This daylight only cache is on the former grade of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad through the Rapid City. The cache is in Freedom Park (Clearwater Township), near the baseball field.
UpNorth Memories - Donald (Don) Harrison collection, used with Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
PM Trains on the Kalkaska Branch (left) and Petoskey Division (right), circa 1910.
The town of Rapid City was first settled around 1880 by a New Yorker named Frederick. Their cabin was at the corner of what is now Main and VanBuren streets. Charles Van Buren also settled here in the around 1891. Some say that he had early knowledge of the coming of the railroad and plotted a village with emphasis on the railroad, which came by July, 1892. The village was incorporated that year and named Van Buren. A post office was established on November 22nd, 1892 with Charles Van Buren as the first postmaster. The village was renamed Rapid City in 1898.
A dam was constructed and a hoop and stave mill was established on the south side of the Rapid River with a railroad spur running to it. The mill was short lived, but the damn lasted until the early 1920's.
UpNorth Memories - Donald (Don) Harrison collection, used with Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
PM 1909 postcard image of the Iron Bridge and log dam.
The rail line through Rapid City was was constructed in 1891-92 from Traverse City as the Chicago and North Michigan, a wholly owned (paper) subsidiary of the Chicago and West Michigan. The line was opened from Traverse City to Bay View in 1892 and immediately operated as part of the C&WM. in 1898, The Grand Rapids, Kalkaska and Southeastern was constructed to connect the lumbering town of Stratford, in northern Missaukee County, through Kalkaska, to Rapid City. The branch line was leased to the C&WM and became the Kalkaska branch of the Pere Marquette.
Map created by AGHudley in 2014 using Google Earth and Google Maps Engine
Rapid City map showing the C&WM and GRK&SE, both becoming part of the PM
.
In 1899, the C&WM, the Flint & Pere Marquette and the Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western were merged into the Pere Marquette Railroad, which began operations on January 1st, 1900. As the timber harvest was completing, the GRK&SE was abandoned in segments from 1915 to 1921.
The PM became part of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in 1947. The C&O became part of the Chessie System in 1973, but retained its identity. The railroad stopped operations on the line in 1981 and abandoned the Petoskey Subdivision on February 20th, 1982, just five months short of one hundred years of service. This reduction in size was due to the creation of CSX Transportation. A portion of the line from Grawn, through Traverse City, to Willimasburg and another portion from Charlevoix to Bay View were purchased by the State of Michigan and operated by the Michigan Northern Railroad until the late 1980s. The portion from Grawn to Williamsburg is still in service as the part of the Great Lakes Central Railroad, although the Grawn portion hasn't been used lately.. The Charlevoix to Petosky segment was abandoned in 1991.
This cache is hidden Freedom Park. Please rehide the cache carefully and abide by the park rules.
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