Soo Line Railroad (SOO) collection
Content Description
The Soo Line Railroad (SOO) collection contains one Highway Department Railway map of the Marquette Shoreline and Profile maps, right-of-way maps, station maps, maps of lands, tracks, and structures associated with the railroad, and railroad track scale drawings pertaining to the following railroads:
Soo Line Railroad (SOO) (1949-present);
Duluth, South Shore, & Atlantic Railway (DSS&A) (1879-1961);
Minneapolis-St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (MStP&SSM) (SOO) (1883-1961), commonly referred to as The Soo;
Mineral Range Railroad (MRRR) (1871-1949), started as the Galena & Chicago Union railroad.
The documents in MSS-363, The Soo Line Railroad collection are separated into five levels of organization:
3 Record Groups -- arranged in hierarchical order starting with the parent railroad
Sub-group -- arranged by type of map and then alphabetically
Series -- arranged by division and then alphabetically
File -- arranged in numerical order by station number (this level is only used for the DSS&A Mackinaw Division maps that are a single roll document composed of six separate maps)
Item -- arranged alphabetically
Dates
- 1912 - 1998
Creator
- Soo Line Railroad Company (Organization)
- Duluth, South Shore, and Atlantic Railroad Company (Organization)
- Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad Company (Organization)
- Mineral Range Railroad Company (Organization)
- Duluth, South Shore, and Atlantic Railway Company (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish material from MSS-363, Soo Line Railroad (SOO) collection, must be obtained from the University Archivist. The University Archivist may be reached by phone at 906-227-1225, or e-mail, archives@nmu.edu. The University Archivist may also be reached in Room 126 of the Learning Resource Center, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI.
Biographical / Historical
MSS-363: Soo Line Railroad (SOO) (1949-present), operated by Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), was incorporated on October 19, 1949 in Minnesota as the Duluth South Shore & Atlantic Railroad (DSS&A) as part of a plan to reorganize the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway and its subsidiary Mineral Range Railroad (MRRR). On January 1, 1961, Canadian Pacific Railway consolidated several subsidiaries and merged three railways: Minneapolis-St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad (MStP&SSM), Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway, and Wisconsin Central Railroad (WC), and renamed it to the present name of the Soo Line Railroad. The railroad operated 4693 miles of road on 6104 miles of track at the end of 1970. The Soo Line Corporation, a holding company incorporated by Canadian Pacific Railway in 1984, had total control over the railroad. In January 1986, two more railroads were merged into the Soo Line: Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway (MNS) acquired in 1982 and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (MILW) acquired while in bankruptcy in 1985. The Lake States Transportation Division (LSTD) was created on February 10, 1986 to cut costs and to operate the Soo Line’s less-important lines. The Soo Line Corporation, after failing to implement proposed labor rule changes, sold the 2,000 mile Lake States Transportation Division (LTSD) for $133 million in 1987 to Wisconsin Central Ltd., now part of the Canadian National Railway (CN). Canadian Pacific Railway gained full control over the Soo Line Corporation in 1990.
Extent
10 boxes
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This collection, MSS-363, The Soo Line Railroad (SOO) collection is separated into five levels of organization.
3 Record Groups: arranged in hierarchical order starting with the parent railroad
Sub-group: arranged by type of map and then alphabetically
Series: arranged by division and then alphabetically
File: arranged in numerical order by station number (this level is only used for the DSS&A Mackinaw Division maps that are a single roll document composed of six separate maps)
Item: arranged alphabetically
Custodial History
Marcus Robyns and Bruce Sarjeant obtained the collection in 2015 from the donor's wife in Ishpeming. The wife indicated that her husband worked for the Canadian National Railroad in Escanaba. As workers prepared to destroy the material, Barry Williams transferred as much as he could to his car and brought the collection home.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The materials in Accession M15-11 were received from Barry A. and Cristin R. Williams of Ishpeming, Michigan, as a gift in 2015.
Deed of Gift and Agreement, signed by both individuals and dated May 4, 2015, is on file at the Central Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan University Archives. The original document is maintained in the Donor File for collection MSS-363, The Soo Line Railroad (SOO) collection, with a copy filed in the Donor File for this collection.
Accruals
The Central Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan University Archives will continue to add materials to this collection as it becomes available.
Condition Description
Most maps have tears around their periphery, slight water damage, and all maps are currently rolled up. Tears have been repaired and maps are being stored rolled in tube containers.
General
The Historical/Biographical note and the Scope and Contents note were compiled from information retrieved from the collection, MSS-363, Soo Line Railroad (SOO) collection, and from the Source Materials listed below.
Berry, Dale. 2016. “Railroad History of Michigan.” RRHX: Michigan’s Internet Railroad History Museum. Accessed August 18. http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/RRHXHome.htm.
Bowen & Co., B. F. 1916. Bowen’s Michigan State Atlas: Containing a Separate Map of Each County, Showing Section, Township and Range Lines, Railroad and Interurban Lines...with a Historical Sketch of Each County...Also Containing Maps of Michigan, the United States and the World. Indianapolis, IN: B. F. Bowen & Co. http://name.umdl.umich.edu/2911289.0001.001.
Commission, Michigan Railroad. 1910. Annual Report of the Michigan Railroad Commission. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Company, state printers.
Fergusson, Jim. 2015. “Michigan Railroads (1)-SL205: Passenger Stations & Stops.” http://www.railwaystationlists.co.uk/pdfusarr/michiganrrs1uprp.pdf.
History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan Containing a Full Account of Its Early Settlement; Its Growth, Development and Resources; An Extended Description of Its Iron and Copper Mines. 1883. Chicago, IL: The Western Historical Company. https://archive.org/stream/arg9598.0001.001.umich.edu#page/n5/mode/2up.
Meints, Graydon M. 1992. Michigan Railroads & Railroad Companies. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.
“Soo Line Railroad.” 2016. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soo_Line_Railroad&oldid=743567878.
- Construction drawings. Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Maps. Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Railroad tracks. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Railroads. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Upper Peninsula (Mich.). Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Source
- Williams, Barry A. (Person)
- Title
- The Soo Line Railroad (SOO) collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Glenda K. Ward, Arrangement and Description Specialist
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Central Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan University Archives Repository
Harden Learning Resources Center 126
1401 Presque Isle Ave
Marquette 49855 United States
906-227-1225
906-227-1333 (Fax)
archives@nmu.edu
