The Pere Marquette Railway (reporting mark PM) was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada.

The company was named after Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste Marie.

The Pere Marquette was incorporated on November 1, 1899, in anticipation of a merger of three Michigan-based railroad companies[1] that had been agreed upon by all parties.

It began operations on January 1, 1900,[2] absorbing the following companies: The first shop facilities were inherited from the Flint and Pere Marquette in Saginaw, Michigan.

However, the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan was chosen as the primary repair facility for rolling stock in 1905, which became known as the Wyoming Shops after the neighborhood in which they were located.

The accident apparently happened because of a hand-written schedule on unlined paper whose columns did not line up, and was misread by the freight crew.

The captain dumped nine railroad cars into Lake Michigan in a failed attempt to prevent the ship from sinking.