SWS - Crapo on the GR&I Traditional Cache

Crapo settlement site.

Crapo

Crapo was a lumber settlement on the border of Mecosta and Osceola Counties. It was originally established in Richmond Township on the Osceola County side of the line. A post office was opened in Green Township on the Mecosta County side of the line on June 24^th, 1868, with Franklin S. Robbins as the first postmaster. The place was named for Henry H. Crapo who was an investor in Michigan timber lands and became governor in 1865. The post office closed on August 30^th, 1902, at the end of the timber harvest. The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad established a flag stop station here in 1871. Just before the turn of the twentieth Century, the population was listed at 100 and the town consisted of two stores and a swine breeder. Apparently the settlement fizzled shortly after the turn of the century. Little can be found about the town after that time.

Crapo, 1900 plat. The Paris Fish Hatchery is at the bottom of the plat.

The Railroad

The GR&I began service between Grand Rapids and Cedar Springs on Christmas Day, 1867. By the middle of 1869, the rails were down as far as Morley and on to Paris in the fall of 1870. Trackage was also completed between Grand Rapids and Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1871, the GR&I acquired the Cincinnati, Richmond & Fort Wayne Railroad Company, extending the GR&I to Cincinnati. Trackage was extending northward as well. By late 1872, a branch was completed between Walton to Traverse City. By the end of 1873, the line reached Petoskey and in 1882, Mackinaw City, becoming the longest north-south line in the country, at that time. As such, it had a large role in the settlement of northern Michigan. In 1886, the railroad also built a line connecting Grand Rapids and Muskegon.

The primary business in the early years was timber and lumber. This shifted to tourism and the GR&I advertised itself as "The Fishing Line". In partnership with the Michigan Central Railroad, the company built and opened the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in 1887. In 1918, the GR&I was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad, which operated it until 1975. The Michigan DOT purchased it and leased it to the Michigan Northern Railroad until 1984.

Today, most of the GR&I mainline is gone. The portion of the line between Grand Rapids and Cadillac has become the White Pine Trail. The trail, a state park, is open to hikers and bicyclists in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter.

The Cache

This cache is on the former Pennsylvania Railroad right of way, now the White Pine Trail, south of the site of the settlement. An aside, this is the 200^th Silent Whistle Series cache.

Sources:

• Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1877, R.L. Polk & Co.
• Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1897, R.L. Polk & Co.
• Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1907, R.L. Polk & Co.
• Plat Book of Mecosta County, Michigan, P.A. Myers, 1900
• Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad
• Michigan Place Names, Walter Romig, © 1986 Wayne State University Press
• Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies, Graydon M. Meints © 1992, Michigan State University Press
• Michigan Railroad Liness, Graydon M. Meints © 2005, Michigan State University Press