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 Manistee County Historical Museum |
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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.
- N 44° 21.ABC W 086° 11.DEF
- A = Month of the year that the water rushed out of Portage Lake, plus one.
- B = Width of the channel when the water rushed out of Portage Lake, divided by 100 .
- C = Fourth digit of the year the mill was moved to the site of this marker, establishing the village of Onekama.
- D = Third digit of the year the dedication plaque was set in stone, plus one.
- E = Fourth digit of the year the dedication plaque was set in stone.
- F = Day of the month that the water of Portage Lake rushed out, minus 10.
- North Checksum: A+B+C = 20
- West Checksum:. D+E+F = 12
You are looking for a soda preform on city property.
Charles Conn Michigan Railroad Collection, Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University.
M&NE-PM Station, Onekama, MI, 1917.
Onekama:
A settlement called Portage, was established in 1845 on the west end of Portage Lake and on the creek between Portage Lake and Lake Michigan. The Portage Sawmill built a damn on the creek, raising the lake level and often flooding settlers property. A channel was dug to alleviate the flooding. When the damn was let out, the sudden rush of water lowered the lake level 12 to 14 feet and washed the channel out, creating the start of the navigable channel that connects Portage Lake to Lake Michigan.
A post office was opened on May 8th, 1871, but there was already a post office in Michigan by that name, so the name Onekama was chosen, based on the indian name for Portage Lake, Oneka-ma-engk.
In 1880, the village was relocated to the north shore of the lake, near the site of an earlier settlement or lumber camp called Brookfield, on the north-east corner of the lake. Portage Lumber company had a mill on the north shore of the lake. When the Manistee and Northeastern Railroad built a two mile branch into Onekama, it built a station near the sawmill. The village was incorporated in 1891 and the plat included the earlier settlement of Brookfield. For several years, there was a Brookfield remained a flagstop for passengers who wanted to board the train.
Standard Atlas of Manistee County, Michigan, G.A. Ogle & Co., 1903.
Combined plat map showing the Onekama Branch of the M&NE.
M&NE Onekema Branch:
1912 M&NE timetable, Mike Hankwitz collection.
At the same time that the M&NE started building its main line toward Traverse City, a three mile branch line was constructed from the west side of Section 1 of Manistee Township (T22N R16W), around the east end of Portage Lake, to Onekama. Trains started running to Onekama on January 14th, 1889. On the way, on the north-east corner of the lake, the line passed the once platted resort town of Brookfield, now part of Onekama. The 1912 timetable at right shows one passenger train running to between Manistee and Onekama on Wendsdays and Saturdays only.
Oddly, the above plat map shows only one siding from Onekama Junction, but in truth, there was a wye there. When it was initially constructed, the The south-west wye leg coming from the Manistee side was tight but still navigable by equipment of the time perioud. As time passed, steam engines got larger and passenger and freight cars got longer. In 1929, the branch was reconstructed and the tight wye leg was replaced with a curve of broader radius, making access to the branch much easier.
The Onekama Branch survived well into the Chesapeake and Ohio era. The C&O abandoned the branch in 1972.
Sources:
- Manistee and Northeastern Railroad, michiganrailroads.com (RRHX)
- Wikipedia: Onekama
- 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, 1877, 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:
- Download and print the Ticket to Manistee (see Resources) and take it with you caching.
- As an aide, download and print the RMNE Recommended Route Map (see Resources).
- Follow the instructions on that form to find the required number and combination of the hides.
- All hides in the tour are identified on the Ticket to Manistee and in the bookmark list.
- Look for Mile Post values on the cache labels and log books to record on the form.
- Please do not record the Mile Post values in your on-line log or they will be deleted.
- Please do not post photos showing the Mile Post values with your on-line log.
- Please do not post photos showing answers to field puzzles with your on-line log.
- 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 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:
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.
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