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ONTONAGON - As of Oct. 9, the Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad Company plans to file with the United States Surface Transportation Board for the abandonment of its tracks from Ontonagon, and the residents in the village hope to do everything in their power to prevent it from happening.

Victoria James, trustee with the village of Ontonagon and Ontonagon County Chamber of Commerce president, expressed concern at the village meeting Monday evening that the abandonment would deter future industry - who would otherwise find use from the railroad - from coming to Ontonagon.

Previously, the railroad was used by Smurfit-Stone Container, which ceased operations as of Sept. 19.

Concerned citizen Bryan Linna said approximately 50 miles of track would be removed from Ontonagon to either Mass City or Sidnaw.

"Our future here is this railroad," he said.

The village of Ontonagon found out about the abandonment from a pre-legal notice in the newspaper, Manager Tom Cogswell said. Cogswell said he notified Rep. Mike Lahti, D-Hancock; U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit; U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing; U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee and State Sen. Mike Prusi, D-Ishpeming that their help on the issue is immediately needed.

"We need to find out what we can or can't do and get more information on the process," Cogswell said.

However, the railroad does belong to John Larkin, president of E&LS Railroad.

"The state of Michigan has put thousands and thousands of dollars into that railroad," said Linna, who was with the railroad for 25 years. "As far as I know, Larkin's debt is paid to the state. It's his railroad."

James said when she saw the pre-legal notice in the paper, something inside of her "just snapped."

"This is it," she said. "I can't take another of these lying down."

Recently, there have been a couple of blows to Ontonagon, including the closing of Maple Manor and Smurfit-Stone Container.

James said it's time to be proactive for the betterment of Ontonagon.

At the meeting, James read a letter she received from Larkin, which stated, "In late May of this year, we were told to bid on Smurfit-Stone Container locations for corrugated medium and that they required no minimums of any type in our bid. That meant no dollar amount minimum, no specific number of boxcars nor a percentage of production. We bid it that way and in a conference call of July 23, we were told that Railroad had bid the transportation services so cheaply that they thought we could not be viable at these much lower prices and decided then to go 100 percent truck."

Also in the letter, Larkin states that Smurfit-Stone had no further need for the railroad. He said they informed Smurfit if they went 100 percent truck, they would take up the track.

"We were the low bid and we have been informed that there is no future for us at Ontonagon and that another paper company wished our services," the letter stated. "We will be taking up the track either Ontonagon to Mass City, or Ontonagon to Sidnaw. We will use the sale of a percentage of this track to retire bank loans and we will use part of the those materials to build a new line."

Parts of southern Houghton County and loggers will also be affected by the abandonment.

"This county has got to step up," James said. "It's about time these people in this town do something about it or there isn't going to be any future here for our kids or for any of us down the road."

James said the railroad is part of what made Ontonagon unique, as future manufacturers would relocate to Ontonagon and require rail transportation. Using a rail system can be significantly cheaper than trucking, considering that in the "last year, the railroad in Ontonagon spent half a million dollars on its new (trailers on a flat car) service for the mill that moves a loaded trailer from Ontonagon to Green Bay for about $83 per trailer versus about $386 by truck," the letter stated.

The most important move now is to create awareness, Scott Frazer, village president, said.

"We need action," he said.

James said the village has one small window of opportunity in the form of crafting a letter of concern. Tonight, members of the village of Ontonagon board will meet at 7 p.m. to craft a letter of concern of the abandonment to be sent to Larkin and representatives.

James encouraged members of the meeting and the public to fill out a form on the Surface Transportation Board Web site where one can voice concern about rail abandonment.

"The more people we get to fill something like that out, the better we're going to be," James said. "There's got to be something we can do."

In the late 1800s, Ontonagon expressed a need for a railroad system, Ontonagon resident Bruce Johanson said.

In 1882, the new rail system, E&LS Railroad, started in Ontonagon and travelled through Rockland and swung through Sidnaw to Wells, Mich., and was part of the old Milwaukee Road, he said.

"It started out as the Chicago, Milwaukee and Northern, and then became the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul and connected to Ontonagon County," he said. "So there was a direct real connection between Ontonagon and Chicago."

Since 1920, the railroad serviced the paper mill in Ontonagon, Johanson said.

"That was basically the lifeblood of that railroad, hauling paper out of here and bringing in waste paper for recycling," he said.

Stacey Ashcraft can be reached at sashcraft @mininggazette.com.