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Jackson
Evolution Article
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Between 1830 and 1855 (when the first general railroad incorporation
law was passed) Michigan (as a territory and state) chartered 51 railroads.
However the state did not charter the Southern or the Central roads.
The three were some of the projects included in the 1837 internal
improvements legislation, along with work on two canals, some rivers and
harbors, and the St. Marys River (see Robert J. Parks Democracy's
Railroads). The railroads never were given anything more than
unofficial designations as the southern, central, and northern. Dunbar
properly uses lower case; I have come to prefer the first mention in
quotation marks, then capitalized thereafter with "line" or "road" rather
than "railroad" to avoid an indication that the name is the legal title of a
corporation. Both Dunbar's All Aboard and his Michigan history discuss
the legislation as well.
The four other roads built out of Jackson in the 1860s-70s I think had
considerable outside financing. The annual reports of the GRV, JL&S,
and MAL to the state Commissioner of Railroads all were signed by James F.
Joy, the president of the Michigan Central which leased the GRV and MAL in
1870 and the JL&S in 1871. Joy's tactic was to have the MC and MC
financiers buy up their bonds or guarantee their bond interest and get a
lease of their road in exchange. The bonds often could be bought a
discount. I go into this area a little bit in my book Michigan
Railroads and Railroad Companies.
The FWJ&S is an odd circumstance. It appears to have been built mostly
with money raised along the route. The line remained independent until
1882 when it was leased by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. New
York City money took control as part of the road's reorganization in 1879 as
the Fort Wayne & Jackson, a group that apparently had dealings with William
Henry Vanderbilt.
The Vanderbilts began buying into the Michigan Central about 1873-74, had
some influence by June 1877 when James F. Joy was forced out and Samuel
Sloan brought in as president, and complete control by June 1878 when W. H.
Vanderbilt made himself president. Control of the LS&MS came in 1869.
The CJ&M line was completed in April 1896 from Jackson and Addison Jct. and
was sold in June 1898 to the Cincinnati Northern. It appears to have
been controlled by the owners of the CJ&M, but the record is a little murky.
The CJ&M was sold to CN in January 1897 and it became controlled by the Big
Four in 1902 (which was then a Vanderbilt road). The dates are from
Michigan Railroads & Railroad Companies as well as Michigan Railroad
Commission's Aids, Gifts, Grants, and Donations in Aid. . . Harlow, p.
396 has a little snippet about it.
The Michigan Air Line is an absolutely odd bird. James F. Joy helped
it out so far as building from Jackson to Niles and then leasing that part.
That left the owners stuck with the eastern end [Jackson to Pontiac].
They tried leasing it but eventually gave it away to owners who then sold it
to the Grand Trunk. This also will be in my talk.
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