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M-35 (Michigan highway)

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M-35 marker
M-35
Route information
Maintained by MDOT
Length127.99 mi[1] (205.98 km)
Existedc.1920[2]–present
Major junctions
Major intersections US 2/US 41/M-35 in Escanaba

US 2/US 41/M-35 in Gladstone

M-553 near Gwinn
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMichigan
CountiesMenominee, Delta, Marquette
Highway system
← M-34→ M-36

M-35 is a 127.99-mile (205.98 km)[1] highway in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It runs in an overall north–south direction connecting Menominee, Escanaba and Negaunee. It was originally intended to run from Menominee in the south to near Big Bay in the north before turning toward L'Anse to eventually end at Ontonagon. The section through the Huron Mountains in northern Marquette and Baraga counties was never built. Some portions constructed were turned over by the state to local control or redesignated as other state highways.

Route description

M-35 is primarily a two-lane roadway, except the section concurrent with US 2/US 41. This portion is a four-lane divided highway.

Menominee to Gladstone

M-35 is a part of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour and listed on the National Highway System from the southern terminus in Menominee to the northern junction with US 2/US 41 in Gladstone.[3][4] On 2007-08-26, MDOT announced that this 64-mile (103 km) section of M-35 was also designated the U.P. Hidden Coast Recreational Heritage Trail.[5][6] MDOT's press release states:

The Heritage Route passes through both Delta and Menominee counties on the western shoreline of Lake Michigan in the central Upper Peninsula, and features parks, waterways, forests, trails, attractions, boat launches, harbors and campgrounds. Suggested stops range from cultural centers and modern entertainment, to historical sites and natural attractions.

— James Lake, MDOT[7]

M-35 is the shorter highway routing between Menominee and Escanaba, running along a more direct alignment up the Lake Michigan shoreline. According to the current Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) State Highway Map, taking US 41 results in a distance of 65 miles (105 km) versus 55 miles (89 km) along M-35.[3]

The southern terminus of M-35 is at the corner of 10th Street (US 41) and North Shore Drive north of downtown Menominee. It is a Y-shaped intersection near John Henes Park. M-35 leads away from the intersection in a northeasterly direction before turning northerly to head out of town. The highway runs northeasterly along the wooded shoreline of the Bay of Green Bay passing the mouths of the Cedar and Bark rivers. Wells State Park is located on M-35 in Cedar River[3] and Fuller Park is at the mouth of the Bark River.[8]

At the Menominee/Delta county line, M-35 passes from the Central to Eastern Time Zone en route to Escanaba. On the south side of Escanaba, M-35 runs into town on Lake Shore Drive passing the Delta County Airport before turning onto Lincoln Road. Just west of downtown, US 2/US 41 join M-35 at the intersection of Ludington Street and Lincoln Road. Ludington and Lincoln form the E-W and N-S axes respectively of the Escanaba street numbering grid. US 2/US 41 enter Escanaba from the west along Ludington Street, turning north along Lincoln Road, joining M-35.

From Escanaba, M-35 runs concurrently with US 2 and US 41 to Gladstone. Between the two cities, US 2/US 41/M-35 crosses the Escanaba River near the mouth just south of the NewPage Paper Mill.[9][10] North of the Escanaba, the highway follows the shoreline of Little Bay de Noc to Gladstone. M-35 separates from US 2/US 41 at an intersection with 4th Avenue North in Gladstone

Gladstone to Negaunee

Waste rock piles from the Empire Mine along M-35 southbound approaching Palmer.

M-35 turns northwesterly in Gladstone through northern Delta County and southern Marquette County. M-35 crosses the Days River in Brampton. From Perkins north, M-35 runs parallel to the Lake Superior & Ishpeming rail line between the iron mines of Marquette County and Escanaba. The station of Maple River was located in the community of Rock along this line. M-35 crosses into Marquette County in the unincorporated location of McFarland and crosses the rail line before reaching the Little Lake in the community of the same name. It is an east-west highway through Little Lake west to Gwinn.

Built as a company town by the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, Gwinn is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the "Gwinn Model Town Historic District, Forsyth Township, Marquette County, Michigan".[11]

M-35 runs northwest of Gwinn to Palmer along the outskirts of Cleveland-Cliffs' Empire Mine. Large piles of waste rock from the mining operations tower like mountains over the roadway. North of Palmer, M-35 runs past Goose Lake to end in Negaunee Township. The northern terminus is 3.6 miles (5.8 km) east of Negaunee near the former Marquette County Airport and studios of WLUC-TV6 on US 41/M-28 in Negaunee Township.

History

A section of the 1932 Michigan State Dept. of Highways road map showing M-35 in northern Marquette and Baraga counties.[12]

When the highway was first created around 1920, M-35 was designated to run from M-12/M-15 (modern US 2/US 41) at Gladstone in the south to Palmer before terminating in Negaunee at M-15 (modern US 41). The M-91 designation was first created for a highway running from Memoninee northward to Cedar River. Around the creation of the U.S Highway System in 1926, M-35 was extended southerly along US 2/US 41 from Gladstone to Escanaba. From there, M-35 continued as a new highway along the Bay of Green Bay shoreline to Cedar River and supplanted the M-91 designation to Menominee.

M-35 in the Huron Mountains

In 1919, the State Department of Highways, forerunner to today's MDOT determined a scenic shoreline trunkline to run north from Negaunee to Big Bay and then turn towards Skanee and L'Anse. The highway would continue from the L'Anse and Baraga area to eventually end at Ontonagon at an intersection with M-64. Local Upper Peninsula historian Fred Rydolm offers up the routing planned in 1925. "The plan extended the highway in a northwesterly direction, across the Dead River, over the Panorama Hills, then west past the Elm Creek swamp, along the south side of Burnt Mountain, across the Cedar Creek, the Cliff Stream and out past Cliff Lake to Skanee and L'Anse."[13] This highway was designated as an extension of M-35, which then ended in downtown Negaunee. Work was completed on a significant portion of the routing in Marquette County by 1926. M-35 was routed east along M-15 toward Marquette before turning north-northwesterly toward Big Bay. This section of roadway follows the modern Marquette County Road 510. Similar work was completed in Baraga County connecting L'Anse and Skanee by 1932.[14]

This left the portion through the Huron Mountains uncompleted. As this was the most difficult section to build, it was left for last, to be built from each side, meeting in the middle. This section of the routing was shown on state maps as a dashed line marked "IMPASSABLE".[12] Sections not included in CR 510 still exist today as "Blind 35", a poorly maintained gravel road turning northwesterly from CR 510 near Big Bay.[14] Rydhom adds, "the few miles of the road going to the Salmon Trout River, complete with guard rails and cement culverts, has been known as 'Dead End 35' ever since."[13]

The Steel Bridge

The Steel Bridge carrying Marquette County Road 510 over the Dead River.

One of the first major tasks for the State Highway Department was bridging the Dead River in Negaunee Township. The state found an unusual solution.

This bridge is a rare Pennsylvania through truss highway bridge, particularly because of the length (271-foot (83 m)) of this single span. It was purchased by the State Highway Department in 1919, moved from an unspecified Allegheny River site, probably considerably upstream from Pittsburgh, an then erected on this site in 1921.[15]

The bridge is still in place. It carries Marquette County Road 510 (CR 510) over the Dead River as the successor to M-35 in northern Marquette County. The bridge survived the 2003-05-15 flooding of the Dead River caused by the breaching of the Silver Lake Dam upstream.[16][14][17]

This bridge is known to locals as "The Steel Bridge". Plans are in the works by the Marquette County Road Commission to bypass the Steel Bridge with a modern replacement, but leave the existing bridge as a foot or bike path.[18]

Henry Ford and M-35

The Huron Mountain Club recounts that Henry Ford "…had wandered the Upper Peninsula for years, looking for various means to keep his revolutionary production lines adequately supplied. In the late 1910s or early 1920s, he, Harvey Firestone and Thomas Edison dropped by the Club for a little visit while touring the lakes on Ford's yacht, the Sialia."[19] His land in the UP provided wood used in the manufacture of Ford automobiles of the era. Ford had a saw mill set up in Alberta and a cottage at Pequaming along the shores of the Keweenaw Bay. He also had purchased 400,000 acres (1,619 km2) in the early 1920s. Ford desired entry into the exclusive Huron Mountain Club in northern Marquette County. With limited membership, Ford sought to "stack the deck" in his favor should a membership spot in the club open.[14] Ford's membership would ultimately come with the cancellation of M-35 in the Huron Mountains.

"There were many who objected to the road — hunters, campers, hikers, fishermen and some landowners — and there seemed to be no groundswell of sentiment in favor of it, but it looked as the though the die was cast and nothing could be done to stop it."[13] The Huron Mountain Club was not in favor of the highway either. "When they started putting Route M-35 through… the Club was having fits… They didn't have a ghost of a chance until finally they got an attorney general's opinion that if two-thirds of the property owners over which the road would pass objected, the road would be stopped."[19] The proposed highway would not cross much Club property, only two 40-acre parcels. This property would not be enough to ensure the requisite ownership needed to halt road construction.

In 1926, a new president was elected at the Huron Mountain Club, and the admission rules were changed. Before the changes, a vote was taken of all the members, with four blackballs denying election to the membership. After the changes, only club directors would vote, with one objection necessary to block election. In 1927, the road grading was up to the Salmon Trout River. The same year, Ford purchased land near Mountain Lake in northern Marquette County in addition to his previous holdings. This property would encompass more than the requisite two-thirds necessary to stop further construction of the road. In 1928, the road was moved to connect with the Big Bay Road (CR 550) leaving the stub of "Blind 35" behind. "By 1929, M-35 was dead in its tracks and Henry Ford was a member."[19] To commemorate his membership, Ford built a white pine log cabin at the Club costing between US$80-100,000 at the time.[13] To place in perspective, that is the equivalent of $993,000-1,200.000 in 2007 dollars.[20]

After Ford

In 1939, M-35 from Negaunee to Big Bay to L'Anse was officially canceled as a state highway. Constructed portions were turned over to local control, becoming Skanee Road in Baraga County and CR 510 in Marquette County. This left a discontinuous routing for 13 years. The southern segment of M-35 ran from Menominee to Negaunee, and the northern segment ran from Baraga to Ontonagon along the modern M-38. The two segments were rejoined in 1953, closing the gap left by the cancelled Huron Mountain routing. M-35 was continued westward from the end of the southern segment at Negaunee, cosigned along US 41/M-28 and US 41 to Baraga, to connect with the northern segment westward to Ontonagon.

In 1965, several abandoned underground mine shafts collapsed underneath the roadway. This forced a rerouting of M-35 out of the City of Negaunee.[2] Previous to the rerouting, M-35 used part of what is now BUS M-28 through downtown Negaunee from US 41 north of town, connecting at Silver Street to County Road to run east out of town past Lucy Hill. This former segment is still shown on some maps, such as Google Maps, as "Old M-35".[21] Now M-35 runs from Palmer past Goose Lake to end in Negaunee Township. In Negaunee, the only naturbahn, or natural track, luge run in North America crosses the former routing of M-35 over the now abandoned street at the end of County Road at Lucy Hill.[22]

The last major changes to M-35 came in 1968. The section from Baraga to Ontonagon was given the M-38 designation. The M-35 concurrencies were removed along US 41/M-28 and US 41 in Marquette and Baraga counties. This had the effect of moving the northern terminus to the present location in Negaunee Township. Since then, sections of the roadway were realigned in Richmond Township south of Palmer to straighten some of the many curves in the roadway between Palmer and Gwinn in 1989.[2]

Major intersections

Template:MIintbtm

References

  1. ^ a b c "MiGDL - Center for Geographic Information - Geographic Data Library". Michigan Department of Information Technology. May 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  2. ^ a b c Bessert, Christopher J. (2005-01-15). "Michigan Highways: Highways 30 through 39". Michigan Highways. Retrieved 2006-08-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c Official 2007 Department of Transportation Map (Map). 1in.:15mi./1cm.:9km. Cartography by MDOT. Michigan Department of Transportation. 2007. § E5-F6. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite map}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  4. ^ "National Highway System, Michigan" (pdf). Michigan Department of Transportation. 2006-04-23. Retrieved 2008-02-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "M-35 along the Green Bay shore - Michigan's Upper Peninsula". Hunt's Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "MDOT Declares U.P. Road As Heritage Route". WLUC-TV6. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Lake, James (2007-08-26). "M-35 named U.P. Hidden Coast Recreation Heritage Route". Michigan Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "M-35 along the Green Bay shore - Michigan's Upper Peninsula". Hunt's Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Escanaba - Michigan's Upper Peninsula". Hunt's Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "MeadWestvaco Completes Sale of Papers Assets for $2.3 Billion". PaperAge. 2005-05-02. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "National Register of Historic Places - MICHIGAN (MI), Marquette County". National Register of Historic Places. 2002-06-24. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ a b Michigan State Department of Highways Map, 1932.
  13. ^ a b c d Rydholm, C. Fred (1989). Superior Heartland: A Backwoods History (Vol. I ed.). Ann Arbor, Michigan: Braun-Brumfield. pp. pp.514-5. ISBN 0963994824. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  14. ^ a b c d Bessert, Christopher J. (2003-12-26). "Michigan Highways: M-35 - The Highway Henry Ford Stopped" (html). Michigan Highways. Retrieved 2006-10-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "MDOT- County Rd. 510/Dead River (Bypass)" (html). Michigan Department of Transportation. 2002-04-19. Retrieved 2008-02-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "2 Dams Burst In Michigan" (html). CBS News. 2003-05-16. Retrieved 2008-02-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Egan, Dan (2003-06-08). "Dike 'safety valve' went terribly awry" (html). Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2008-02-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "Plans to Replace Historic Bridge Underway". WLUC-TV6. 2006-05-02. Retrieved 2006-10-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  19. ^ a b c Mayor, Archer (1988). Dodge, Murray, ed. (ed.). Huron Mountain Club: The First Hundred Years. Dykema, Rosemary, photography ed. Dexter, Michigan: Thompson-Shore. pp. pp.88-9. ASIN B0007BJB02. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help); |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  20. ^ "CPI Inflation Calculator" (html). Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  21. ^ Negaunee, MI 49866 (Map). Cartography by NAVTEQ. Google Maps. 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  22. ^ "Upper Peninsula Luge Club". Retrieved 2006-10-26.
CountyLocationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
MenomineeMenominee0.000.00 US 41Southern terminus
Cedar River23.0737.13 G-12Western terminus of G-12; To Stephenson
DeltaEscanaba52.2484.07 US 2
US 41
Gladstone55.4089.16 County Road 426Western terminus of CR 426; To Arnold
60.6697.62 US 2
US 41
Brampton67.55108.71Brampton RoadWestern terminus of OLD M-186; To Rapid River
MarquetteLittle Lake96.90155.95 County Road 456Eastern terminus of CR 456; To Skandia
Gwinn100.72162.09 M-553Southern terminus of M-553; To Marquette
105.62169.98 County Road 557Northern terminus of CR 557; To Arnold
Palmer118.23190.27 County Road 565Eastern terminus of CR 565; To National Mine via CR 476
Negaunee Township124.38200.17 County Road 480West to Negaunee, East to Sands Township
126.31-126.36Error: mi is not a number County Road 492Very short 286-foot (87 m) concurrency to cross railroad tracks; M-35 traffic yields to CR 492
127.99205.98 US 41
M-28		Northern terminus
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