The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1916-12-02
TO THE RAILROAD CENTER WHICH
WAS NAMED AFTER HIM
SELECTED ROUTE FOR ROAD
Is Kox slKe ,Ithy Consulting Mining
Engineer and Mine Owner OF
New York City

representative or j. farh Shah
ming visited at Claiming last Tues
day. He came 10 the town after
conference with the officials OF the
G. NJ. & st. p. Railway Co. at Chiea-
go. TO talk with Mike Harrington,
chief train dispatcher. over the pro-
posed erection OF club house AT
Charming for the use of the railroad
men aud the people Of Claiming In
general
He was sent TO Chicago by j. Park
Charming, after whom the town OF
Charming was named, and who is now
a wealthy consulting mine engineer
In New York. Mr.. Charming sent his
representative to Chicago to offer a
club house al Claiming for the use OF
the railroad employees.
The Chicago officials looked with
much favor upon the proposal of Mr.
Charming and instructed his repre-
sentative to go 10 Claiming and take
the matter up with their employees.
This proposal Of Mr. Claiming
brings 10 memory some ancient his
tory which may be interesting read
ing to the latter day residents OF this
section. The Superior division OF the
Milwaukee was, in the latter eighties
and early nineties, a sort of dis
jointcd affair. IL was originally built
by a company known as the "Milwau-
kee q Northern" and was generally
spoken OF as the Northern" The
lire from Milwaukee TO Champion
ended as Il does now al Champion.
The ontonagon branch consisted Of
that part OF the present Ontonagon
branch lying between Sldnaw and On
tonagon In order 20 get TO Ontona-
gon il was necessary to go TO Cham
pion via the Milwaukee. thence to
Sidnaw over the South Shore and
from that place to 0ntonagon over the
Milwaukee The Milwaukee decided
To connect its isolated Ontonagon end
with It's main line but the question
was where the connection should be
made
Looked Many Years Ahead.
The ore business of the Milwaukee
in those days was an almost negligi-
bic quantity Some ore had been hauled
from Iron Mountain TO Pembine over
the Northern and from that point tt
was hauled to Gladstone over the 500
where a small dock was erected by
the latter road 20 care for the traffic.
The Milwaukee officials could see
the end Of the timber business and
recognized that IL the northern end OF
their system was to be made a paying
proposition they must enter the ore
business An agreement with the
Northwestern kept them from enter
ing al once into competition with that
system but IL didn't prevent the Off
cials from looking ahead 10 the time
when that agreement would cease TO
exist and 10 build for that time Ac-
cordingly they decided 10 run the new
lire through such territory as would
IN time tap The iron district TO the
nort9 IL Crystal Falls Someone must
select tho route and &C. J. Park Chan
niaH 7au delegated that work
Crystal Falls sought 10 have thc
r6ain Inc run SO that It would cntor
this city aud delegations Of the bu
pesl mon, heeGod by Henry Hart. who
was AZ that time ono of our leading
citizens and business men. waited up
on the Milwaukee or cials but for
some reason they couldn't be pre-
vailed upon o. place this city upon the
main line. II is supposed that the
agreement with the North Western
was the main reason for as soon as
Il terminated an extension was built
10 this city
Mr. Charming worked In this section
for over a year lie started some ex-
plorations 10 the north OF this city
but that was a time when the panic
or 1893 was imminent and the ex-
plorations ceased Mr. Charming
recommended the route which he
picked out close to the line of mag
netic attraction that runs along the
sIemlock formation and his selection
was adopted by tie company When
q came 10 namir tho siding from
which the cutoff started the com
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