The Iron Ore Heritage Trail is a 47-mile rail trail across the Marquette Iron Range, a significant historical site where iron mines operated to serve the country during the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the industrial revolution.
The trail follows the rail corridors where the mines in the western half of the County operated, both underground and open pit mines, and follows the corridor that the railroads used to transport the iron to the Marquette harbor for shipping. This industry has been ongoing for over 150 years and allowed the United States to defend our democracy through the use of these ore reserves. The trail connects the most populated areas of the Upper Peninsula but also interprets the human story of mining in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The trail takes people to the iconic towering concrete mine shafts in Ishpeming to the large, unique iron ore docks in Marquette's harbor. It goes right by the location where iron ore was discovered in the region in 1844 and the first mine sites opened in 1845. It also takes trail users through ethic neighborhoods that were moved to accommodate the underground mines, to furnaces used to make iron.
The trail is managed by the Iron Ore Heritage Recreation Authority who gains funding from a .2 mill property tax that was voted in by the people in the eight municipalities that the trail travels through.
