SWS - Sharon on the GRK&SE (PM) Traditional Cache

The location of this cache is just south of the crossing of Pere Marquette Stratford branch line and North Sharon road, on Kalkaska County road right of way. The grade crosses private, posted property, so the cache could not be placed directly on it.

^{Charles Conn collection, Folder 2, Box 6, Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, used with permission of Mr. Conn.}
GRK&SE / PM Water tank and Manistee River Bridge at Sharon.

Sharon:

The town of Sharon was known for years by the locals as Jam One, named for a massive log jam in the spring of 1870 where the North Branch of the Manistee River dumps into the Main Branch. The town was pretty rowdy as it was the main watering hole for the local lumberjacks. Legend has it that two lumberjacks fought bare knuckle for an hour and forty-five minutes in one of the saloons. In 1891 the settlement applied for a post office but the name, Jam One, was rejected. Instead, the state suggested a list of names and Sharon was adopted. The post office opened on March 11^th, 1891.

^{photo courtesy of classroomhelp.com.}
Camp 4 at Cannon Creek, believed to be at Sharon, where Cannon Creek dumps in to the Manistee River

The town of Sharon was founded in 1893. In 1895 the first of two logging railroads arrived, followed two years later by another. With several mills in the area, Sharon became a thriving community. According to the 1907 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, Sharon had a church, a general store with a hotel, livery stable, lumber, shingles, ties, a saw mill, a saloon, a grocer and an express agent. When the timber played out, the railroads disappeared as well. The post office was closed in 1921 and the last business, a store closed around 1950. Today, there are a few old cabins along the road, a few newer cabins nearby, but nothing remains of the town except the railroad grade and some foundations and depressions in the ground where buildings once stood. It is thought that the last of Sharon's original buildings was a school house. Over the years around 1980-2000, the CO witnessed this building gradually collapsing to the ground. All remains of the town are on private property, so please do not wander around.

An interesting historical account of Sharon appears in the description for MLT Sharon, GCJ287.

The former town of Sharon is still a populated place and is primarily a popular spot for access to the Manistee River.

^{map drawn by A.G. Hudley, 2014, using Google Earth and Google Maps Engine.}
Railroads at Sharon, Michigan. The Lumber RR was the Louis Sands Salt and Lumber Co.

Railroads:

Sharon was, for several years, a railroad town, albeit mostly specific to the logging boom. The first railroad was built by the Louis Sands Salt and Lumber Co., from north of Sigma to the north bank of the Manistee River in 1895. It operated until some time after the turn of the century but was know to be gone before 1909 when the Manistee and Northeastern Railroad used some of its abandoned grade to reach Sigma. There is evidence that this line also extended to Naples Junction, paralleling the second line, the Grand Rapids, Kalkaska and Southeastern Railroad.

Grand Rapids, Kalkaska and Southeastern Railroad:

Sources:

• Pere Marquette Railroad
• Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad
• Classroomhelp.com
• Traverse City Record-Eagle, August 31, 1976
• Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1907, R.L. Polk & Co.
• Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies, Graydon M. Meings © 1992, Michigan State University Press
• Michigan Railroad Liness, Graydon M. Meings © 2005, Michigan State University Press
• Michigan Place Names, Walter Romig, © 1986 Wayne State University Press
• In the Pines, An Atlas of Michigan Logging Railroads, James S. Hannum, M.D., © 2017 Hannum House Publications
• Urbanization of Rural America, Donald A. Henderson, © 1997 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.