Daytime Only! This cache is located on the former grade of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, at the former Jefferson Street Coal Yard. The grade is now a section of the Laketon Trail, please obey trail rules. The nearby home owner knows of the cache and asks that seekers be respectful.
Please access this cache from 5th Street. The track off of Jefferson is someone's drive-way!
Section of the 1900 Muskegon Plat, showing the Jefferson yard and coal buildings.
Jefferson Street was the name given to a small rail yard operated by the Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon Railroad, in southern Muskegon. The yard consisted of two side tracks, both running parallel to the main line. Buildings at the site were two coal sheds, with accompanying refill stations. Local historic maps show no indication of any TS&M coaling facilities in downtown Muskegon. This means Jefferson Street would have been the first stop for an eastbound train, to stock up on coal.
Today, the area of the Jefferson Yard has become the Jefferson Street Historic District. There are many old, Victorian style homes, built in the late 1800's by the areas wealthy. For anyone interested local history, I would recommend driving along Jefferson St. to the north of here. The street is lined with history, one of those, the house shown below, is a Queen Ann Style House built in 1888.
Old Victorian Home in the Jefferson Historic District
The Turkey Trail:
In 1887-89, a railroad line originally known as the Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon, was constructed between Ashley and Muskegon. Rails reached Carson City in September of 1887, Greenville in November of 1887, Cedar Springs and Muskegon by the end of the year. Construction continued in 1888 for ballasting, sidings and depots. On August 1st, 1888, the lease of the TS&M to the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada was completed. GTC later purchased the line outright. A mail and express train and a mixed train (with passenger service) was operated daily between Owosso (over Toledo, Ann Arbor & Northern Michigan to Ashley) and Muskegon. The line was locally known as the GT version of the Turkey Trail because it meandered like a turkey and also because it allegedly never made money.
In 1928, GTC was merged with other Michigan Grand Trunk subsidiaries into the Grand Trunk Western, itself a subsidiary of the Canadian National. In 1930, GTW secured trackage rights between Grand Rapids and Muskegon over the Pennsylvania Railroad (former Grand Rapids & Indiana). Service on the Turkey Trail was reduced to way freights and mixed trains. In 1946, with heavy service operating over the PRR, the portion of the TS&M line between Greenville and Muskegon was abandoned.
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