Daylight Only. The location of this cache is on the former right of way of the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O, CSX) rail line as it enters Riverdale from the east, at the crossing of the Pine River. The right of way is now the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail. Please respect trail rules.
Riverdale:
According to the 1907 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, Riverdale had a population of 300 people, a Methodist Episcopal church, a bank, bean and elevator, canning and pickle factories, general store, post office, produce dealer, physician, barber shop, grocery store, livery, hardware, clothing store, an opera house, shoe and harness maker, and a meat market. Today, the Riverdale Tavern is a great place to get a fish dinner on Friday night. A one room school house stands where the depot once stood and is sometimes open for tours.
Atlas of Gratiot County, Michigan, E.L. Hayes, 1889, UofM Digital Library
1889 plat of the north end of Riverdale.
Railroad:
The Howard City branch of the Pere Marquette Railroad had its roots in several subsidiaries owned or leased by the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad. The Saginaw and Western was selected to represent the line in the cache title because it completed the branch and it had the longest ownership prior to the Pere Marquette.
In 1873, the Saginaw Valley and St. Louis Railroad built from Saginaw to St Louis. In 1875, the Saginaw and Grand Rapids Railroad connected St. Louis and Alma. Also in 1875, the Chicago, Saginaw and Canada Railroad built the line between St. Louis, Alma, Elwell, Riverdale, Vestaburg and Cedar Lake. In 1878, the CS&C, in receivership, extended the line from Cedar Lake to Edmore where it connected the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. In 1879, the CS&C extended the line through Six Lakes to Lakeview. In 1883, the CS&C was reorganized as the Saginaw and Western Railroad. In 1886, the S&W extended the line through Amble to Howard City where it connected with the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad and another D&LN line through Greenville to Ionia. In 1897, the S&W, the S&GR and DL&N were reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western. In 1899-1900, the DGR&W became part of the Pere Marquette Railroad.
More highways, trucks, and personal automobiles siphoned business away from railroads. Mergers also contributed to some lines being unnecessary. The line between Lakeview and Howard City was abandoned and removed in 1943. The PM became part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in 1947. What remained of this line was part of the Grand Rapids Division , which ran from Elmdale, through Lowell, Belding, Greenville, Stanton and to Edmore and then east to Saginaw. In the fifties, sixties and seventies, it was not unusual to see very long trains on this alternate route to Grand Rapids. The C&O was merged into CSX Transportation in 1987. The line was removed between Edmore and Elwell in 1988. The line was abandoned between Alma and Elwell in 2003.
Today, the right of way between Edmore and Alma is part of the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail, a very nice paved trail to ride or walk.
Listing updated 11/1/2013, 3/29/2014.
Sources:
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