dssa.habitant.orgDuluth, South Shore, & Atlantic

Duluth, South Shore, & Atlantic Welcome to the Duluth, South Shore, and Atlantic Railway Home Page It is with great sadness that I note the passing of Kevin E. Musser on 4 September 2007 at the age of 47. He was a skilled model railroader devoted to preserving the history and lore of the Copper Range Railroad. I was always impressed with his extensive knowledge and expertise. He was willing and eager to share his knowledge and I regret that I did not take advantage of more opportunities to better know and learn from him. The few times I met him I found him a jovial chap and a pleasure to be with. I extend my condolences to his wife, children, and entire family. The Houghton Division, 1910-1925 The Duluth, South Shore, and Atlantic (DSS&A) was not a giant among American or Canadian railways. Its routes and mileage were modest, its profits marginal, and its history short. However, for a brief period it was the railway that served almost the entire Upper Peninsula of Michigan, including the booming copper and iron mining regions. It stretched from Duluth, Minnesota, through Wisconsin, to Sault St. Marie, Michigan, with branches running to Calumet and to St. Ignace. The communities along its lines depended upon it for their commerce and existence. It was the lifeline of the north country. For many residents there was comfort in the sound of the DSS&A locomotive’s whistle heard in the middle of a long winter’s night. One felt connected to the outside world knowing that you could ride the DSS&A and connect to other railways that went to Chicago, Detroit, Montréal, and beyond. DSS&A no. 555 leaving Calumet with a passenger train. The Calumet passenger and freight depots are in the background as well as St. Joseph, the Slovenian Catholic church, now called St. Paul. Photograph courtesy of Michigan Technological University, Copper Country Historical Collections. Special Announcements New Book on the DSS&A Review: The Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway: A History of the Lake Superior District’s Pioneer Iron Ore Hauler John Gaertner, The Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway: A History of the Lake Superior District’s Pioneer Iron Ore Hauler (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009), ISBN 978-0-253-35192-0. The Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway was not one of America’s fabled railroad companies that crossed great stretches of the country over mountains and plains connecting large industrial centers, it served only the small mining and forestry communities of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Northern Wisconsin, and touched Duluth. Gaertner does a thorough job explaining the growth of the DSS&A from a complex merger of small lines into a railroad along the south shore of Lake Superior with the potential to handle traffic from points further west to the east coast through its connection at Sault Ste. Marie with the Canadian Pacific. Gaertner explains how the Canadian Pacific’s ownership of both the Soo Line and the DSS&A was detrimental to the latter. The DSS&A never lived up to its potential due to the willful neglect of the Canadian Pacific and the tango of competition and cooperation with the Soo Line, its sister corporation. The DSS&A also faced competition for the ore hauling trade with the Milwaukee Road, the Chicago and North Western, and the regional Lake Superior and Ishpeming. Despite the best efforts to reach profitability, with a short exceptional period after reorganization in the 1950s, the DSS&A was never able to sustain this goal. It was eventually merged with the Soo Line and what is left of its tracks is now owned by Wisconsin Central which in turn is owned by Canadian National. This history contains the details that railroad fans appreciate including details of freight and passenger train schedules and shifts in these schedules as well as equipment purchases and uses. The ferries and their operation at St. Ignace is well covered. The DSS&A also owed the Mineral Range Railroad and the Hancock and Calumet Railroad, both of which started out as narrow gauge lines, and Gaertner also reviews the history of these lines. The book is well illustrated and has maps displaying the entire line and the important segments of the line. The appendixes include a roster of the locomotives owned by the DSS&A, the Mineral Range, and the Hancock and Calumet and a detailed list of all the stations in the DSS&A system. Lastly, the book contains a detailed index. Although Gaertner does mention the work life of the DSS&A employees in passing, he does not describe the workforce in any detail, its ethnic composition, its working conditions, its pay in comparison to other occupations, etc. Unions are mentioned abruptly with no explanation of their struggle, if any, to be recognized by the DSS&A management. More coverage of the common DSS&A worker would have been welcomed. A table of the maps would have been a helpful addition. Overall, this is an excellent corporate history of a struggling railroad that once played a crucial role in the life of the remote communities of the Great Lakes north country. Gaertner leaves you well informed and craving to learn more about this railroad, the region, and its competitors. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about the history of the region and the importance of railroads for its development. Available from the Indiana University Press, 601 North Morton St., Bloomington, IN 4704-3797, (800) 842-6796, (812) 855-7931 fax, iuporder@indiana.edu , http://iupress.indiana.edu . NOTE: As of 5 April 2009, Indiana University Press has a sale of this book at http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=84640 . The normal price is $49.95, but you can get it for $35.00. Act quickly, I do not know how long this sale will go on. DSS&A Book, List of Maps To make it easier to find the many maps in Gaertner’s history of the DSS&A I have prepared a List of Maps in an Adobe Acrobat file. Color Photograph of Passenger Car 213 Today, in the mail, I received a post card with a beautiful color photograph of DSS&A passenger car no. 213. Would the kind person who sent me this post card please contact me. I would like to thank you for it. This is the restored passenger car now at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum, North Freedom, WI. Was this post card sent out to all the members of the Soo Line Historical and Technical Society? I would love permission to scan it in and present it on the passenger car web page of this site. Soo Line Standards At last year’s convention I learned of a new publication, Soo Line Standards , edited by Larry E. Easton, the society’s archivist (Soo Line Historical and Technical Society, Inc., September 1998). There are three volumes noiw. It is a large format book with drawings and photographs of a variety of Soo Line standard railroad structures, bridges, cars, etc., from the society’s archives. Although it mostly involves the Soo Line, there are two DSS&A images showing the standards for the company’s logos. Since the Soo Line was similar in many respects to the DSS&A, and both were owned by the Canadian Pacific. I hope that the next two volumes have more DSS&A materials. The volumes costs $28.00 plus $3.00 for postage and handling for one to two books and $4.00 for three books. Make the checks payable to SLHTS Archives . You can order it from: Archives Storekeeper Soo Line Historical and Technical Society Archives 2124 N. Locust Street Appleton, WI 54914 DSS&A and MRRR Employment Records The most frequent email questions I get now regarding this web site concerns employment records for the DSS&A and the Mineral Range Railroad (MRRR). I regret to tell you that, to my knowledge, these employment records have not survived. There are some scattered seniority lists in the Perron Collection and I suspect other miscellaneous employment like records in the Soo Line Historical and Technical Society Archives. However, the official employment records were apparently not preserved. If you...