Littlefield Township near Oden in Emmet County, Michigan — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Fish and Rails

— Oden Hatchery Visitors Center —

Photographed by J. J. Prats, September 24, 2023

1. Fish and Rails Marker

Inscription. From the 1880s to 1931, hatcheries used railcars to move fish to planting sites. Workers transferred fish from ponds to 10-gallon milk cans and then to a specially modified railcar. Inside this railcar you will find a re-creation of Michigan’s last “fish car,” the Wolverine.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Natural Resources. A significant historical year for this entry is 1931.

Location. 45° 25.48′ N, 84° 50.755′ W. Marker is near Oden, Michigan, in Emmet County. It is in Littlefield Township. It is on Oden Road (U.S. 31) 0.9 miles west of Luce Street, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 3377 Oden Rd, Alanson MI 49706, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Northern Michigan Lower Peninsula

and in one of the Lake Michigan Shore counties. It is also in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Great North Woods,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France

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and also the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: State Board of Fish Commissioners / State Game and Fish Warden (within shouting distance of this marker); Luring Visitors (within shouting distance of this marker); Welcome to Oden State Fish Hatchery (within shouting distance of this marker); Passenger Pigeons (within shouting distance of this marker); Oden Gazebo Park (approx. 0.9 miles away); Hiawatha Pageant (approx. 2.1 miles away); Round Lake (approx. 2.1 miles away); Horace McKee Huffman, Jr. ~ 1914-1996 (approx. 2.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Oden.

More about this marker. This interpretive panel shows three photographs. They are captioned (left to right) “Fish car interior;” “Members of the Elk Rapids Rod and Gun Club planting fish in Yuba Creek in 1890. The state used rail lined to deliver fish to citizens who requested and stocked them.”; Fish-planting truck at Harrietta hatchery, circa 1930. Fish trucks eventually eliminated hatcheries’ reliance on railways and citizen planters.“

Also see . . . Fish Cars – The Forgotten History of Fish by Rail.

Fish Car “Wolverine” and Marker at the Oden Fisheries Visitors Center image. Click for full size.

Photographed by J. J. Prats, September 24, 2023

2. Fish Car “Wolverine” and Marker at the Oden Fisheries Visitors Center

“It was crazily ambitious, but beginning in the 1870s, enterprising federal wildlife officials figured out a way to ship live fish all over the country—by rail.“ Article by Temma Ehrenfeld in VitalChoice.com. Excerpt:

In 1881, the federal Commission of Fish and Fisheries purchased a “fish car,” a specifically equipped baggage car. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad built Fish Car No. 2. It was fitted with special ice compartments so it could carry up to 20,000 pounds of live fish, water, and equipment at passenger-train speeds. As New York Catskill Mountains archivist Timothy Mallery put it, “federally raised fish traveled first class in railroad cars designed for their health and comfort—along with their human attendants.”

(Submitted on May 25, 2024.)

Credits. This page was last revised on May 25, 2024. It was originally submitted on May 25, 2024, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio. This page has been viewed 335 times since then and 34 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on May 25, 2024, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio.