This Daytime Only cache was hidden as part of the tRails Along the Au Sable Geocache Rail Tour, presented by Silent Whistles, the Oscoda - Au Sable Historical Museum, and the Steiner Museum. Record the milepost value contained on and/or in each cache container on the Ticket to Au Sable form. See the additional information below for specific tour requirements.
Loud Lumber Co. and AS&NW Offices
Au Sable:
Au Sable was first platted and settled in 1849, one year after James Eldridge and Curtis Emerson bought the site. A post office was opened on September 23rd, 1856, with a fisherman, Elijah Grandy, postmaster. The village was replatted in Francis B. Smith in 1867 and was incorporated as a village in 1872. In 1889, it was chartered as a city, the largest in the county.
Loud Lumber Co. mills, Au Sable
By 1877, the population had grown to 1500. There were six large sawmills, many shops, hotels and other business including fish dealers. Great Lakes boats tied up at the docks in the Au Sable River and large amounts of lumber related products were shipped over water. In 1883, the Detroit, Bay City and Alpena Railroad had pushed north to Au Sable and points north by 1885, making its way eventually to Cheboygan. The railroad brought many people and products in and provided an additional avenue for forest related products out. In 1891, the Potts Logging Railway extended its McKinley based narrow gauge railroad to Au Sable to connect with the D&M
A great volume of forest procucts were delivered to the railways and the docks for shipment elsewhere in the state and other Great Lakes ports. The area was nearly completely reliant on the forest related industries. In 1911, a massive forest fire wiped out most of Oscoda and nearly all of Au Sable. The post office was permenantly closed on December 15th, 1912, with mail being handled from Oscoda there after. The city never really recovered and surrendered its charter in 1931. Au Sable reverted to being a township and the became commonly thought of as part of Oscoda.
Au Sable on fire, 1911
Due to the nearly complete destruction of the 1911 fire, very little written documentation exists today for the area prior to the fire.
Railroads:
Railroads in Au Sable 1883-1927.
For the most part, the AS&NW was a typical logging railroad, with branches built, taken up and moved elsewhere. Two unusual things happened to this little line that extended its life beyond the typical logging line.
Potts Logging Railway: 1886-1891
What became the AS&NW was started in 1886 by the J.E. Potts Lumber and Salt Company from it's company headquarters at Potts (later McKinley) in eastern Oscoda County. The logging only railroad was built using narrow gauge (3' between the rails). The railroad was constructed in two different directions from Potts to tap stands of timber. One line was built northwest to what would become Fairview, then on to lumber camps at a place called Tong in north-west Oscoda County. A second line was built south-west into northern Ogemaw County, then west, then north back in to Oscoda County, along Big Creek to Lewiston.
Potts Logging Railway, circa 1886
The first twist came in 1889 or 1891, depending on the source, Potts made a bold attempt to connect his isolated lumber railroad to the outside world and become a common carrier (passengers and other freight). He extended the line south-east to connect with the Detroit, Bay City and Alpena Railroad in Oscoda and to the docks in Au Sable. In doing so, Potts overextended the company and it failed financially.
Potts Logging Railway, circa 1891
Au Sable and Northwestern Railroad Company: 1891-1906
The troubled Potts Logging Railway was purchased by the H.M. Loud Lumber Company on July 17th, 1891. Henry M. Loud reorganized the railroad as the Au Sable and Northwestern Railroad. Loud also renamed the town of Potts to McKinley, for the 25th president. Loud continued to make changes to the railroad, tearing up rails and moving them elsewhere to tap new resources.
In 1892, Loud built a bypass from Twin Lakes Junction, two miles east of McKinley, to a point on the northern line three miles north of McKinley, abandoning the original three miles north out of McKinley. In 1892 or 1896, depending on the source, Loud extended the "northern" line from Tong to Twin Lake (now Lewiston) where it connected briefly with the Grayling, Twin Lakes and Northeastern branch of the Michigan Central Railroad In 1897, the "southern" branch from McKinley to Luzerne was abandoned and removed. This left the company headquarters and shops at the end of a two mile stub line to McKinley. In 1897, Loud again extended the northern line, this time to the east side of Bear Lake. The last two extensions were very short lived. The line to Lewiston and Bear Lake was removed back to Red Oak in Oscoda County in 1898, then back to Kane in 1899 and back to four miles east of Fairview in 1900. From that point, the line was again extended further north and north-west to Millen and to Comins. That same year, two short branches were built west and north-east out of Comins to harvest timber. On January 1st1906, the railroad ceased operations for a time following the death of Henry M. Loud.
Au Sable & Northwestern Railroad, circa 1898.
Au Sable and Northwestern Railway Company: 1907-1912
On January 2nd, 1907, the railroad and lumber business was purchased from the rest of the heirs by Henry N., George A. and Edward F. Loud, as the H.M. Loud & Sons Co. A new charter was obtained for the railroad and on December 26th, 1907, it was reorganized as the Au Sable and Northwestern Railway Co. The parent company moved the railroad headquarters to Comins and built a new connection to Comins from Russell north to Hardy, then westerly to Millen. The old lines from Russell to McKinley and from Twin Lake Junction to Millen were abandoned. The two existing branch lines north-east and north-west from Comins were removed that year.
In 1908, the AS&NW built a new branch from Hardy east to Curran. In 1909, a new branch was built north out of Comins to Bonard in Montmorency County (location not exactly known). In 1910, the Curran branch was extended to Byers.
In an attempt to attract farmers, settlers and sportsmen to the logged over lands, the railroad published the illustrated booklet The Gateway to a Home - AS&NW Railway, showing fine farms and homes in the districts around the railroad. A link to the booklet digitized by Google is included in the Sources section.
Later in 1911, a huge fire at Au Sable and Oscoda destroyed the towns and the Loud operation there. Smaller forest fires allegedly started by sparks from steam engines of one or both railroads had been burning for two days outside of town. Fifty mile per hour winds suddenly swept the fire into Oscoda and later shifted direction toward Au Sable as well. A daring rescue by the steamer Niko saved many of the otherwise doomed residents.
The AS&NW built a branch to the Five Channels Dam construction site in 1911 or early 1912. The dam construction and the fire and destruction of Loud's operations there likely had an influence on the next phase of its life.
Au Sable & Northwestern Railroad, circa 1910.
Au Sable River Branch, Detroit and Mackinac Railway: 1912-1927
On June 1st, 1912, the Detroit and Mackinac Railway leased the AS&NW with the option to purchase. In addition to timber, a contributing factor to their interest in the line was the construction of several dams on the Au Sable River. Under D&M control, the AS&NW built a branch to the Five Channels Dam construction site and also extended the Curran branch from Byers to Beevers. On June 1st, 1914, the D&M exercised the option to purchase the AS&NW outright. That same year saw the last new construction on the line, with an extension of the Five Channels Dam branch to the Louds Dam construction site. The second twist came in late 1915 or early 1916. The D&M converted the main line and Curran branch from narrow to standard gauge (4' 8 1/2" between the rails), anticipating an influx of farmers and settlers following the timber harvest. A by-pass of the first three miles out of Au Sable, eliminating a bridge on the original line over the Au Sable River. The D&M, a small classs 1 railroad, had a history of being profitable and well maintained and seemed a good suitor to the .
In 1915, the original Potts Logging Railway line from the docks along the Au Sable River, through Au Sable River Junction, to milepost 2.9 was retired and replaced by the D&M with a 1.3 mile line from Au Sable Junction. This change was made to avoid having to reconstruct the bridge across the river at Tucker's Farm that was likely damaged in the 1911 fire and fallen into disrepair.
Beyond the Dam projects, however, traffic on the line was dwindling. As expected, the percentage of business generated by forest products went from the large majority at the turn of the century to less than fifteen percent of the D&Ms total freight business by the late teens. The influx of people didn't happen, largely due to World War I putting demands on manufacturing, driving wages up in the cities. Portions of the Curran branch were abandoned beyond Curran in 1917. At the end of 1917, the Federal Government took control of all of the country's railroads until the end of the war. The burden of the war was harder on small Class 1 lines such as the D&M, than their larger competitors. Under government control, the small D&M was forced to pay the same wages as much larger Class 1 lines. As a result, maintenance and income both suffered. Finally, in 1927 the saga of the Au Sable and Northwestern came to an end. The D&M abandoned the entire Au Sable River Branch.
The entire D&M was sold to the State of Michigan in 1992 and then to the Lake State Railway Company which still operates portions of the line including through Au Sable and Oscoda.
Au Sable River Branch, D&M, circa 1917.
Cache:
The cache is not at the posted coordinates. You do not have to go to the posted coordinates, although a view from across the river from the same vantage point as the photos above might be interesting. Finding the location of the cache is a two step process. Step one involves calculating a waypoint from the posted coordinates. Step two involves solving a field puzzle at that waypoint to find the coordinates of the final.
- Step 1: From the posted coordinates: N44° 25.050' W83° 19.900', solve the following simple puzzle:
- A = thousandths digit of North coordinate minutes (Nxx xx.xxA)
- B = hundredths digit of North coordinate minutes (Nxx xx.xBx), plus 1
- C = tenths digit of North coordinate minutes (Nxx xx.Cxx)
- D = tenths digit of West coordinate minutes (Wxx xx.Dxx), minus 2
- E = ones digit of West coordinate minutes (Wxx xE.xxx), minus 3
- F = hundredths digit of the West coordinate minutes (Wxx xx.xFx)
- Insert the results into N44° 25.ABC' W83° 20.DEF' and create a new waypoint.
- Step 2: Proceed to the new waypoint. You should be standing near a sign with a name in white letters and some other information. Using that information, solve the following simple puzzle:
- A = Number of skates on the sign.
- B = Number of eagles on the sign.
- C = Number of balls on the sign plus 1.
- D = Number of sticks on the sign.
- E = Number of constanants on the third (blue) line.
- F = Number of vowels in the first word on the third (blue) line.
- Insert the results into N44° 25.ABC' W83° 21.DEF' and create a new waypoint. Use the checker below to verify your result.
- Check your solution
- Step 3: Proceed to the new waypoint to find the cache.
To claim a prize:
- Download and print the Ticket to Au Sable (PDF).
- As an aide, download and print the RAAS Recommended Route Map (PDF).
- Find at least 46 of the 57 (80%) cache hides in the table below.
- Find at least seven of the ten mystery and multi caches, in any combination.
- Record the milepost value from each cache you find on this form. Milepost numbers are on cache labels and log book covers. Do not record the milepost value in your log at geocaching.com or it will be deleted.
- Each individual GC account holder making the find must sign and date the paper log book in the cache with their GC account name. No group logs please.
- Send the completed form via US Mail to the address on the form. Each GC account holder must send in a form. One prize per completed form. One prize per GC Account. Multiple forms per mailing is encouraged.
Once your answers have been verified, the prize will be sent back to you via US Mail to the address you provide on the form, while supplies last. One hundred prizes have been minted..
Resources:
Sources:
Many thanks to the hard work and research performed by Mr. Graydon Meints, which would have taken years to do on my own.
Also, thanks to Charles Conn for allowing the use of his collection of photographs at the Clarke Historical Library, and thanks to the Library staff for their help.
Also, thanks to James S. Hannum, Michigan and Washington railroad author, for sharing research, opinions and guidance along the right of way.
- Au Sable and Northwestern Railroad
- The Gateway to a Home - AS&NW Railway
- Detroit and Mackinac Railway
- Detroit and Mackinac Historical Society
- RRHX: Au Sable & Northwestern Railroad
- 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.
- Iosco County and Lake Huron Shore Log Marks, Neil Thornton, Printer's Devil Press, 1981
- 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 Lines, Graydon M. Meints © 2005, Michigan State University Press
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