This cache is near the Pere Marquette Depot in Belding. The cache is not at the posted coordinates. To locate it, solve the puzzle using information from at the posted coordinates.
"Photo courtesy of Michigan Railroad History (RRHX), Alan Loftis collection."
Belding Depot Pere Marquette Depot in the early years, with Whitches Hat roof. Silk Mills are in the background.
Belding:
According to the History of Ionia County, Michigan, pp227-240, a post office was established at Patterson’s Mill in 1857, lasted a year, and was re-established in 1862. The saw mill there also came and went and when a new, much larger mill was established in 1871, the settlement really began to thrive. This attracted a branch off the nearby railroad from Kiddville to be built. The Belding brothers started an empire that would become Richardson’s Silk Mills, giving Belding both its name and its nickname of Silk City. The silk mill was just recently torn down. Parts of the clock tower are across the street from the mill, just north of the depot. They may be preserved.
Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw Railroad:
The Ionia & Lansing Railroad extended its existing line from Ionia, through Orleans, Chadwick, Kidd and on to Greenville in 1870. That same year, the line was purchased and consolidated into the Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan Railroad. The never realized goal was to reach Pentwater on the Lake Michigan shoreline.
In 1872, the Patterson Railroad completed a 1.67 mile line from Kidd into Patterson’s Mill. Upon completion, that line became part of the DL&LM. The first passenger trains into town were horse drawn and started service in August, 1888 coinciding with the opening of the Hotel Belding.
In 1876 the DL&LM, in receivership, was reorganized as part of the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad. In 1896 the DL&N was reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western Railroad. In 1899, the Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw Railroad extended its recently purchased Lowell and Hastings Railroad from Lowell to Belding, connecting with the DGR&W, which apparently had a lease of the GRB&S. This line opened on January 1, 1899 by the Pere Marquette Railroad and eventually became the main line between Saginaw and Grand Rapids.
The original line from Ionia to Kidd(ville) was abandoned in 1942, leaving the line from Elmdale (south of Lowell), through Belding, Greenville, Stanton, Edmore and on to Saginaw. In 1947, the PM became part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. The C&O was merged into CSX Transportation in 1987. The line was removed between Greenville, through Edmore to Elwell in 1988. The remainder, Elmdale to Greenville was sold to the Mid-Michigan Railroad whose headquarters were in the Greenville C&O Depot. In 2007, all but the segment from Malta (across the Grand River from Lowell) to Lowell was abandoned and. The portion from Greenville to Lowell was purchased by the Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Trail (not yet improved).
Today, the depot at Belding is used by the City and Citizens of Belding and is open to the public. More photos of the depot can be seen at the RRHX:Belding link listed under Sources.
Thanks to DirtBikeGranny for this idea. I changed it just a little.
Cache:
To locate the cache, solve this simple field puzzle based on information at the posted coordinates:
N 43 05.ABC W 085 13.DEF
- A = third digit of the year the city purchased the depot.
- B = third digit of the year the depot was completed.
- C = third digit of the year that passenger service ended.
- D = number of daily passenger trains in 1900, minus 12.
- E = fourth digit of the year the city purchased the depot.
- F = fourth digit of the year passenger service ended.
Checksum: A+B+C+D+E+F = 27
or:
Sources:
History of Ionia County, Michigan Ionia and Lansing Railroad
Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad
Patterson Railroad
Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad
Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw Railroad
Pere Marquette Railroad
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad
CSX Transportation
Mid-Michigan Railroad
RRHX: Belding.
[agh]
br /> 