The Great Thumb Fire of 1881 opened an opportunity for agriculture development. On October 20th, 1881 construction of the thumb railroad Pontiac, Oxford & Port Austin began at Caseville Michigan to bring rail service to the Upper Thumb area. Just before construction began a huge fire devastated the entire region. The result was that the former lumbering area was now ripe for agricultural development. The fire opened up the land to farming.

Crawford’s Saw Mill Caseville 1880’s – Note Depot on Left

The Pontiac, Oxford & Northern, (P.O & N) work starts in the Winter of 1881

Caseville’s first railroad engines were delivered by the ship C.R. Dumford from Cleveland. The track out of Caseville was laid out about a mile before heavy snow stopped the work. Francis Crawford financed the railway project and the rails were shipped in from Cleveland.

Caseville’s Industrial Area of 1881

A Shipping Disaster on Saginaw Bay

This was from The J.W. Hall Great lakes Marine Scrapbook, September, 1882.

“Intelligence was received in Chicago yesterday afternoon that the schooner J.E. GILMORE is ashore at Oak Point, somewhere near Caseville, Lake Huron. No particulars of the disaster could be learned beyond the fact that the vessel is stranded. She is from Chicago, and has a cargo of railroad iron on board. The GILMORE measures 290 tons. She was built at Three Mile Bay, by A. Wilcox, in 1867, and rates A 2½, with a valuation of about $10,000. Hull and cargo insured. A. Wilcox of Cleveland, is the owner. What arrangements have been made for assistance is not learned.”

On one shipment from Cleveland, the ship ran aground on the rocky shoals near Oak Point. During the salvage operation, 23 rails slipped into Saginaw Bay and were lost. This disaster delayed the start of the Thumb railroad building until December. It’s assumed that those rails are still at the bottom of the lake today.

The Pontiac, Oxford & Northern Railroad was completed with the final rail line into Caseville in October 1883

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