The Emmet County Transportation Quest Geo-trail will take participants on a tour to discover the interesting historic transportation places in the county. Each cache will provide a specific answer to a question on the passport. Information and the passport can be downloaded from the Emmet County web site http://www.emmetcounty.org/geocache/
Once 25 of the caches in this tour have been completed, the passport can be taken to Emmet County Building, Suite 178 or mailed to Beth Eckerle, Emmet County Building, Suite 178, 200 Division St., Petoskey, MI 49770 to receive a collectable souvenir coin for this series.
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At first glance, Mackinac City appears to be an unusual location for a major railroad junction since it is surrounded by water. However, the location occupies an honored spot in Michigan’s railroad and transportation history. Mackinaw’s Union depot, the red building just down the street, is rare in being the connecting hub of three railroad lines: the Michigan Central arriving up the east side of the state from Detroit, the Grand Rapids and Indiana serving the west side and coming from Grand Rapids, and connecting by way of the railroad ferries with the Duluth South Shore & Atlantic Railroad serving St. Ignace and the west side of the Upper Peninsula.
The Depot had a second story used as a hotel for the public. Judge Robert Borsos, when a teenager, tells about working as a telegrapher at Mackinaw City, collecting room rent and showing guests to their room upstairs. One responsibility he had was to point out the fire escape device--a long rope attached to the leg of the bed that was to be thrown out the window!
Near the Depot sat the Roundhouse, (located in the parking lot across from the shirt shop with the large bear). The engines would use the round house to turn around and head south. The cars would be put on the car ferries and shipped across the straits.