This cache is north-east of the site of the former Pere Marquette Railroad depot in Mecosta. The container is a soda preform.
Note: coordinates were refined at initial hide and differ slightly from what is in the label. Please do not rehide using the label.
UpNorth Memories - Donald (Don) Harrison collection, used with Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Webber Street, Mecosta, Michigan, 1910
Mecosta:
The village of Mecosta was essentially created with the coming of the railroad. When construction of the line through the county began 1879, a village near the center of the county was platted and named Mecosta. The first buildings were erected in 1879 in the form of a general store and a steam saw and shingle mill. A post office was established in December. When the trains began running in May of 1880, the little town started to grow. By the end of 1883, the community had thirty or more businesses including two hotels, two saloons, a restaurant, a bank, general stores, hardware stores, two churches, and many pleasantry stores to make life in the “northern wilderness” more palatable. The town even had a good brass band. In addition to the people working in the timber and lumber industries, physicians, lawyers, teachers and other professionals made the new town their home. The school had 225 students and the total population was nearly 800. Today, the village is still intact, but somewhat less bustling, with a population of 457.
Charles Conn collection, Folder 1, Box 5,6, Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, used with permission of Mr. Conn.
Southbound freight pulling away from Mecosta Depot.
Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad:
The roots of the rail line through Mecosta began when the Ionia, Stanton and Northern Railroad was built from Stanton Junction, just north of Ionia, through Fenwick, Sheridan and Stanton in 1872. In 1876, The IS&N and two other lines were reorganized as the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. In 1878, the DL&N, extended the line from Stanton, through McBride to Edmore, where it connected with an east west line, the Chicago, Saginaw and Canada Railroad, (Saginaw to Howard City) In 1880, the DL&N line was extended north and west through Wyman, Blanchard, Millbrook, Remus, Mecosta, Rodney and on to Big Rapids, where it connected with the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad and the Chicago and West Michigan Railroad. In 1883, a branch line was constructed from Rodney to Chippewa Lake. In 1893 the DL&LN built branch lines from Remus to Weidman, and from Mecosta to Barryton. The 1900 plat of a portion of Morton Township shows the rail line through Mecosta from the east to west and also shows the Barryton branch. The depot was on the north-west corner of Weber and Depot, near the stop sign you can see from the cache site.
Plat Book of Mecosta County, Michigan, P.A. Myers, Consolidated Publishing Co., 1900, UofM Digital Library
1900 Plat of Mecosta area, Mecosta County, Michigan
The DL&N, and other lines were reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western Railroad in 1897. In 1899-1900, the DGR&W, C&WM and Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad were reorganized as the Pere Marquette. The branch from Rodney to Chippewa Lake was abandoned in 1906. The line between Big Rapids and Remus, including the Blanchard and Weidman branches, was abandoned in 1943-44. The PM became part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in 1947. The line between Remus and Edmore was removed in 1981.
Sources:
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