The Haywire

"The Haywire," more properly known as the Manistique and Lake Superior Railroad for much of its existence, was one of what Willis Dunbar called the "Little Fellows." In its earliest days it was the product of a New York visionary who saw a bright future for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Its builders laid track through gloomy swamps, heavy forests, and treacherous muskegs. During its three-quarters of a century of existence, it carried Iron ores, lumber, pulpwood, alcoholic beverages, and livestock. Having limited passenger accommodations, it carried passengers in both passenger cars as well as cabooses, in rail-mounted motor cars and even, on occasion, in the locomotive cabs. Briefly, it even carried them on its own railroad car ferry. The Haywire played a major role in the industrial development of Manistique and Schoolcraft counties. But for much of its existence it existed in virtual anonymity - merely the northern branch of a Lower Peninsula railroad. Started by visionaries, it was finished by scavengers. By 1968 The Haywire had outlived its usefulness; it had become an economic drain on its parent, the Ann Arbor, which also had economic problems. With one exception, the industries it had helped found had ceased to exist. Trucks, cars, and a major class 1 railroad had taken over virtually all of its traffic; and so on 18 July 1968, at 12:01 A.M. it ceased to exist.