A steam-powered logging train pauses for a full group photo in Bear Lake, in Manistee County, in this circa-1890 scene.
Bear Lake grew fast during Michigan’s white pine era, when rail lines and water routes helped move timber from the woods to sawmills — and then to markets around the Great Lakes. In the 1870s and 1880s, local lumber interests built a tram/rail connection from Bear Lake to Pierport on Lake Michigan, making it easier to ship out lumber and other goods.
Take a close look at the people lined up by the locomotive and the log cars — this wasn’t just a train, it was the region’s economy on wheels.
What do you know or remember about logging railroads around Bear Lake or Pierport?
#MichiganHistory #ManisteeCounty #BearLakeMI #LoggingHistory #RailroadHistory
