The Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette (DM&M) Railroad was built in 1879–1881 by Detroit businessman
James McMillan, Francis Palms, and their venture-capital partners. Unlike many U.S. railroads, the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette was built from west to east. Its main line stretched from its namesake city,
Marquette, Michigan, to the
Straits of Mackinac at
St. Ignace, Michigan. The railroad itself did not reach Detroit, but offered service thither through its part ownership of the
Mackinac Transportation Company, a railroad car ferry service that shuttled railroad cars across the Straits of Mackinac to the DM&M's partner lines in
Mackinaw City, Michigan. Despite being the recipient of of Upper Peninsula real estate, the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette was not a financial success. It declared bankruptcy in summer 1886, and was allowed by its creditors to continue business under the temporary name of the
Mackinaw and Marquette Railroad. In the
foreclosure sale October 1886, the bankrupt railroad and its assets were sold to the McMillan family for $1.05 million. In December of the same year, the McMillan interests folded the
Mackinaw and Marquette Railroad into the consolidated Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway. The former DM&M main line became a key component of the new Upper Peninsula railroad. Although the 1886 bankruptcy meant that the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad's common shareholders lost their entire investment, the reputation of company president James McMillan does not appear to have suffered thereby. In 1889 the Michigan legislature elected him to the
United States Senate. ==Today==