The original company which built the first portion of this railroad was incorporated in 1857 under the name of the Amboy Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad Company, commonly known as the Ramshorn Road. A considerable land grant was made to it. It began with the construction of the road north of Lansing and completed about twenty miles between Owosso and Lansing before 1861.
February 23, 1864, the Lansing and Jackson Railroad Company, as purchaser of the property of the Lansing and Jackson Company, which had been organized to build a railroad between Lansing and Jackson , filed articles of association, and on February 23, 1865, filed amended articles changing the name to the Jackson Lansing and Saginaw Railroad Company. March 18, 1965, the State of Michigan authorized the latter Company to buy the railroad and property, including the land grant, of the Amboy Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad Company, and on October 26, 1866, the contract of purchase was executed. The road was thereupon completed from Jackson to Lansing and from Owosso to Saginaw and Bay City, and in July, 1873, extended to Gaylord, and on December 31, 1881, all of the railroad from Jackson to Mackinaw City was completed. Operated under perpetual agreements dated August 31, 1871, September 1, 1876, and January 31, 1887 by which The Michigan Central Railroad Company maintains the road and pays rental of $70,750 per annum, being, 3 and one-half per cent on the capital stock of $2,000,000 and $750 for corporate expenses, interest on funded debt, and all taxes and expenses, and receives all revenues.
Bonds of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, issued and now outstanding for $1,114,000 secured by mortgage on the property of the Jackson Lansing and Saginaw Railroad Company have been substituted for such funded debt. Such outstanding bonds are subject to reduction from time to time by purchase and retirement with funds arising from sales under the land grant. The Michigan Central Railroad Company owns one-third of the capital stock.