This cache is not at the posted coordinates. To determine the location of the cache, solve the puzzle below using information from the cache page. The posted coordinates are in Morley Park, at the site of the former Grand Trunk Western railroad station. The cache replaces the original traditional cache, GC4M4NP, which secumbed to muggles.
TS&M/GTW Depot, Cedar Springs, MI, in busier times.
Cedar Springs:
The first settler to arrive in what would become Cedar Springs was Robbins Hicks, in 1855. A post office was established on February 4th, 1857 with Nicholas Hill, postmaster. The name of the settlement was derived from an abundance of both cedar trees and springs in the area. The village platt was recorded in 1860 and was actually incorporated as a village in 1871. Cedar Springs became a city in 1960.
1918 USGS Topo map showing locations of both Cedar Springs showing location of both depots.
Railroads:
Beginning in the late 1800s, two railroads served Cedar Springs. The first to arrive, in 1868, was the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, running south to north. The second railroad to reach Cedar Springs, nineteen years later, was the Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railroad. The line ran east-west across central part of the state. The depot was situated on the west side of Main Street and the grade passed through the south side of Morley Park. Both railroads have since been abandoned.
TS&M/GTW Depot, Cedar Springs, MI, nine years after abandonment
Grand Trunk Western:
In 1887-88, 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 line between Greenville and Muskegon was abandoned. Mixed train service continued leaving Durand, to Greenville and back each day until the end of 1955. On January 1st, 1956, this was reduced to a way freight turn daily. On January 11th, 1983, the last train left Greenville eastbound and the line was abandoned after between Greenville and Carson City. The rails are still in place from Ashley to Carson City and are being occasionally operated from 1982 by the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay and since 2006, between Ashley and Middleton by the Great Lakes Central.
Cache:
To locate the cache, solve this simple puzzle based on information on this cache page.
- N 43 12.ABC W 085 33.DEF
- A = Fourth digit of the year the TS&M reached Cedar Springs
- B = Third digit of the year the GTC was merged into the Grand Trunk Western
- C = Number of railroad lines that served Cedar Springs starting in the late 1800s
- D = Day of the month that a post office was first established
- E = Fourth digit of the year the first settler arrived
- F = Number of railroads serving Cedar Springs today
- Check your solution
Sources:
- TS&M history
- RRHX: Cedar Springs
- Michigan Place Names, Walter Romig, L.H.D., © Wayne State University Press, 1986
- Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies, Graydon Meints © 1992, Michigan State University Press
- Michigan RailroadLines, Graydon Meints © 2005, Michigan State University Press
- [agh]
