SWS - Chadwick on the DL&LM (PM) II Mystery Cache

Cache:

This cache is near the former Pere Marquette rail line through Chadwick. The power lines parallel the old railroad right of way today. The grade is on the northeast boundary. This cache is a replacement for GC4J6YF which disappeared, either down a black hole or in someone's pocket. The cache is not at the posted coordinates. To locate it, solve the simple puzzle below.

To locate the cache, solve this simple puzzle based on information in the cache description.

N 43 06.ABC W 085 12.DEF

• A = Number of names this settlement was known by, as described below.
• B = Last digit of the year Charles Chadwick started the settlement.
• C = last digit of the year theDL&LM, in receivership, was reorganized as part of the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad.
• D = Last digit of the year Chadwick first had a post office.
• E = Last digit of the year the rail line from Ionia to Greenville was completed.
• F = Last digit of the year of the plat map shown below.

See the Groundspeak solution checker at the bottom of the cache description.

Chadwick:

Chadwick, also known as Chadwick Corners and Chadwick’s, was a community started by Charles Chadwick in 1856. When the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan was built in 1870, Chadwick got a depot. It had a post office from 1872 until 1907. According to the 1897 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, Chadwick had a population of 50, including a justice of the peace, at least one grocery store, a hotel, a railroad agent, a blacksmith, produce and game market, a music teacher, a bee swarmer, a flour mill, a cooper and a carpenter. In the next ten years, a Methodist Episcopal church, a general store and Telephone connections were added. As nearby Belding grew, business interests were drawn there and postal service was consolidate there.

Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad:

The Ionia and Lansing Railroad extended its existing line from Ionia, through Orleans, Chadwick, Kidd(ville) and on to Greenville in 1870. That same year, the line was purchased and consolidated into the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad. The never realized goal was to reach Pentwater on the Lake Michigan shoreline. In 1872, the Patterson Railroad completed a 1.67 mile line from Kidd into Belding (formerly known as Patterson Mills). Upon completion, that line became part of the DL&LM. In 1876 the DL&LM, in receivership, was reorganized as part of the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. In 1896 the DL&N was reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western Railroad.

In 1899, the Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw Railroad extended its recently purchased Lowell and Hastings railroad from Lowell to Belding, connecting with the DGR&W, which had a lease of the GRB&S. Also in 1899, the DGR&W was one of several lines merged into the Pere Marquette Railroad. The GRB&S was opened as part of the first day of operations of the PM on January 1, 1900, and eventually became the main line between Saginaw and Grand Rapids. That made the line from Ionia somewhat redundant. The original line from Ionia to Kidd(ville) was abandoned in 1942.

Sources:

• Ionia and Lansing Railroad
• Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad
• Patterson Railroad
• Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad
• Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw 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.
• Atlas of Ionia County, Michigan, F.W. Beers & Co, 1875

• Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies, Graydon M. Meints © 1992, Michigan State University Press
• Michigan Railroad Liness, Graydon M. Meints © 2005, Michigan State University Press
• [agh]