SWS - Colby on the IS&N (PM) II Mystery Cache

This cache is a replacement for GC4DA51. The new cache is not at the posted location which is the site of the former sawmill settlement of Colby, on the former right of way of the Pere Marquette rail line that ran from Ionia through Stanton. The new cache has been relocated, resized and resurrected as a mystery cache. To determine the coordinates, solve the simple puzzle below using information on the cache page.

^{Courtesy of the White Pine Library, Stanton}
Colby Ranch, 1919, M-66 would be 150 yards beyond the row of buildings.

Colby:

Colby was the site of the Colby Brother's saw mill, one of the largest sawmills in Montcalm County. Other early settlers included Lewis Anderson, a former stone cutter from Sweden who came to Colby in 1875 to work in the sawmill, and James L. Wickes who came to Colby from New York in 1881 and established a cattle, horse and sheep breeding business. He also served as the mayor of nearby Stanton in the late 1880s and early 1890s.

A station was established in 1878 by the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad (formerly the Ionia, Stanton and Northern Railroad). The stop included a siding large enough to hold 15 rail cars.

A post office opened on May 14th, 1879, with Humphrey R. Wagar, who owned other saw mills in the area, as the first postmaster. The office closed briefly in 1894 but reopened shortly after. The 1897 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory lists Colby with a population of 50, an ice company, stock farm, blacksmith, and wagon maker and lists L.F. Hoag as the postmaster and a farmer. By 1907, the post office was gone. For over a century, the locals have referred to this place as Colby Ranch. In the 1960s it was used for spring and fall weekend jamborees by local Boy Scout troops. It is now part of the Stanton State Game Area and is popular with hunters and fishermen.

^{Courtesy of the White Pine Library, Stanton}
Colby's Mill, around 1900

Almost nothing is left of the former mill settlement. After many trips here over even more years, I recently spotted this foundation hiding in the grass and brush under the powerline. Based on its size, about 24 by 60 feet, and the large doorway size gaps in the foundation, it was likely from one of the horse barns shown in the first photo above. There are a few other depressions nearby which could have been the location of other buildings.

^{Photo by A.G. Hudley © 2017}
~24 x 60 foot Foundation hiding in the grass.

^{Photo by A.G. Hudley © 2017}
Believed Mill site with railroad grade in trees on the right.

Railroad:

A north-south railroad line from north-west of Ionia, through central Montcalm county and into Isabella and Mecosta counties was incorporated on July 16^th, 1872, as the Ionia, Stanton and Northern Rail Road. Its purpose was to construct a 62 mile rail line to connect Ionia, via Sheridan and Stanton, to Chippewa (Station) on the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad. Chippewa was in section 11 of Orient Township in the south-east corner of Osceola County. It is likely, but not proven, that the IS&N was a restructuring of an the earlier Ionia and Stanton Railroad Company incorporated on December 29^th, 1869. Conclusive evidence to support that theory has not been found.

^{Atlas of the State of Michigan, R.M. & S.T. Tackabury, 1873, courtesy UofM Digal Library}
1873 map from page 82, showing location of Colby's Station on the DL&LM. when the line opened.

Construction may have been started when the IS&N was merged into its parent company, the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad on October 1st, 1872. The line branched off the DL&LM line between Grand Ledge and Howard City at a place called Haynor. The line was completed and opened to traffic between Haynor and Stanton in February of 1873. Haynor was in section 1 of Easton Township, about four miles by rail north-west of Ionia. Haynor was sometimes referred to as Stanton Junction. The junction on the south side of Stanton between the old IS&N and the newer line constructed by the Pere Marquette Railroad connecting Greenville and Stanton was also called Stanton Junction by the railroad after the newer line was built.

On December 21st, 1876, the DL&LM was reorganized as the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. The DL&LN. In January, 1878, the line was extended to McBrides and reached Edmore in September of that year. In January of 1879, the line had reached Blanchard in Mecosta County and finally reached the Muskegon River in Big Rapids on July 4^th, 1880. Several branch lines were built off the main line, but the initial goal of Chippewa was never reached.

On December 21^st, 1896, the DL&N was reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western Railroad, which on January 1^st, 1897, also consolidated the Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit Railroad, the Saginaw Valley and St. Louis Railroad, the Saginaw and Grand Rapids Railroad and the Saginaw and Western Railroad.

On December 7th, 1899, the DGR&W was sold to the Pere Marquette Railroad which commenced operations on January 1st, 1900. The line between Haynor and Stanton was referred to as the Stanton Branch by the PM.

By 1929, traffic on the Stanton Branch was down to one train a week. On January 16th, 1929, there was a derailment between Fenwick and Shiloh that took the lives of two railroad employees. There are unconfirmed reports that the train that derailed was the last train that ran on the branch. The Stanton Branch was abandoned by the Pere Marquette by 1933.

Cache:

• N 43° 16.ABC W 085° 06.DEF
  
  
• A = The last digit of the reported population of Colby in 1897.
• B = The number of structures labeled on the bottom of the 1919 Colby Ranch photo, plus one.
• C = The second digit of the day of the month the post office first opened, minus one.
• D = The month that the Pere Marquette Railroad commenced operations.
• E = The last digit of the year the DL&LM was reorganized as the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad.
• F = The last digit of the year the line was extended to McBrides.
  
  
• Check your solution

Sources:

• Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad
• Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad
• Pere Marquette Railroad
• Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1897, R.L. Polk & Co.
• Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1907, R.L. Polk & Co.
• Portrait and Biographical Album of Ionia and Montcalm Counties, Mich., 1891, Chapman Bros.
• Atlas of the State of Michigan, RM & ST Tackabury, 1873
• Atlas of the State of Michigan, GN Tackabury, 1884
• 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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