 | |
 Map of the DM&IR. Solid lines are track still in use; dotted lines are abandoned track. | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Proctor, Minnesota |
| Reporting mark | DMIR |
| Locale | Saint Louis County /Lake County, Minnesota, andDouglas County, Wisconsin |
| Dates of operation | 1874–2011 |
| Successor | Canadian National Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
TheDuluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway (DM&IR) (reporting markDMIR), informally known as theMissabe Road,[1] was arailroad operating in northernMinnesota andWisconsin that used to hauliron ore and latertaconite to theGreat Lakes ports ofDuluth andTwo Harbors, Minnesota. Control of the railway was acquired on May 10, 2004, by theCanadian National Railway (CN) when it purchased the assets ofGreat Lakes Transportation.
The DM&IR was formed by the merger in 1937 of theDuluth, Missabe and Northern Railway (DM&N) and theSpirit Lake Transfer Railway. The following year, theDuluth and Iron Range Rail Road (D&IR) andInterstate Transfer Railway were added. All of these had been leased by the DM&N since 1930.
The D&IR was formed in 1874 byCharlemagne Tower to haul iron ore from the Minnesota Iron Co. inTower, Minnesota, to the newLake Superior port ofTwo Harbors, Minnesota. On July 31, 1884, the D&IR carried its first ore shipment from theSoudan Mine. In 1887, the D&IR was acquired byIllinois Steel Company, which itself became part of the newUnited States Steel Corporation (USS) in 1901.
After high-gradeMesabi iron ore was discovered nearMountain Iron, Minnesota, by theSeven Iron Men, the D&IR was asked to build a branch line to serve this area, but declined. So in 1891, the Merritts incorporated the DM&N, which shipped its first load of iron ore toSuperior, Wisconsin, in October 1892. The following year, the Merritts expanded the DM&N by laying track toDuluth, Minnesota, where they built anore dock. But this expansion left the Merritts on shaky financial ground, and in 1894,John D. Rockefeller gained control of the railway. In 1901, Rockefeller sold the DM&N to USS.
From 1901 to 1938, the two railways were owned by USS and operated separately. Total ore hauled by the two railroads peaked in 1929 at 27,600,000long tons (28,000,000tonnes; 30,900,000short tons) and dropped to 1,500,000 long tons (1,500,000 t; 1,700,000 short tons) in 1932.
By July 1938, the two railways merged to form the DM&IR. The two operating divisions, theMissabe and theIron Range, were based upon the predecessor roads. As the United States entered theSecond World War, the iron ore tonnage moving over theMissabe Road accelerated from a little over 8,000,000 long tons (8,100,000 t; 9,000,000 short tons) in 1938, past 18,000,000 long tons (18,000,000 t; 20,000,000 short tons) in 1939, then to almost 28,000,000 long tons (28,000,000 t; 31,000,000 short tons) in 1940 and past 37,000,000 long tons (38,000,000 t; 41,000,000 short tons) in 1941.
The first eight of DM&IR's class M2-8-8-4 Yellowstone locomotives were delivered byBaldwin Locomotive Works in spring 1941. As well as the Yellowstones, the DM&IR had heavy2-8-8-2 articulateds (also Class M),2-8-2 Mikados,2-10-2 Santa Fe's and eventually2-10-4 Texas types from B&LE.[citation needed] Ore movement was nearly 45,000,000 long tons (46,000,000 t; 50,000,000 short tons) in 1942 and theWar Production Board allowed the Missabe to order ten more Yellowstones, delivered in 1943. The 2-8-8-4's were slowly retired in the latter half of the '50s and the last remaining served until around 1960.
After World War II, the DM&IR hauled increasing tonnage to the ore docks along Lake Superior, reaching a record of over 49 million tons in 1953. That year the firstdiesel locomotives,EMD SW9s, arrived on the railway. In 1954, a set ofBaldwin DR-4-4-15 "Sharknose" diesels arrived from theElgin, Joliet and Eastern (a fellow U.S. Steel railroad), though they were returned toBaldwin Locomotive Works when the EJ&E contract expired in 1955. Dieselization continued with the purchase of severalEMD SD9road switchers the following year, while the last revenue steam run occurred in 1962.[2]
Passenger service on the Missabe division ended in 1957 and completely ceased system-wide in 1961.
| Year | Traffic |
|---|---|
| 1925 | 2,115 |
| 1933 | 806 |
| 1944 | 3,733 |
| 1960 | 2,696 |
| 1970 | 2,202 |
As the supply of high-quality iron ore dwindled, mines and pits were closing across Minnesota'siron ranges. The DM&IR's ore docks in Two Harbors closed in 1963 and did not reopen until 1966. The Missabe Road was saved by the passage on November 3, 1963, of theTaconite Amendment to theMinnesota State Constitution (the amendment restricted the state's ability to tax ataconite industry for 25 years). The passage of the amendment accelerated the creation of the taconite mining industry in Northern Minnesota. TheEveleth Taconite Company was formed in 1964 and on April 8, 1966, theSS Edmund Fitzgerald took on the first load of Eveleth taconite pellets, about 23,000 long tons (23,000 t; 26,000 short tons). The taconite era on the Missabe had begun.
In 1988, U.S. Steel, now USX, spun off the DM&IR and their other ore railroads and shipping companies into the subsidiaryTranstar, then sold majority control to theBlackstone Group and USX. In 2001, the DM&IR and other holdings were spun off from Transtar into the companyGreat Lakes Transportation (GLT), which was fully owned by the Blackstone Group. For the first time in more than 100 years DM&IR was no longer associated with U.S. Steel. In late 2003, the Blackstone Group agreed to sell GLT toCanadian National Railway and the purchase was completed on May 10, 2004.
In December 2011, the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway was merged intoWisconsin Central Ltd., which is also controlled by Canadian National Railway. This merger was intended to increase efficiency.[3]
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