Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway
| Locale | Minnesota, United States |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1891–1937 |
| Successor | Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
The Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway (DM&N) was a railroad company in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was one of the earliest iron ore hauling railroads of the area, said to have built the largest iron ore docks in the world, and later was one of the constituent railroads in the merger that formed the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway.
Iron ore had been a particularly plentiful commodity to ship from the Iron Range region, with the seven railroads serving Duluth in the 1891 hauling more than 7 billion pounds of freight.
The Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway was chartered on February 11, 1891, then incorporated in May 1891 by the Merritt brothers of Duluth. The company's first president was K. D. Chase of Fairbault. Its line was opened in 1892 with the first load of iron delivered via trackage rights on the Duluth and Winnipeg Railroad (D&W) and its ore dock in Superior, Wisconsin. In 1893, due in part to the D&W's shortage of freight cars, the DM&N extended its line into Duluth, and built what were then the largest iron ore docks in the world. Also in 1893, the DM&N built a branch from Wolf Junction (near Virginia, Minnesota) to carry heavy mining equipment. The city of Duluth proposed a celebration on Labor Day in 1893 for the completion of the line into Duluth, but the DM&N declined to participate saying that its line was not yet complete.
The company, along with other Merritt iron ore interests in the region, was acquired by John D. Rockefeller during the panic of 1893 as part of a deal that was valued near $30,000,000. The sale was contested in an injunction filed by William L. Brown of Chicago, but the injunction was denied in February 1893. Shortly after, in June 1893, a massive fire blazed through several towns and industries along the DM&N line including Virginia City and Mountain Iron as well as the Minnewas, Messaba Mountain, Lone Jack and Ohio mines. Several liens were soon filed against the railroad amid allegations of improperly favoring certain creditors, but the railroad continued to expand, with the last rail on the Hibbing line laid on October 24, 1893. Although overall ownership had passed to the Rockefeller interests, the Merritts still retained control, as Leonidas Merritt was named president of the Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines company, which was then the parent company of the DM&N. Rockefeller had required that the DM&N not work on Sundays, but with the assignment of F.T. Gates as president of DM&N in late October 1894, the railroad resumed working on Sundays.
...
Wikipedia