Iron Range and Huron Bay Railroad

The Iron Range & Huron Bay Railroad (IR&HB) is a defunct railroad constructed to haul iron ore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula during the 1890s. Financial and engineering problems prevented the railroad's operation; it remains an unusual example of a railroad which was completed but never used.

Rich iron ore deposits were first discovered in the Upper Peninsula in the 1840s, and remain a significant source of wealth for the state. By the 1890s Michigan was the largest supplier of iron ore in the United States. Railroads would haul ore from the mines to great ore docks on the Great Lakes in places such as Escanaba and Marquette, where it would be loaded on ore freighters and transported to the rest of the country. The Huron Mountains west of Marquette were known to be rich in ore deposits, particularly around Lake Michigamme (near Michigamme, Michigan), and were believed to contain marble, granite, silver, gold, lead, graphite, asbestos, and silica.

The IR&HB was formed on June 27, 1890 by seven businessmen, all from Michigan's Lower Peninsula and all but one from Detroit. Milo H. Davis, also of Detroit, was engaged as chief engineer. The company proposed to construct a line from Champion, near the Lake Michigamme ore fields, to a new ore dock on Huron Bay (in Arvon Township), which connected to Lake Superior. From there the ore would be shipped by freighter through the Soo Locks.

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