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This
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.
Potts, circa 1891, after passenger service to Au Sable had started.
Potts (later McKinley):
J.E. Potts, owner of the Potts Lumber and Salt Company, established a camp on the banks of the Au Sable River in the early 1880s for the purpose of harvesting and banking logs and floating them down the river to Au Sable each spring and summer. As was common, the name of the camp and subsequent settlement was the name of the owner of the camp. In 1885 or 1886, the company built narrow gauge rail lines north and southwest from the camp to bring logs here from greater distances from the river. A post office was established as Potts on June 3rd, 1886, with Jeremiah D. Hunt as postmaster. The expanding companies headquarters grew as well, with engine service facilities and car shops built here.
Potts / McKinley cook shack, with the cook holding the dinner horn.
By 1891, the rail line had been extended to Au Sable, but the expansion bankrupted Potts Lumber and Salt Co. Potts sold the whole business to H.M. Loud Lumber Company who reestablished the railroad as the Au Sable and Northwestern Railroad. On January 2, 1892, the post office and town were renamed McKinley in honor of President McKinley.
Potts Logging Railway, circa 1886.
Railroad:
In 1886, the J.E. Potts Lumber and Salt Company built a narrow gauge (3' between the rails) logging railroad from it's company headquarters at Potts (later McKinley) in eastern Oscoda County. On July 27th, 1887. Potts organized the railroad as the Potts Logging Railway. 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 1891.
Potts made a bold attempt to connect his isolated lumber railroad to the outside world and become a common carrier (passengers and other freight). By early 1891, he extended the line south-east to connect with the Detroit, Bay City and Alpena Railroad and Great Lakes Shipping docks in Au Sable. In doing so, Potts overextended the company and it failed financially. The troubled Potts Logging Railway and its parent, J.E. Potts Lumber and Salt Company 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.
Cache:
The cache is a winter friendly hide on the old "AO" grade heading up the hill towards Fairview on the old North Branch. The cache is hidden where a game trail intersects the grade. Please be careful to leave it where you found it so its camouflage can help it blend in.
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.
- AS&NW History
- RRHX: Au Sable & Northwestern Railroad
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Detroit and Mackinac Railway
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Detroit and Mackinac Historical Society
- Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University
- Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1897, R.L. Polk & Co.
- Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1907, R.L. Polk & Co.
- Michigan Place Names, Walter Romig, © 1986 Wayne State University Press
- Michigan Ghost Towns Volume II, Roy L. Dodge, © 1971 Glendon Publishing
- 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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