This cache is near the former right of way of the Pere Marquette railroad through Amble. The right of way crossed M-46 on the east side of town and proceeded west south west towards Howard City. Cache is on county road right of way.
Standard Atlas of Montcalm County, Michigan, G.A. Ogle & Co., 1897, courtesy of UofM Digital Library"
Plat of Amble, Michigan, 1897
Amble:
According to the 1897 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, Amble was a post office on the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western Railroad. It boasted a Real Estate company, lumber outlets, a saw mill, produce store and two general stores. The depot was located between 1st and 2nd streets, just east of Main street. By 1907, Amble had a population of 100 and several more businesses, including a creamery, one or two hotels, a blacksmith, a feed and saw mill, one or more general stores and a cider mill. Potatoes had become the prominent crop of local farmers.
Today, there are a few homes left in Amble, a church and a tavern, but little else. A former gas station and party store sits abandoned on the north side of M-46 keeping vigil over what remains of the town across the highway.
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.
The portion of the old S&W between Edmore and the west side of Alma has become part of the Fred Meijer Heritage Trail.
Listing updated 11/1/2013, 3/17/2014 by aghudley.
Sources:
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