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Trout Creek: History and Heritage

From Train Rails to Snowmobile Trails

By—Lucy McDonald

The DSS&A (Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic) Railroad came through about 1886 with many stops along the line. Soon after, tracks were run back into the lumber camps to haul out the logs. There were even camp cars, built in town and pulled to the camps on the rails, used for living quarters—eating, sleeping, and even logging operations record keeping.

Through most of the years the railroad was in operation the trains came through Trout Creek twice a day (for a short time in the 1920s there were four train stops in town per day and night), and they would pick up and leave passengers and mail as well as hauling the logs and other materials. The railroad was a means of transportation for settlers, visitors, businessmen, vacationers and lumberjacks.

The Soo Line Railroad acquired the DSS&A Railroad, however, soon after the increase in the trucking industry; and their hauling of much of the pulpwood meant the end of the trains coming through town in the 1970s (passenger trains no longer ran in the late 1950s). It was the end of an era and the train whistles were no longer heard throughout the countryside.

There are still vestiges of the trains and rails that once ran through the town and countryside. The old depot is still standing. Though the first depot was just a boxcar, later a sturdy depot was built. It was acquired for the town, after much negotiating with the Soo Line Railroad Company, the deed was signed in 1978 by a representative of the railroad company and Hazel Sliger on behalf of the Interior Township Civic Improvement Committee. Later the depot was accepted into the Michigan Historical Society (requiring that the original appearance in structure and the color be retained). The depot has been repaired and refurbished into The Hazel Sliger Library and Museum. A washroom was added and the building was painted. Many hours of donated labor went into the project thanks to dedicated township people. The library part of the old depot houses books and periodicals of many kinds for gown ups, and there is also a children’s library room. The library has sponsored many programs for children and adults and projects for the community to participate in and enjoy. The museum houses community memorabilia from the Trout Creek School, now closed, and donated items—the museum, to date, is inactive.

For several years, with the old rails gone, the old rail beds have been groomed and used as snowmobile trails in the winter months. Thus one era passed and in time a new era was born and has grown.

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