Ontonagon Railroad Bridge
The Ontonagon Railroad Bridge was completed in 1899 by the Lassig Bridge & Iron Works out of Chicago for the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad. It is a pony-truss bridge, which is not common for railroad bridges. The Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad purchased the stretch of rail encompassing the bridge in 1978 and began operating it in 1980 to service the Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. Mill.
The mill was one of the largest employers in the area, and generations of Michiganders worked at the manufacturing facility. On May 22, 1993, the bridge caught fire around 5 AM and was suspected to have been caused by arson. The bridge would be closed for nearly a month, forcing the Smurfit-Stone Mill to truck their goods to the other side of the bridge and load the train cars there. No one was ever arrested in connection with the crime. In 2009 Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Although many aspects of the company remained unfazed, it was decided that it was time to close up shop at the Ontonagon facility, leaving nearly 200 people out of work and forcing many to move to find new jobs.
The paper company was sold in 2011 for $3.5 billion. The paper goods generated by the former Ontonagon mill accounted for almost 90% of the rail traffic that section of the Escanaba and Lake Superior Rail Line saw, causing them to shutter the line completely in 2012. The line ran from just west of the Ontonagon River to the small community of Sidnaw, where it connected with other main lines. Although the rail line has been shuttered and the tracks removed, the line has been preserved by the railroad in case a line is needed there in the future.
Around 2015 work was done on the Ontonagon Railroad Bridge to protect it from deterioration with the hopes that it could someday be used for recreational purposes. I am honestly quite surprised that the bridge is not blocked off from public use, but I am happy that it is accessible. I have never been on a bridge like the Ontonagon Railroad Bridge before, and it was very neat to cross it. As you step from one large wooden timber to the next, you can see the brown water of the Ontonagon River shimmering 20 or so feet beneath you, your feet sticking ever so slightly on the decades-old rail tar that has seeped into the timbers.
A few fishing boats buzzed underneath us, slowly searching for Walleye or ‘whatever else will bite this cheap a** lure’ as one fisherman put it, but nobody caught anything while we were crossing.
I have a mild fear of heights, and crossing the bridge did not bother me much, as the gaps between timbers were only a few inches wide. This is definitely not a place for small children and not a place to horse around. Parts of the Ontonagon River are not very deep, so a fall from the bridge could prove fatal. I have read that the hope is to use this bridge as some sort of recreational bridge in the future, whether that be for pedestrians, ATVs, or snowmobiles. Regardless of its future, I am excited to cross it again upon my next visit!
