Beyond Shingle Diggin's

Published May 24, 1995

Interurban vs. train

The interurban met the needs of local people more than the train aid. As Willis Dunbar explained in his book “Michigan,” “Most interurban cars stopped at every crossroads to receive or discharge passengers.” You remember the story of Michael Smith who lived on a farm near Riverside when the West Michigan and Central was getting its right of way? They needed to curve through Michael’s farm and he wouldn’t sell until they gave him a permanent pass.

So the first time the train came by he flagged it down. He and his wife were dressed to go to town. The conductor screeched to a halt out in the middle of the field, thinking there was an emergency.

“I’m Michael Smith of Riverside,” he said. “Here’s my pass. My wife and I want to go to Benton Harbor.”

“Michael Smith of Riverside or Michael Smith of hell!” screamed the angry conductor. “Don’t you ever stop this train again!”

Well, I don’t know if Michael was still living at the time when the interurban came, but he would have liked its more frequent stops.

“By 1919,” says Dunbar, “over a thousand miles of interurban track were in use in Michigan. Between 1900 and 1920, it was the most popular mode of transportation in this area.”

The difficulty with the train is illustrated by an article in the Watervliet Record about a prominent Coloma citizen (Time: Jan. 12, 1893):

“On Thursday last week Dr. Baker arrived here from Lansing on the Fast Train. He undertook to walk to Coloma (evidently the Fast Train didn’t stop there) through the blinding storm and drifts. But he became exhausted and stuck fast in the snow near Defield’s and had to call for help.” (I guess this was literal calling for help as phone lines were not installed between Benton Harbor and Watervliet until 1899. By 1904, according to “Trails From Shingle Diggin’s,” there were just 40 telephones along the line.) The news item didn’t say how he was helped ... probably Defield’s sleigh.

On longer trips, of course, the train still had a place. The Courier carried an ad in January 1893, boasting low rail fares to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President Cleveland on March 3. But it didn’t divulge either schedules or rates. You were to “contact the local agent or George DeHaven, Gen. Pass. Agt.” No telephones, so guess you’d have to hitch up the horse and go to town to find the details. (I’m not sure the connections are better-or the rates-but at least we can call Amtrak for details.)

An item from the Watervliet Record illustrates another service performed by the train in the 1890s.

“Families willing to entertain poor children from Chicago for a period of two weeks this summer, please leave your name with Mrs. William Garrett or Rev. Dada. Many of these children have never had an outing in the country air. The Fresh Air Fund, contributed by charitable citizens of Chicago, will pay expenses and the RAILROAD COMPANY is assisting. All that is required of those who kindly consent to care for them is to meet them at the depot when notified and return them there at the right time.”

The interurban never did have as good service to the lake as Dr. Baker’s train. They planned to go on around the lake but something else motorized came along-the motor car and the bus.

My cousin, Muriel Pockett Masters, recalls well the trip from the Interurban Station above the paper mill in Watervliet. She was very grown-up at age 8 because she was being allowed to travel with little sister Gladys to Coloma, alone. I suppose her mother, my Aunt Nora Pockett, walked down the paper mill hill and up to the “stop” to see them off and my mom, her Aunt Mabel, met them at the Coloma stop in the ravine behind the Coloma State Bank.

Perhaps that’s what gave me the idea, at the age of three, of putting my Dr. Denton’s in a sack and attempting to leave home by running away to Aunt Nora’s on the interurban. Trouble is I didn’t have a schedule or money, so Mom caught me waiting on the platform. The main thing I remember is being helped up the bank hill with a switch, to our home in the part of Coloma known as “Canada.”