This is one of the original three Silent Whistles caches, all hidden in Sheridan. The series has come a long way since April of 2013. Every time I update one of these cache pages, it brings a tear to my eye.
The location of this cache is on the former right of way of the Pere Marquette rail line that passed through the Village of Sheridan. The right of way is now Maple Street. Bring your own pen.
"Postcard image courtesy Michigan Genealogy on the Web, Montcalm County. Click on the image."
Sheridan PM depot and pickle brining plant, looking north.
Sheridan:
As you are standing at ground zero, imagine what was here almost one hundred years ago. Just south, about half way to County Farm Road (Washington Street) and where the house on the west side of the road is today, stood the pickle brining plant pictured above. The depot stood the depot on the east side of the tracks. Beyond that a half mile, on the southwest corner of Pearl Lake was the junction with the Grand Trunk Western line between Ashley and Muskegon. The junction was called Virgil by both railroads. The cache is hidden on the corner of the former village land fill. Nothing is left of any original building on this right of way.
"Postcard image courtesy Michigan Genealogy on the Web, Montcalm County. Click on the image."
PM Train approaching the Sheridan depot, west side of Pearl Lake
Railroads:
Sheridan was the crossroads of two railroad lines. The first to arrive was the Ionia, Stanton and Northern, running south to north from just outside of Ionia. The second was the Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon, running east to west from Ashley to Muskegon.
Ionia, Stanton and Northern Railroad:
The first rail line through Sheridan was incorporated and built as the Ionia, Stanton and Northern and was completed in 1872. It was, likely, a paper subsidiary of the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad and was incorporated into the DL&LM on October 1st, that same year. On December 21st, 1876, the DL&LM was reorganized as the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. The original goal of this line was to reach the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad at Chippewa in southeast Osceola county but plans changed. Instead, the line was extended from Stanton, through Edmore and Remus, terminating in Big Rapids. Several smaller branch lines were built off it to Weidman in Isabella County, and Barryton and Chippewa Lake, in Mecosta County. In 1897, the DL&N was reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western. On December 7th, 1899, the DGR&W was sold to the newly incorporatedPere Marquette Railroad which commenced operations on January 1st, 1900.
The line was well traveled early on but consolidation with other lines and additional construction, particularly a connection between Greenville and Stanton completed in 1901, made this line redundant and lightly used. By 1929, traffic on the line was down to one train a week. On January 16th, 1929, there was a derailment near Fenwick that took the lives of two railroad employees. There are unconfirmed reports that the train that derailed was the last train that ran on the branch. The line between Ionia and Stanton was abandoned by the PM by 1933.
On a personal note:
My father grew up just south of town and remembered trains passing through their farm. Operations on this line were well before my time, but I do remember riding my small motorcycle up this grade to the High School just south of Stanton. Now most of the grade is impassible and most of what is not is in private hands.
Sources:
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