This cache is at the former crossing and interchange of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad. The PRR grade is now the White Pine Trail. The C&O grade crossed the PRR roughly east-west a few feet south of the cache. The grade can be seen following the fenceline of the nearby businesses. The lines interchanged from both east and west using a wye that connected with the PRR about a hundred yards north. The C&O crossed the Muskegon River southwest of the cache site over the bridge seen below, where the Riverwalk Bridge is now. Pilings from the railroad bridge can be seen on the east bank of the river from the west bank, just south of the current bridge.
Big Rapids the Water Power City, Seely & Lowrey, 1906, UofM Bentley Historical Library and Google Books
Pere Marquette Railroad Bridge, from Big Rapids, Michigan: The Water Power City.
Big Rapids:
The first white settlers in what is now the City of Big Rapids were the brothers Zerah and George French and their families, in 1854 or 1855, depending on the source. The state authorized the organization of Mecosta County in 1859 and established Leonard (for the township) as the county seat. By 1869, the area had grown sufficiently for the town of Leonard to become the city of Big Rapids.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Big Rapids, Mecosta County, Michigan. Sanborn Map Company, Aug, 1884. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
Portion of the 1884 Sanborn Fire Insurance overview map showing the locations of the
C&WM depot (C) and the original DL&N depot (D) before the two lines connected.
Railroads:
Three railroads came to Big Rapids in the decade starting in 1870. The first arrive was the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad from Grand Rapids. The second to arrive was the Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad, from Muskegon. The third was the Detroit, Lansing and Northern, from Grand Ledge. The plat map below shows the location of rail lines and depots in 1889-1900 within Big Rapids. Note that two of the lines have different names, due to reorganizations (detailed below).
The bridge shown above was not constructed until some time after 1884. Originally, the DL&N depot was on the east side of the river, at Maple Street, just east of 2nd Avenue. By 1892, the bridge was built and the DL&N was sharing the depot on the west side of State Street.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Big Rapids, Mecosta County, Michigan. Sanborn Map Company, Aug, 1899. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
Portion of the 1899 Sanborn Fire Insurance overview map showing the bridge connecting the two future PM lines and the wye with the GR&I
Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad:
The line from the east started its life 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. 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), itself then a part of the DL&N. In 1880, the line was extended north and west from Edmore, through Wyman, Blanchard, Millbrook, Remus, Mecosta, Rodney and on to Big Rapids, where it crossed and interchanged with the Grand Rapids and Indiana and terminated at a junction with the Muskegon & Big Rapids, (Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore, and later, the Chicago and West Michigan).
The DL&N and other lines were reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western in 1897. In 1899-1900, the DGR&W, the Chicago &West Michigan (by then, the owners of the M&BR line) along with other lines, were reorganized as the Pere Marquette Railroad.
In 1926, with dwindling business, redundant coverage into Big Rapids and competition from the Grand Rapids and Indiana, the PM abandoned the portion of the original M&BR from White Cloud to Big Rapids. In 1943-44, the PM abandoned the Ionia line between Remus and Big Rapids, leaving only the Pennsylvania Railroad (formerly GR&I) to serve the city until it, too, was abandoned in 1984.
This cache is on the border of Industrial Park and WPT right of way near the Wye interchange just south of the crossing of the PRR by the PM. The PRR is now the White Pine Trail. You can see PM Grade cross the WPT along the fence line south of the cache.
Sources:
DL&LN/Wikipedia
PM/Wikipedia
PM Historical Society
1884 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Big Rapids, Library of Congress
1889 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Big Rapids, Library of Congress
Big Rapids the Water Power City, Seely & Lowrey, 1906.
[agh]
