The site of this cache is the grade of the Grass Lake and Manistee River logging railroad, near the Manistee River. The cache is on property owned by the State of Michigan just off an ORV trail. It is a short walk from King road or Sunset Trail or from the CCC bridge campground.
The GR&MR, a three-foot narrow gauge lumber line, was built in 1885 to transport logs harvested north of Grass Lake (near Stratford) to the banks of the Manistee River. The grade can easily be seen curving downslope from the south to west toward the river. The line was short lived and was removed in 1892. The line can be traced on USGS quadrangle maps, down the west side of Sunset Trail, paralleling the grade of the Crawford and Manistee logging railroad. Its sources were in Section 33 T25N R5W and Section 17 T26N R4W. It is not clear if the two lines existed simultaneously.
Information about timbering in the area can be found at the Crawford County Historical Museum in the old Michigan Central Railroad depot in downtown Grayling.
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