SWS (RMNE) - Kaleva on the M&NE (C&O) Multi-Cache

Manistee County Historical Museum

Cache:

This cache was hidden as part of the tRails Meandering North-Easterly Geocache Rail Tour, presented by Silent Whistles, the Manistee County Historical Museum and the Crawford County Historical Society and Museum. Record the milepost value contained on and/or in each cache container on the Ticket to Manistee form. See the To Claim a Prize section below for specific tour requirements. See the Resources section below for links to the Ticket to Manistee, Tour Cache List, and a Recommended Driving Route Map.

This is a multi-cache with a field puzzle and is not at the posted coordinates. To determine the location of the cache, go to the posted coordinates and answer the following questions with information there. You will need to look near the sculpture, at a Barn Quilt, at the locomotive, among other places. This cache is in town. Please be quiet and discrete.

• N 44° 22.ABC W 086° 00.DEF
  
  
• A = How many generations does the poem about the sculpture represent.
• B = Number of red squares on the barn quilt, minus 1.
• C = Number of white squares on the barn quilt.
• D = Second digit of the five digit number on the post near the east end of the depot.
• E = Sum of the digits on either white post with GR on top, minus 1.
• F = Number on the locomotive, plus 1.
  
  
• North Checksum: A+B+C = 20
• West Checksum:. D+E+F = 15

You are looking for a soda preform. Please do not post photos with your log that give away field puzzle answers or I will have to remove them.

^{Charles Conn Michigan Railroad Collection, Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University.}
M&NE-PM Station, Kaleva, MI.

Kaleva:

The name of this town is pronounced Kal' auh vah by all except the M&NE, which, for reasons unknown, pronounced it Kah lee' vah. The name was derived from a Finnish national epic, Kalevala.

The M&NE completed its line through here in 1888. Other than the rail line, there was nothing here until 1889 or 1890, as the M&NE had just built a station at Bear Creek, a mile southeast. Changes began when the Chicago and West Michigan Railroad built its line north from Baldwin to Traverse City. A crossing of the M&NE was required and a small station was constructed with the namd Manistee Crossing.

In 1894 Jacob Saari was sent here by the Michigan Land Society to found a Finnish settlement at the crossing. A village plat was submitted in 1894. On February 6^th, 1895, a post office was opened called Crossing with Frank Schimmel as postmaster. The name was changed to Kaleva on January 20^th, 1900.

Fire destroyed the first depot in June of 1904. The fire was perhaps more than a little suspicious as the station at Onekama Junction burned the same weekend. The new Union station was built by the two railroads out of brick. It still stands today and is home to the Depot Railroad Museum. The diesel locomotive parked near it is the last existing former M&NE engine.

^{M&NE page from the 1953 Railway Guide, from the collection of Greg Bunce.}
1953 M&NE System, now using the C&O between Kaleva and Traverse City.

After the line between Kaleva and Solon was abandoned in 1934, M&NE trains used the parent Pere Marquette line from Kaleva to Traverse City. The M&NE schedule and system map pictured above shows this routing. In 1956, The C&WM/PM/C&O line from Baldwin to Kaleva was also abandoned. From that point until 1982, C&O trains also used the former M&NE to Kaleva, then jumped to their own line to Traverse City. In 1982, the C&O abandoned both the former M&NE and C&O lines.

Kaleva railroads in 1903		Kaleva just before 1982 abandonment

The two maps above show the rail corridor through Kaleva in 1903 (old depot facing the M&NE and in 1982, just prior to abandonment of the former M&NE by the C&O. In 1903, both railroads had small yards and an interchange at the depot.

M&NE Main Line, Manistee-Traverse City:

^{1912 M&NE timetable, Mike Hankwitz collection.}

Construction of the main line began from Manistee in the spring of 1887. The line opened for freight business in October, 1888 and was completed as far as Bear Creek, 18 miles from Manistee, on January 14^th, 1889. On April 28^th, 1889, the line reached Lemon Lake, 25 miles from Manistee. By September 29^th, 1889, the line was open to Nessen City, 33 miles from Manistee. On June 1^st, 1890, the line was nearly 45 miles long and had reached Interlochen. On October 13^th, 1890, the rails reached Lake Ann, 52 miles from Manistee and only twelve miles from Traverse City, as the crow flies. A direct route would not be taken, however, and after winding another 18 miles north, then east, then south-east, the line reached Traverse City on June 25^th, 1892.

The line's sole purpose at its inception was to haul logs. The company purchased some passenger cars and began passenger service on January 6^th, 1889, with the first train reaching Bear Creek, 20 miles from Manistee (notice that this date conflicts with the date in the previous paragraph for when the line actually opened to Bear Creek, with the information from two different sources). The service was immediately popular and the M&NE began running two passenger trains daily. Through passenger service between Manistee and Traverse City was never a big draw but local passenger service was very popular. As time went on and the logging business dwindled, the railroad turned its attention to agriculture and general freight.

After the Pere Marquette took over the line, it reduced its redundant footprint in the area by closing the M&NE main line between Kaleva and Solon in Leelanau County on April 10^th, 1933, using its own line (the former Chicago and West Michigan main line to Petoskey) between Kalava and Traverse City instead. The Interstate Commerce Commision authorized the abandonmenton of the closed M&NE line between Kaleva and Solon on June 19^th, 1934. In 1947, the C&O merged the PM into itself, it took control of the M&NEx. In 1954, the C&O abandoned the five miles between Solon and Hatchs. On November 30^th, 1955, the C&O officially merged the M&NE into the parent company, thus ending the identity of the M&NE. It then then abandoned its own line between Baldwin and Kaleva in 1956, favoring the M&NE route between Manistee and Kaleva. In 1982, the C&O abandoned its line from Kaleva to Grawn and all of the remaining M&NE trackage outside of Manistee.

Sources:

• Manistee and Northeastern Railroad, michiganrailroads.com (RRHX)
• M&NE History, Trainweb.org
• Manistee and Northeastern Railroad (Wikipedia)
• Pere Marquette Historical Society: M&NE
• Manistee County Historical Museum
• Crawford County Historical Society
• History of Manistee and Northeastern Railway Company, Erwin F. Olsen © 1956 E.F. Olsen, UofM Digital Library and HathiTrust.
• Standard Atlas of Manistee County, Michigan, G.A. Ogle & Co., 1903, UofM Digital Library
• Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads of the State of Michigan, for years 1889-1906, Google Books
• Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, Google Books
• 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
• Michigan Railroad Atlas, Volumes 1-4, Graydon M. Meints © 2017, Michigan State University Libraries
• In the Pines, An Atlas of Michigan Logging Railroads, James S. Hannum, M.D., © 2017 Hannum House Publications

To claim a prize:

1. Download and print the Ticket to Manistee (see Resources) and take it with you caching.
2. As an aide, download and print the RMNE Recommended Route Map (see Resources).
3. Follow the instructions on that form to find the required number and combination of the hides.
4. All hides in the tour are identified on the Ticket to Manistee and in the bookmark list.
5. Look for Mile Post values on the cache labels and log books to record on the form.
6. Please do not record the Mile Post values in your on-line log or they will be deleted.
7. Please do not post photos showing the Mile Post values with your on-line log.
8. Please do not post photos showing answers to field puzzles with your on-line log.
9. 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.
10. Send the completed form via US Mail to the address on the form or scan and send a digital copy using GC email or the GC message center. 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:

• Ticket to Manistee (PDF).
• RMNE Recommended Route Map (PDF).
• SWS (RMNE) Bookmark List on gc.com.
• Bookmark lists for other Geocache Rail Tours:
  • SWS (RAAS): tRails Along the Au Sable (6/2016)
  • SWS (ARNC): Abandoned Railroads of Newaygo County (9/2014)
• Bookmark list for Entire Silent Whistle Series:
  • Silent Whistle Series

Contributors:

I would like to express my special thanks to the following people and organizations who have helped either directly or indirectly with this project:

• Charles Conn for allowing me to use of his collection of photographs at the Clarke Historical Library. Mr. Conn thought this would be a good non-profit way to share some history.
• Mark Fedder and the Manistee County Historical Museum for being gracious cohosts.
• Mike Hankwitz and Charles Showalter, both of whom provided a portion of their digital collection, both private and that of the Manistee County Historical Museum, in support of this project.
• The Crawford County Historical Society for being gracious cohosts and providing materials.
• The Traverse City District Library, for help with and blessing to use their digital library.
• Dr. James Hannum, for sharing research, opinions and guidance along the right of way.
• James Harlow for sharing many items out of his collection and his memories.
• Dale Berry and michiganrailroads.com, always a source of great information.
• Graydon Meints, for his hard work and research which would have taken years to do on my own.