Soo Line Railroad Company

The Soo Line Railroad Company is the principal subsidiary of Soo Line Corp., a holding company involved in transportation and related real estate. Canadian Pacific Limited, a transportation, resource development, and manufacturing company with headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, in 1990 owned virtually 100% of the common stock of Soo Line Corp. Canadian Pacific interests have controlled the Soo Line and its predecessors since 1888. The M.St.P.&S.S.M. was popularly known as the "Soo Line" for many years prior to the formal adoption of the name in 1961, and this is reflected in the organization of the collection. In 1992 the Soo Line was one of three constituent railroad companies comprising the CP Rail System. In that year use of the name "Soo Line" was discontinued in favor of "CP Rail System" for most purposes.

The idea behind the formation of what became the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company (M.St.P.&S.S.M.) was the desire of Minneapolis grain milling interests to have a route to eastern markets independent of the railroads operating between Minneapolis and Chicago, and of James J. Hill's railroad and steamship lines operating to and out of Duluth-Superior. A second objective was to construct a line west of Minneapolis into Dakota Territory, in order to assure the millers of a secure source of hard spring wheat for themselves independent of Hill and his railroad.

The Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic Railway Company was organized and incorporated by William Drew Washburn, Thomas Lowry, Clinton Morrison, C. M. Loring, W. W. Eastman, Charles Pillsbury, and others in September, 1883, to construct a line from Minneapolis through Wisconsin to Sault Ste. Marie. The first train left Minneapolis for Sault Ste. Marie in January, 1888. The Minneapolis and Pacific Railway Company was chartered in 1884 to build westward and by 1886 had reached into Dakota Territory. The first board of directors included W. D. Washburn and Thomas Lowry. Two other lines, the Aberdeen, Bismarck and Northwestern (which Lowry controlled by 1888) and the Minneapolis and St. Croix railway companies were also controlled by the milling interests and were component parts of the developing rail system.

Later in the 1880s the millers needed additional financing for both construction and operational purposes. They were able to get it from financiers associated with the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, Montreal, who thereby gained controlling interest in the four small lines. They demanded as a condition the consolidation of the four lines into the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste Marie Railway Company (M.St.P.&S.S.M.). Thomas Lowry was the first president of the new 781-mile line, and the Canadian Pacific owned more than half of the stock. The Canadian Pacific also purchased the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway Company in 1888, giving them an entry into Duluth.

The M.St.P.&S.S.M. was formed with the June 11, 1888 consolidation of the Minneapolis & St. Croix Railway Company; the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railway Company; the Minneapolis & Pacific Railway Company; and the Aberdeen, Bismarck & Northwestern Railway Company. Its earliest predecessor, the Ordway, Bismarck and Northwestern Railway Company (a forerunner of the Aberdeen, Bismarck and Northwestern), was incorporated May 31, 1883. Parties to the articles of consolidation included Washburn, J. M. Robinson, and E. P. Wells, presidents of the consolidating roads. The line reached Duluth in 1911. It reached Portal, North Dakota and Noyes, Minnesota in 1904, in both places making connections with the Canadian Pacific, The line operated in Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana, and owned trackage in Wisconsin as well.

The M.St.P.&S.S.M. filed for bankruptcy on December 31, 1937. The company was reorganized as the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad Company, effective September 1, 1944. In 1961 the railroad merged with the Wisconsin Central and the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic railroad companies to create the Soo Line Railroad Company. Soo Line Corp., a holding company controlling the Soo Line Railroad, was formed in 1984. The Soo Line purchased the bankrupt Milwaukee Road in February 1985; the Milwaukee was merged into the Soo in early 1986. The Soo sold its Lake States Transportation Division to Wisconsin Central, Ltd., in 1987.

In 1992 the name "Soo Line" was dropped in favor of "CP Rail System," an umbrella designation that, besides the Soo, included CP Rail and the Delaware and Hudson Railway and under which the Soo operated as the "Heavy Haul - US" business unit.

For most of its existence the Soo Line system consisted of line in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Upper Peninsula Michigan, with short sections of track in Montana, South Dakota, and Illinois. The system stretched from northeastern Montana to the Twin Ports and the Twin Cities, and from there to Chicago and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. With the Milwaukee Road came lines to Kansas City, Missouri, and Louisville, Kentucky; a new main line between St. Paul and Chicago; trackage in Iowa and Indiana; and additional line in Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. The sale of Lake States included most of the company's original line in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.

In 1990, after the acquisition of the Milwaukee Road and the sale of Lake States, the Soo Line consisted of a 3,450-mile core system and 2,350 miles of feeder lines. It had three Canadian gateways: Portal, Noyes, and Detroit (under an agreement with CSX).

The Soo Line west of Minneapolis has traditionally been agriculturally oriented, essentially a grain gathering system. East of Minneapolis it was more industrially oriented and, in particular, a transporter of forest and paper industry products. Most of the lines carrying forest and paper products, however, are now owned by Wisconsin Central, Ltd. In 1958 the line's revenue from carload freight traffic, by commodity groups, consisted of products of agriculture (36.96%), animals and animal products (1.99%), products of mines (10.83%), products of forests (19.02%), and manufactures and miscellaneous commodities (31.2%).

The M.St.P.&S.S.M. was popularly known as "the Soo line" long before the 1961 when the name officially came into existence, and the cataloger has accordingly used the two corporate names almost interchangeably. The series within this record group include both pre- and post-merger records, as the three companies comprising the Soo Line were essentially operated as one long prior to the merger.

The Wisconsin Central Railroad Company was formed in 1871 with the consolidation of three smaller railroad companies: the Winnebago and Lake Superior, the Portage and Superior, and the Portage, Stevens Point and Superior. The Wisconsin Central was the brainchild of promoters Judge George Reed of Manitowoc and Menasha, his brother Curtis Reed of Menasha, and Matt Wadleigh of Stevens Point. The new line was a land grant railroad. A number of other small lines were brought into the Wisconsin Central through consolidation and purchase over the years.

Construction began in June, 1871 at West Menasha and was completed to Waupaca by October of that year. The route between Stevens Point and Ashland was completed in 1877, and by June of that year trains were running from Ashland Milwaukee (part of the way over the rails of other companies). In 1880 entry made into the Twin Cities (also part of the way over other companies' rails). Wisconsin Central completed its own line into the Twin Cities in 1884, and in Chicago in 1886. In 1909 Wisconsin Central rails reached Duluth.

From 1890 to 1893 the Wisconsin Central was leased to the Northern Pacific.

In 1897 the name of the line became the Wisconsin Central Railway Company, apparently following a reorganization.

The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company (M.St.P.&S.S.M.) ("Soo line") acquired majority ownership of the outstanding Wisconsin Central capital stock in 1908. The M.St.P.&S.S.M. leased and operated the Wisconsin Central from 1909 until 1961. During this time the property of the Wisconsin Central was operated as a separate corporation, and served essentially as the Wisconsin component of the M.St.P.&S.S.M. The company went into receivership in 1932, and into bankruptcy in 1944. It emerged in 1954 as the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company.

In 1961 the Wisconsin Central merged with the M.St.P.&S.S.M. and the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic to form the Soo Line Railroad Company.

In 1986 the Soo Line set up Lake States Transportation Division, a semi-autonomous, semi-regional 2,002-mile railroad under its control composed of most of its lines in Wisconsin and upper Michigan. Lake States was sold in 1987 to Wisconsin Central, Ltd., a group of current and former Midwestern railroaders and investors.

In 1958 revenue from carload freight traffic by commodity groups consisted of agricultural products (13.29%), animals and animal products (4.97%), products of mines (12.41%), forest products (14.21%), and manufactures and miscellaneous commodities (55.12%). The company maintained repair shops and stores facilities at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. It was part owner of the Packers Car Line Company and the Belt Railway Company of Chicago. The Wisconsin Central served the Gogebic Iron Ore Range, and owned an iron ore dock at Ashland, Wisconsin.

The Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway Company (DSS&A) was formed in an 1886 consolidation of four lines: the Sault Ste. Marie & Marquette Railroad Company, the Duluth Superior & Michigan Railway Company, the Wisconsin, Sault Ste. Marie & Mackinac Railway Company, and the Mackinaw & Marquette Railroad Company. The consolidation resulted in the establishment of a continuous rail line from Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace, Michigan to Superior, Wisconsin. The DSS&A was incorporated in both Michigan and Wisconsin in 1887. The first board of directors consisted of Columbus R. Cummings, James McMillan, George I. Seney, Norman B. Ream, Calvin S. Brice, August D. Jouillard, and Hugh McMillan. A number of other small Michigan lines were ultimately brought into the DSS&A fold through consolidation and purchase, the earliest of these dating back to 1855. The DSS&A was the Michigan component of the M.St.P.&S.S.M. system.

The Canadian Pacific Railway Company purchased the 526-mile DSS&A in 1888. The DSS&A went into bankruptcy in 1937, emerging in 1949 as the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railroad. In 1961 the DSS&A merged with the M.St.P.&S.S.M. and the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company to form the Soo Line Railroad Company. In later years DSS&A executive offices were at Minneapolis, and its main operating offices at Marquette, Michigan, where it also maintained repair shops, stores, and other facilities.

Key subsidiary and related companies included the Mineral Range Railroad Company and the Sainte Marie Union Depot Company (see Branch Lines record group for records of these companies). The DSS&A was part owner of the Lake Superior Terminal and Transfer Railway Company, the Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Company, and the Mackinac Transportation Company. It operated a joint terminal at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, on behalf of itself and the M.St.P.&S.S.M, and was the owner of an ore dock at Marquette, Michigan. The line served the Marquette Iron Ore Range. In 1958 revenue from carload freight traffic commodity groups consisted of products of agriculture (4.59%), animals and animal products (1.12%), products of mines (19.27%), products of forests (28.49%), and manufactures and miscellaneous commodities (46.53%).

The former DSS&A trackage was apparently all included in the 1987 sale of Lake States Transportation Division to Wisconsin Central, Ltd.

From the guide to the Soo Line Railroad Company records., 1855-1994., (Minnesota Historical Society)