CStPM&O & CNW

Hannibal Sub-Division

Hughey Wisconsin

     At the end of the Hannibal Sub-division was a town or village called Hughey. It shows on some maps, but it no longer exists today in the form of a town that it once was. Investigation into the area exhibits no foundations of the buildings of the past at the turn around. It took us a while to find it based on map location, but eventually we ran into a resident that had lived in the area since the 50's. He used to hunt in the area shown as Hughey and has some old railroad spikes from the turnaround. He also remembers seeing ties strewn about, but no foundations. Hughey was the source of gravel and sand for the branch because it is an open gravel pit, and it also had a depot (Station number 2949) as late as 1934, although trains never serviced it due to the evacuation of tracks. The closest houses other than the farm house that currently owns the original roadbed leading up to Konsella road, are 1/3 mile to the South right where "M" does an S-curve.

    Now owned by private party, the land is posted and not accessible without permission. It is clear where the right of way was at the turn of the century, because the land is raised for the roadbed directly across the road from the entrance to the pits. After the removal of the rails to Hughey, the right of way became a logging trail for the remnants left from the major logging industries. One can only imagine the equipment used in the gravel pits at the early part of the 20th century like steam shovels or derricks, rock separators for ballast, and possibly bins for loading into cars while the engine was turning around to get in front of the cars for the trip back to Chippewa Junction.