Built → Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad → Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw Railroad
Built: 1860
Operated for 6 years.
Foreclosure Sale to: Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw railroad in 1867.
Reference: [MRRC]
This was known as the "Ram's Horn" railroad in 1866. [LSJ-1866-0627]
Commencing at Amboy on the south line of the State, the first twist of the horn was north-west to Albion, then it gyrated north-east via Lansing and Owosso to Saginaw, when taking another turn to the far north-west, it struck Little Traverse Bay on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, where, with one more convulsive turn to the north-east, it reached the "little end of the horn" at the Straits of Mackinaw. This ingenious (method), they succeeded in stealing a large amount of land for their grant which could not otherwise have been obtained. Hence came the name of "Ramshorn". [
1860. The Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad was built from Owosso to Lainsburg in Shiawassee County in 1860.
1863. The line was further completed to Lansing bringing the first rail service to the state capital.
1864. September 3. The Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay (sometimes known as the Ramshorn) Railroad Co., having obtained time for a further hearing before the Supreme Court, the railroad will not be sold on the 5th of September as heretofore advertised. In the meantime, until the final order is made, the road has been leased by the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad Co. They took possession of the road on Tuesday, and commenced running their cars between Owosso and Lansing. [DFP-1864-0903]
1864. October 23. David Gould was brought up for examination before Commissioner Wilkins charged with obstructing the U.S. mail. The case involved the railroad between Owosso and Lansing, commonly known as the "Ramshorn" railroad. The D&M has leased the road from its directors. Gould denies the validity of the lease and claims a title to the road as one of the original proprietors. One day last week he procured a locomotive engine, got up steam, and with the assistance of an engineer and fireman took formal possession of the road. At one of the stations, his locomotive arrived just as the mail train was due. A freight train occupied the side track. Gould's locomotive occcupied the main track and he refused to allow the mail train to pass, detaining it for five hours, whereby the mails missed all connection for the day. He was arrested. The engineer and fireman were also arrested and discharged from the railroad. [DFP-1864-1025]
1866.The railroad assigned rights to the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw for property from Lansing north, and in 1867 to the Northern Central Michigan railroad for their developing property from Lansing south (towards Albion).
1867. Farewell to the Ramshorn! The corporation known as the Amboy, Lansing & Traverse Bay railroad company has ceased to exist, so far as the control of the road is concerned. $200,000 were paid for the road by the JL&S railroad company, and they are also to pay claims against the old company said to amount to $112,000 more. [LSJ-1867-0109]
1867. The line was sold by way of a foreclosure sale to the JL&S. The line to Albion became part of the Lansing Branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad.
Extra Credit: Where is Amboy?
Amboy is a township in Michigan along the Ohio border in Hillsdale County. There is also an Amboy Township in Ohio, bordering Michigan near Monroe and Lenawee counties. The founders of this railroad anticipated this being a straight line north from the Ohio border to Lansing and then north towards Traverse City. Land grants were obtained from the state legislature as a reward for completing route miles. The railroad began in Owosso (where there was a connection with the Detroit & Milwaukee railroad from both Grand Rapids and Detroit. With its completion to Lansing in 1863, this became the first railroad to reach the new state capital. Then, the organizers apparently ran out of money
The capital of Michigan was moved to Lansing from Detroit in 1847 but Lansing had no rail service (nor much of anything else). At the time, Lansing was reached by stage coach from Jackson or Owosso railheads, or by stage from Detroit via Farmington and Howell requiring overnight stays at places like the Botsford Inn or the New Hudson Inn (both of which still exist today).
The following sources are utilized in this website. [SOURCE-YEAR-MMDD-PG]:
