1870's rail bridge

USA / Michigan / Grosse Ile /
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This was an abortive effort by the Michigan Central Railway and the Canada Southern to build a railroad bridge across the Detroit River. In 1910, the Michigan Central Railway and the New York Central Railway would succeed in building a Windsor-Detroit railroad link in Detroit, thereby avoiding the Downriver area.
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Coordinates:   42°7'34"N   83°8'17"W

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  • The stone piers of this former bridge are still visible under the water, and occasionally break the surface at low tide.
  • A c. 1873 photo of the 900-foot, wood-frame truss bridge, stretching between the east shore of Grosse Ile and Stony Island, is retrievable from www.GIHistory.org The photo shows several officials posing on the west end of the bridge, with Stony Island at the far (east) end. A railroad car ferry began transporting trains between Stony Island and Gordon ON (north of Amherstburg) about October 1873. The last through train crossed the river there in 1885. The ferry crossing was maintained as a winter-emergency alternative to the new (1883) Detroit - Windsor ferry crossing until 1888. The 1873 Canada Southern Railway (CASO) annual report mentioned that the ferry was temporary -- the company intended to build an international railroad bridge across the Detroit River, extending eastward from Stony Island. CASO went bankrupt in 1874. Later during the 1870s, an attempt was made to tunnel through the underlying limestone. The abandoned Stony Island ferry dock was destroyed about 1909, during excavation of the Livingstone Channel through the Lime Kiln Crossing formation. The former ferry slip at Gordon ON now serves as a marina. The world's first international telephone service was established between the two ferry docks.
This article was last modified 7 years ago