Let the dirt roads be as good as they may, yet they do not meet all of the necessities of a growing, thriving country. Cheaper and quicker transportation is needed for both business and travel. Isabella began, along about the seventies, to feel the need of a railroad. One was headed toward the county, but was to only touch the northeast portion of it. This road was the Flint & Pere Marquette, a land grant road, where a strip of land embracing each alternate section for six miles on either side of the center line of said road was granted by the United States government to the state of Michigan June 3, 1856, to aid in the construction of railroads in the state, and by the state accepted by an act of the Legislature of February a corresponding amount of land turned over to then]. The line was graded through this county in 1870 and the track laid in 1871. The line entered the county at or near Coleman, about three and one-half miles south of the northeast corner of the county, running thence in a west and northerly direction, leaving the county about one and one-half miles west of the northeast corner of the township of Vernon, thence running along west near the north county line to Farwell, thence continuing a little north of west until it left Clare county some four or five miles north of the northwest corner of Isabella county. It will be seen that it embraced quite a scope of country belonging to Isabella.

It was a great road for lumbermen. Its full capacity was at times used for the transportation of logs from the pineries to the great banking grounds along the Titabawassa river and the Saginaw. It was of small benefit to Isabella except it was an outlet that was finally reached by building first a .narrow gauge from Mt. Pleasant to Coleman, a distance of fifteen miles. This road was constructed in the year 1879 under the name of the Saginaw & Mt. Pleasant. Jesse Hoyt, of New York, was president; I. A. Fancher, of Mt. Pleasant, vice-president, and William L. Webber, of Saginaw, secretary and treasurer. It was afterward widened to a standard gauge and became a part of the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway system, now the Pere Marquette. It was a happy day for the people of Mt. Pleasant and vicinity when they felt that they were in touch again with the outside world by the bands of steel. The enterprise cost about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, and the people of Mt. Pleasant were required to furnish fifteen thousand dollar's and the right-of-way, also depot grounds. The fifteen thousand dollars was furnished by subscription, and the right-of-way was secured and paid for by Cornelius Bennett, George L. Granger and I. A. Fancher. The work was completed on the 8th day of December, 1879, and was opened for business on the 15th day of December. Business was suspended, business houses closed, and every one was out with a broad smile on his radiant countenance. The incoming train, with the officials of the road, was met at the depot. An address of welcome was made by the president of the village, John C. Leaton; Maj. J. W. Long acted as marshal, who formed the parade as follows: First, the Mt. Pleasant band; second, president and common council of the village; third, steam fire engine; fourth, the hook and ladder company; sixth, citizens on foot; seventh, citizens in carriages. The procession formed at the depot and marched to the court house, where William N. Brown delivered a very pleasing address, followed by Dr. H. C. Potter, of Saginaw, one of the railroad officials, D. H. Nelson, of Mt. Pleasant, and I. A. Fancher, vice-president of the road. In the evening the town was illumined and W. N. Brown threw open his dwelling for a reception, at which, with the host and hostess, assisted by Mrs. I. A. Fancher, Mrs. C. Bennett, Mrs. J. W. Long, Mrs. J. C. Leaton, Mrs. W. S. Hunt and Mrs. J. R. Doughty, the assembled crowd was received and a most delightful evening was spent in honor of the occasion. The coming of the railroad was the dawn of a new era for Mt. Pleasant and every class of business took on new life and vigor. The county as well as the city felt the impulse for better things; lands were increased in value; town lots were advanced in value; manufacturing enterprises sought locations; timber was made of some value; the farmer felt a new impulse to clear and improve his farm now that he could reach an outside market.

The next railroad enterprise to look toward building a road into Isabella county was the Ann Arbor, or, more properly speaking, the Toledo & Ann Arbor. This road, under the direction and leadership of Governor Ashley, of Toledo, Ohio, had been creeping along from Toledo, north, during the latter seventies and fore part of the eighties, and had finally reached Owosso, when they picked up the stock, franchise and right-of-way of a road that had been commenced at Owosso, running thence to Ithaca and so on to Alma, and thence to Mt. Pleasant. That road had graded a track from Owosso to Ithaca, and part of the way from Ithaca to Alma, and had surveyed a line on to Mt. Pleasant; a considerable portion of the line had also been tied, but after this had all been done, under the claim of the officers of the road that the Michigan Central Railroad Company would guarantee the bonds and furnish the iron and rolling stock, the said company flatly refused to do anything of the kind and the project proved a failure. The Toledo & Ann Arbor road, finding it in that condition, proposed to take the franchise, stock and road bed and complete the same. This being what the people desired, they readily turned over all to them and the Toledo & Ann Arbor proceeded to construct the same from Owosso to Ithaca. At that point they proposed to run to St. Louis instead of continuing on the old line to Alma. That did not please the Alma people, and Messrs. A. W. Wright, W. S. Turk, James Gargett, William N. Brown, John A. Harris and others organized the Lansing, Alma, Mt. Pleasant and, Northern Railroad Company. They consequently abandoned the old line to Alma and ran their line to St. Louis, and from there turned west and ran on the north side of Alma and thence to Mt. Pleasant, reaching that point about 1885.

The northern terminus remained at Mt. Pleasant until they located an extension to the city of Clare, some fifteen miles north, where they crossed the Pere Marquette road; from there they continued the line on to Cadillac and thence to Frankfort on Lake Michigan. Not long after they had completed their line of road to the lake they felt the necessity of an outlet across the lake and then it was that the Ashleys conceived the idea of building a ferry boat of sufficient power and capacity to transport a train of loaded cars across the lake without breaking bulk. They built a boat, made the trial and it proved successful. It then became a demonstrated fact and will remain so for all time to come.

About the year 1875 a branch of the Detroit, Lansing & Northern was started from Ionia, running to Stanton, Edmore, Blanchard, Millbrook and thence northwest to Remus and Big Rapids. This road gave an outlet to the south and west portion of the county and was afterward, about 1893, increased by a branch from Remus to Bundy and Weidman, a distance from Remus of thirteen miles. This branch served as an outlet for the lumber of the country in and about Weidman and also for the farm products raised in a large portion of Nottaway, Gilmore, Sherman, Deerfield and Broomfield townships. There was also a branch put into Brinton from the Pere Marquette for the purpose of shipping out the charcoal made at the village of Brinton. That branch was of much service and profit to the people in and around the village, as it gave labor to a large number of people in cutting, hauling and burning the word into charcoal. This industry also made a market for thousands of cords of wood that otherwise would have had to be cut and burned in fallow without the owner receiving any revenue from the timber. It lightened the burden of the farmer and enable him to more quickly convert his timber land into crop-producing condition, whereby he could obtain some revenue from his land as a husbandman. The last branch of road was, after it had served its purpose, discontinued and removed.
 
 

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