View source for Chicago and West Michigan Railway

{{Short description|Railway in Michigan}}
The '''Chicago and West Michigan Railway''' (C&WM) is a defunct railroad which operated in the [[Michigan|state of Michigan]] between 1881 and 1899.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/item/98688500/ Galbraith's railway mail service maps, Michigan.] Publ. Chicago 1897, c1898. Library of Congress. Accessed April 2020.</ref> It was one of the three companies which merged to become the [[Pere Marquette Railway]].

The C&WM was formed on October 1, 1881, through the consolidation of the [[Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad|Chicago and West Michigan Railroad]], the [[Grand Rapids, Newaygo and Lake Shore Railroad]], the [[Michigan Lake Shore Railroad|Grand Haven Railroad]] and the Indiana and Michigan Railroad.<ref name="mrc1882" />

== Network ==
At its creation in 1881, the C&WM controlled the following lines, comprising {{convert|353.6|mi|km}}:<ref name="mrc1882" />

{| class="wikitable"
!Line!!Length!!Original company!! Notes
|-
|[[New Buffalo, Michigan|New Buffalo]]&ndash;[[Holland, Michigan|Holland]]&ndash;[[Muskegon, Michigan|Muskegon]]&ndash;[[Pentwater, Michigan|Pentwater]]||{{convert|169.5|mi|km}}||[[Chicago and West Michigan Railroad|Chicago & West Michigan (C&WM)]] and [[Grand Haven Railroad|Grand Haven (GH)]]||&nbsp;
|-
|Holland&ndash;[[Grand Rapids, Michigan|Grand Rapids]]&ndash;[[White Cloud, Michigan|White Cloud]]||{{convert|70|mi|km}}||C&WM and [[Grand Rapids, Newaygo and Lake Shore Railroad|Grand Rapids, Newaygo & Lake Shore (GRN&LS)]]||&nbsp;
|-
|[[Allegan, Michigan|Allegan]]&ndash;Holland||{{convert|23|mi|km}}||GH||&nbsp;
|-
|Muskegon&ndash;[[Big Rapids, Michigan|Big Rapids]]||{{convert|51.2|mi|km}}||GH||&nbsp;
|-
|[[Mears, Michigan|Mears]]&ndash;[[Hart, Michigan|Hart]]||{{convert|3.3|mi|km}}||C&WM||Branched south of Pentwater
|-
|[[Fruitport, Michigan|Fruitport]]&ndash;Muskegon||{{convert|13.5|mi|km}}||''Grand Rapids & Lake Shore (C&MLS)''||&nbsp;
|-
|[[White Cloud, Michigan|White Cloud]]&ndash;[[Bitely, Michigan|Bitely]]||{{convert|17|mi|km}}||[[White River Railroad (Michigan)|White River (WR)]]||Leased
|}

The C&WM's first new line was a {{convert|37|mi|km|adj=on}} extension south from New Buffalo to [[La Crosse, Indiana]], which opened in November 1882. In 1884 the C&WM bought the [[White River Railroad (Michigan)|White River Railroad]], which it had previously leased, which controlled a {{convert|29.86|mi|km|adj=on}} line from White Cloud to [[Baldwin, Michigan|Baldwin]] (where it joined the [[Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad|Flint & Pere Marquette]]). In 1890 the C&WM extended the line north from Baldwin another {{convert|74|mi|km}} to [[Traverse City, Michigan|Traverse City]]. On February 28, 1891, the C&WM created the [[Chicago and North Michigan Railroad|Chicago and North Michigan]] to extend the line an additional {{convert|78.5|mi|km}} to [[Bay View, Michigan|Bay View]], a task it completed on July 17, 1892; the company also built a {{convert|9.8|mi|km|adj=on}} branch line from [[Williamsburg, Michigan|Williamsburg]] to [[Elk Rapids, Michigan|Elk Rapids]].<ref name="ivey" />{{rp|42-43}}<ref name="meints" />{{rp|49}}

In 1897 the C&WM entered into an arrangement with [[William Alden Smith]] to construct a railway line southeast from [[Rapid City, Michigan|Rapid City]] through [[Kalkaska, Michigan|Kalkaska]] to northern [[Missaukee County, Michigan|Missaukee County]]. Alden's company, the [[Grand Rapids, Kalkaska and Southeastern Railroad]], completed the road in 1898 and was leased by the C&WM starting the next year. The C&WM's successor, the Pere Marquette, formally consolidated the GRK&S in 1903.

In 1899 the C&WM consolidated with the [[Flint and Pere Marquette Railway]] and the [[Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western Railroad]] to form the [[Pere Marquette Railway]]. However, the conveyance of the Indiana property was later declared invalid, and the C&WM continued to exist as a [[non-operating subsidiary]] in that state<ref name="ICC" /> until March 12, 1917, at the same time as the [[Pere Marquette Railway]] took over the Pere Marquette Railroad.<ref name="icc1917" />

Today, only the lines from New Buffalo to Holland, Holland to [[Hamilton, Michigan|Hamilton]], Grand Rapids to Ludington, Walhalla to Manistee, and Grawn to Williamsburg remain in use, with the rest of the track torn out, most of it being dismantled between 1982 and 1983 when the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Railway]] abandoned a lot of its former C&WM trackage.

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="ICC">[[Interstate Commerce Commission]], 130 I.C.C. 497 (1927), Valuation Docket No. 260: Pere Marquette Railroad Company et al.<!--relevant text at [[User:NE2/valuations/Pere Marquette Railroad]]--></ref>
<ref name="icc1917">[[Interstate Commerce Commission]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=_MY7AAAAMAAJ&pg=PT489 Annual Report on the Statistics of Railways in the United States for the Year Ended December 31, 1917], p. 502</ref>
<ref name="ivey">{{Ivey-Marquette}}</ref>
<ref name="meints">{{Meints-Companies}}</ref>
<ref name="mrc1882">{{Michigan Railroad Commission|year=1882|pages=89-96}}</ref>
}}

{{Chicago and West Michigan Railway}}
{{Pere Marquette Railway}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago West Michigan Railway}}
[[Category:Railway companies established in 1881]]
[[Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1917]]
[[Category:Defunct Michigan railroads]]
[[Category:Defunct Indiana railroads]]
[[Category:West Michigan]]
[[Category:Predecessors of the Pere Marquette Railway]]
[[Category:1881 establishments in Michigan]]
[[Category:1899 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:1917 disestablishments in Indiana]]