copper Range, their only plausible route would be a narrow strip of hillside running just behind the mills but in front of the already existing Q&TL lines (the line in red). Doing so would require crossing one large gorge (home of Quincy Creek), and passing under to separate parts of the Q&TL. We take a look at the first of those crossing today - marked with the yellow circle.

Here is that first crossing - a large “cut” running between two large concrete retaining walls. Instead of building a trestle over the Q&TL, Copper Range elected to dig a trench under it, creating the long corridor you see here. Technically an “under-crossing” this cut is huge, a good 20 feet in height and 100 feet in length. The existing Q&TL tracks would cross overhead at the far end of the cut on their way out to the mill.

Here is another view of the cut, this time from the top looking down. You can just make out on the right side of the photo an interesting detail - the railing.

Interesting that in the day’s before OSHA, the Copper Range had the presence of mine to put up a large railing to keep people from falling down into the path of the train. Curiously this railing only exists on the uphill side of the cut, while no such safety device is used on the down hill side.

Here on top of the cut the Q&TL can go about its business undisturbed by the Copper Range running below it. Unlike the Copper Range line which is currently used as a trail, the Q&TL right of way is overgrown in hard to make out for most part. Here is a run of double track that runs for a time before the track makes the turn towards the cut. We could still make out a good deal of ties half-buried along the way.

When you get up closer to the cut you find a few more interesting artifacts like this. This is the remains of the water pipe that brought water from the dam up on the Quincy Gorge (see: Quincy Creek) Apparently this pipe fed that water to a water tank around here which would feed the locomotives with water. (why they didn’t just use a well is beyond me)

Another interesting find is this almost perfectly preserved insulator. It looks almost brand new, but its age is apparent when you consider the fact that the steel cable that supports it runs straight through a tree trunk. If a tree can grow around the thing, its gotta be old. I’m not sure what it was used for or why it was here, but it still surviving to this day is remarkable.

Moving back to the cut in question, you can see here the gap in the railing through which the Q&TL passed over the cut. The steel bridge that supported it has long been removed (probably for scrap) but this gap and slot cut into the concrete walls that once supported it can still be see. (Check out the BIG PICTURE for a reverse look)

After crossing the Copper Range, the Q&TL would then pass onto a small hill and then onto a large trestle which delivered it to the mill. Here is one of the steel girders that once supported that trestle, looking a little worse for wear.

After successfully navigating this first obstacle, the Copper Range then had to face the Quincy Gorge. We take a closer look at that result next…

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