I made 3 trips with 2 return trips to and from the depot. All started in Ontonagon with a ride in a “limo” with 4- 6 other young fellows. This was the selective service system in action. These train rides usually took 12-14hours to reach Milwaukee. Large amounts of a certain chemical was consumed on the ride and when touring the brew capital of the world. The last trip continued from Milwaukee to Chicago and then the midnight special to New Orleans with “detraining” in St Louis.

From St Louis a wonderful STEAM train ride to a Fort nicknamed little Korea (Leonardwood). The arch was partially completed so the year was 1965.

Ferd Lundberg

Great memories, Ferd.

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Hi Dennis,
The picture of the old Houghton Railraod Depot in the last alumni newsletter reminds me of some other railroad pictures I had taken while attending in the spring of 1964. I believe the location was on the flats alongside the Portage, just west of the lift bridge on the Houghton side. It was apparently a railroad service yard. It also had a really cool roundhouse which cars and engines could be driven onto, turned around, and shunted into a semi-circle of “garages” for storage or repair. I dont believe it is there any longer.

Ted Reuschel, Forestry 1964

Ted: I fondly recall the roundhouse and the old Van Orden cranes that were nearby.

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dennis,
i remember the train as being called the copper country limited.
at least until 1963.
kent werger
class of ’61

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The train in those days was the Copper Country Limited operated by the Milwaukee Road. It ran from Chicago leaving about 6 o’clock their time arriving around 8 o’clock in the morning in Houghton. My late wife took our kids often to see their grandparents in Dollar Bay using that train and getting a room in the sleeper car. The kids slept all night and woke up in time to be greeted by their grandparents. I would drive up later from St. Joseph, spend some of my vacation time with them and then bring them all back home. Very convenient.

Al Robertson. ’54

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I remember my one and only train ride from the Houghton railroad depot. My ride, along with a bunch of other young males, was from Houghton to Milwaukee in 1965 or 1966. What made the ride unusual was the fact that it was for my physical for the US draft and we were “locked” in on the train. I remember very little of the train ride, it must have been uneventful and I probably kept to myself. I was eventually drafted in 1966, but automatically received a 2S deferment, good till I graduated. Fortunately, I went to work for NSA upon graduation and never had to wear a uniform or, more importantly, participate directly in the Vietnam war fighting.

Joe Wood
BS Math 1967