This cache is on the former grade of the beginning of the Missaukee Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, formerly the Grand Rapids and Indiana.
Photo courtesy of the Wexford County Historical Society. Click image to go to site.
Train at Missaukee Junction, circa 1880.
Missaukee Junction
Missaukee Junction was the point on the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad where the Missaukee Branch left the Northern Division mainline. The branch was constructed about a decade after the railroad had built northward to Traverse City and Petoskey. In 1883, a station was moved from Haring, just south of the junction, to Missaukee Junction. It sat just south of E 30 Road, on the east side of the north-south main line.
Photo courtesy of the Wexford County Historical Society. Click image to go to site.
Moving the station from Harring to Missaukee Junction, 1883.
Railroad
The Missaukee Branch of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad was started in 1882 with a branch line to a lumber camp at Mitchell (Jennings) from the GR&I mainline at Missaukee Junction, north of Cadillac. In 1890, the line was extended from Round Lake Junction to Sands Junction (now an addition to Lake City) and in 1894, a short branch north was built into Lake City. This construction made the line to from Round Lake Junction to Jennings a branch line. Between 1906 and 1908, the branch was extended to Falmouth, via Veneer, and from Veneer to Merritt. In 1912, the line was extended to Michelson.
Courtesy UofM Digital Library, marked up by AGHudley. Click plat to view atlas.
1908 plat map showing Haring and Missaukee Junction. Red dot is the former depot location.
The GR&I was always under control of the Pennsylvania Railroad, but remained an independent identity until 1918, when it PRR began to re-badge GR&I equipment. The GR&I was formally merged into the PRR in 1953.
Lumber was the primary business of the branch until the timber was harvested. Business trended toward agriculture after that, with elevators in Merritt and Falmouth. With more road construction, the need for the rail line diminished. The line was abandoned between Merritt and Michelson in 1930 and between Falmouth Junction (Veneer) and Merritt in 1938. In 1964, the remainder of line was sold to the Cadillac and Lake City Railroad and was operated primarily as both a tourist railroad and common carrier through 1971. The line was abandoned and removed about 1984.
Cache
The cache is on property owned by the State of Michigan. Parking is available at the Missaukee Junction ORV/Motorcycle trailhead. Cross the active railroad tracks at E 30 Road to access this cache.
Sources:
Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad
Wexford County Historical Society and Museum
Michigan Place Names, Walter Romig, L.H.D., © Wayne State University Press, 1986
Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companines, Graydon M. Meints, © 1992, Michigan State University Press
Michigan Railroad Lines, Graydon M. Meints, © 2005, Michigan State University Press
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