This cache was hidden as part of the Abandoned Railroads of Newaygo County Geocache Rail Tour, presented by the Newaygo County Museum and Heritage Center and Silent Whistles. Record the milepost value contained on and/or in each cache container on the Ticket to Newaygo County form. See the additional information below for specific tour requirements.
This cache is not at the posted coordinates. To locate it, solve the puzzle below. The posted coordinates are near the former site of Ryerson Station on the Pere Marquette Railroad.
Plats of Wooster and Ryerson, showing change of location/names.
Courtesy of UofM Historical Library
The settlement first called Worcester Hill (pronounced Wooster Hill) was established near the middle of section 15, Sherman Township in the mid 1870s, on the Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad. The flag station there was originally called Worcester Station by the railroad. It was a lumber loading point for Ryerson, Hills & Co. and there was also a shingle mill there. Worcester Hill was given a post office on November 14th, 1882, which operated until October 22nd, 1891. A post office was re-established May 11th, 1895 as Wooster, presumably at the new location at the north end of section 21, south-west of the original location, north of the west end of Crystal Lake. A siding and station were established there. The original location of Worcester Station was renamed as Ryerson Station. It lasted only a few years. Today, the former site is private property and there is no visible evidence of the former settlement.
At some point, when the railroad raised freight rates, Ryerson, Hills & Co. took a different approach to moving at least much of their timber. They had built their own logging railroad with spurs in several directions. The main branch of this railroad ran to Kimball and Pickeral Lakes. RH&Co started dumping logs into these lakes and also floated them down dammed creeks from Long Lake, about two miles south of Worcester Hill. The intent was, to float the logs down Pennoyer Creek into the Muskegon River. D.P. Clay, the owner of an existing mill on Pennoyer Creek was also a stockholder in the Grand Rapids, Newaygo and Lake Shore Railroad, which ran north-south and had a trestle over Pennoyer Creek at Newaygo. Clay claimed that floating logs down Pennoyer Creek would cause damage to both the mill and the trestle. As a result, in 1878, a two mile logging railroad was built from the bottom of Pickeral Lake to just below where Pennoyer Creeks dumps into the Muskegon River on the north end of Newaygo.
What became the Big Rapids Branch of the Pere Marquette Railroad was incorporated as the Muskegon & Big Rapids Railroad, with backing from the owners of the Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad. Construction began in 1872. Before it was completed, the M&BR was consolidated into the C&MLS. The line was completed to Freemont Center by the end of 1872 and service began to Big Rapids on July 21st, 1873. The line shared trackage north of Muskegon with another C&MLS subsidiary/branch, the Montague, Pentwater and Manistee, as far as Big Rapids Junction, now known as Berry.
In 1878, the C&MLS, was reorganized as part of the Chicago & West Michigan Railroad. In late 1899, the C&WM, the Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western Railroad and the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad were purchased and merged into the Pere Marquette Railroad, which began operations January 1st, 1900, a few short years before the end of the railroad boom in Michigan. In 1926, with dwindling business, redundant coverage into Big Rapids from Ionia, and competition from the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, the PM abandoned the portion of the original Big Rapids Branch from White Cloud to Big Rapids.
In 1947, the PM was merged into its parent, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. In 1963, with revenues down and another C&O line running north-south through White Cloud, the line between Freemont and White Cloud was abandoned. Today, the remaining portion, from Berry to Freemont, is operated by Michigan Shore Railroad.
To locate the cache, solve this simple puzzle based on information in the cache description.
N 43 31.ABC W 085 51.DEF
- A = The fourth digit of the year that the Pere Marquette began operations
- B = The fourth digit of the year the Worcester Hill post office (first PO) closed, minus 1
- C = The third digit of the year that the Pere Marquette began operations
- D = The third digit of the year that the PM abandoned the line from White Cloud to Big Rapids
- E = The third digit of the year that the C&O abandoned the line from Fremont to White Cloud, minus 1
- F = The fourth digit of the year the C&MLS was reorganized as part of the C&WM
Check your solution
To claim a prize:
- Download and print the Ticket to Newaygo County form (PDF). See alternate below.
- Find 28 of the 35 cache hides in the table below.
- Find at least five of the seven mystery and multi caches in any combination.
- Record the milepost number from the label or log of each cache you find on a printed copy of the form. Milepost numbers are on cache labels and log book covers.
- Each individual GC account holder making the find must sign and date the paper log book in the cache with their GC account name. No group logs please.
- Optionally, upload a photo of your log entry. Be careful to not include the milepost value in the photo.
- Send the completed form via US Mail to the address on the form. Each GC account holder must send in a form.
Once your answers have been verified, the prize will be sent back to you via US Mail to the address you provide on the form.
The first 95 cachers to complete the tour will be awarded a Silent Whistles pathtag commemorating the Big Rapids Branch of the Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad.
One prize per completed form. One prize per GC Account.
Download the Ticket to Ride form:
Click Ticket to Newaygo County (PDF) to download a printable version the form (PDF).
Click Ticket to Newaygo County (PNG) to download an alternate, less clear graphic version of the form.
If you don't have access to a printer, printed copies can be obtained at the Newaygo County Museum and Heritage Center, or by sending a self addressed stamped envelope to the address on the bottom of the form.
Sources:
- Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad
- Chicago and West Michigan Railroad
- Pere Marquette Railroad
- Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad
- Michigan Shore Railroad
- Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1907, R.L. Polk & Co.
- Atlas of Newaygo County, Michigan, E.L. Hayes, 1880
- Standard Atlas of Newaygo County, Michigan, G.A. Ogle & Co., 1900
- The October Project, Newaygo County, Michigan
- Lumbering in Newaygo County, Harry L. Spooner, © 1946, Cooper Press, reprinted 1976 by the Newaygo County Historical Archive
- Michigan Place Names, Walter Romig, © 1986 Wayne State University Press
- Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies, Graydon M. Meints © 1992, Michigan State University Press
- Michigan Railroad Lines, Graydon M. Meints © 2005, Michigan State University Press
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Visit the Newaygo County Museum and Heritage Center at: 12 Quarterline Road, Newaygo, Michigan (at the downtown light).
Visit the Newaygo County Museum and Heritage Center on Thursday, September 11th, 2014 at 7:00PM for the Heritage Speaker Series topic: Logging and Railroads in Newaygo County by Dr. Carl Bajema. Reservations are required