Charles Harvey, in a photo taken in the 1860s. (Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)

MARQUETTE — Driving on Marquette County Road 480 west of Beaver Grove, an old railroad grade can be seen in a few places paralleling the south side of the highway, particularly in winter when the leaves are gone. After a lot of sleuthing in books, maps and other records I found the old grade led to an interesting story, not only about the railroad project, but also about the history of the village of Harvey.

Back in the early 1860s, Charles Thompson Harvey (1829-1912) was developing his namesake town at the mouth of the Chocolay River, which he intended to rival Marquette in size and importance. He had made a name for himself as superintendent of the building of the first American locks and canal on the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie, which began in 1853 and completed two years later. This was quite an achievement for this Connecticut native who first came to the Upper Peninsula in 1852 to sell scales for the Fairbanks Brothers of Saint Johnsbury, Vermont.

During his time at the Sault, Harvey had visited both the Marquette Range and Copper Country in looking over federal lands which the Saint Marys Falls Ship Canal Co. was to receive as compensation for the cost of building the canal. Harvey could see that the area and its mines offered growing opportunities. He had joined with the Iron Cliffs Co. (predecessor of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co.) in 1857 to build the first charcoal iron furnace in the Upper Peninsula at the Jackson Mine near Negaunee. The Civil War began in 1861 and the Union had urgent need for iron. The Upper Peninsula’s first steam railroad, the Bay de Noquet & Marquette (first called the Iron Mountain Rail Road) had started hauling iron ore in 1857 from the Jackson Mine to its dock on the harbor at Marquette, at the end of what is now called the Jackson Cut Alley –which occupies its original grade — for shipment to lower lake ports.

Work was begun in 1863 to build another rail line from Escanaba to mines on the Marquette Range, as shipping often could continue through the winter on Lake Michigan. The Peninsula Railroad was completed to Negaunee and the first run made just before Christmas in 1864. Charles Harvey was on its board of directors, and he persuaded the railroad (later part of the Chicago & North Western) to build a six and one-half-mile branch line to the village of Harvey, which had been platted in 1864. The main purpose was to transport the Jackson Mine ore to Harvey’s charcoal iron furnace there. (An east-west railroad across the U. P. which would connect Harvey with the iron mines wasn’t built until 1881.)

The grade was built beginning at a junction with the Peninsula Railroad called Harvey Station, at a point 13 miles north of Little Lake, four miles north of Sands, and eight miles south of Negaunee. In Harvey, the main line would run along the west side of the Chocolay River, parallel to Hotel Place, and also serve a nearby sawmill. Spurs were to take off at the southeast end of Kellogg St., serving the Northern Iron Co.’s charcoal iron furnace on the east side of the Chocolay River, and kilns at the west end of what is now Lakewood Lane. A spur would also be built to the nearby sawmill. The depot was to be built on the northeast corner of Main Street and the bridge over the Chocolay.

The Chocolay River originally flowed about a mile east, separated from Lake Superior by a narrow sand spit before emptying into the lake. Harvey had a new channel dredged directly into the lake from the Bayou area, and a breakwater was also built. He wanted to be able to ship his pig iron and iron ore to lower lake ports.

In the meantime, Harvey became interested in developing plans for an elevated railway in New York City. About 1866, he started drawing up preliminary plans in Harvey at his Bayou House home (now occupied by a veterinary clinic). The following year he approached New York interests and sold them on his novel idea. He then became president of the West Side & Younkers Patent Railway. In December of 1867 the first quarter-mile experimental section of the railroad was opened with Harvey as engineer/conductor–the world’s first elevated rail line. The project would have made Harvey a wealthy man, but he soon quarreled with his investors, which ended his involvement with the railway. He left to return to Marquette County in 1871 and continue his efforts in developing the port of Harvey.

By mid-May of 1874, $500,000 had been spent to reopen and upgrade the Northern Iron Co.’s charcoal iron furnace at Harvey. The Mining Journal reported that the sawmill “was working feverishly, the company’s tug was being repaired, and laying of rails (on the Harvey Branch rail line) was being considered enthusiastically.”

Then disaster struck. As the newspaper put it, “The market for pig iron went to pieces.” Effects of the nationwide Panic of 1873 were spreading, and development of Harvey as an industrial center was soon abandoned. Rails were never laid to the village. (Ironically, the only working railroad Charles Harvey ever had was on the streets of New York!) Farms in the Chocolay area later provided the village’s mainstay for many years. Harvey went on to invest in a much smaller way in various ventures, and in land. But he never achieved much financial success. His death came in a New York hotel room at a time when his personal resources had greatly diminished.

Charles Harvey was a man of many abilities and major accomplishments, but he was said to be at times difficult to work with. He was often headstrong, failing to take into account advice of his colleagues, and wanting to do things his way. Not long before his death, while visiting longtime associate James Jopling in Marquette, he said, “Take my advice, never quarrel with your friends.”