It's seemed logical from the start of the
Iron Ore Heritage Trail project that it should go past the
Michigan Iron Industry Museum, and with a new grant, that's about to happen.
The Iron Ore Heritage Trail was granted money from the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund to construct 12 miles of a shared-use pathway from the Negaunee Senior Citizens Center to County Road 492 in Ely Township.
"Our residents have been looking forward to this major connection and we expect that trail usage will explode. This phase allows us to continue the Marquette Iron Range Story, one that is unique to us and gives us our sense of place," says Carol Fulsher, administrator of the Iron Ore Heritage Recreation Authority. "We are following the original plank road that was used in the mid-1850s to take the newly discovered ore to the Lake Superior harbor for shipping to steel mills. Users of this section of the trail will go past early mine sites, forges, quarries, active tracks that continue to bring ore to the harbor, and the Michigan Iron Industry Museum."
The trail expansion is expected to boost recreation and tourism in the area, as its other sections have throughout the central U.P. It will connect with an existing trail from Negaunee to Ishpeming, which ends in the east at the former Soo Line Railroad bridge over U.S. 41 in Marquette. It will be built by the Marquette County Road Commission.
Eventually, the plan is to extend farther west to Republic Township, and connect to existing trails in Marquette and Chocolay Township, for a total of 48 miles of trailway.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Carol Fulsher, Iron Ore Heritage Recreation Authority
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