During the booming copper industry and prosperity in the Peninsula, people needed ways to transport both their goods and themselves to distribution hubs in the Midwest. Being that it was the early 1900’s, there were two efficient ways of moving these vast quantities: railways and boats. By 1915, you could take the rails from Phoenix all the way to Milwaukee and Chicago. With all the mines around the area, towns off the mainline also got service. Gay, Lake Linden, and Freda all had tracks running through them.
By the 1960’s, most of the mines were closed after the wartime demand for copper receded and government contracts expired. With the contracts went much of the need for rail lines in the area. Passenger service to the area stopped with the last Copper Country Limited running on Mar. 7, 1968. Slowly the tracks and rights-of-way got converted into trails or just abandoned. In 1995, the last track north of the Portage was decommissioned from active service.
