SWS (RMNE) - Isadore on the M&NE (PM) Traditional 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.

You are looking for a soda preform about a mile west of the Isadore and eight hundred feet west of the site of the Isadore stop on the railroad.

^{Photo courtesy of Traverse Area District Library, Grand Traverse Pioneer and Historical Society collection.}
Early twentieth century house in Isadore, Michigan.

Isadore:

The passing of the 1862 Homestead Act had a great impact to many places, including Leelanau County. Polish immigrants that had formerly settled in Milwaukee began homesteading in the area north of Cedar, in three settlements with roots in three same named towns in Poland. Isadore was the southernmost of the three. The settlement was founded in about 1870 when settlers began to farm the land.

^{Overlay of 1900 plat over Google Earth imagery, markup by AGHudley - 2018.}
1900 Plat over 1990s imagery showing approximate locations of
Isadore, Bodus and Schomberg stations.

When the Provemont Branch of the Manistee and Northeastern Railroad was extended north to Provemnot, it passed just under a mile west of the settlement of Isadore. A whistle stop was created for the local residents. It is likely that a small shed was erected for a passenger shelter, although no photographic evidence has been found by this author.

On July 27^th, 1892, a post office was opened with Jacob Rosinski as postmaster. In addition to the post office, there was a Catholic Church with a new school. The original school burned in 1894 and was replaced in 1896. In 1907. a nun from the church went missing and she was presumed slain. A novel based on the true story called Isadore's Secret by Mardi Link was published in 1909 and documents the story. Part of that story involves the construction of a new brick church, which is still in use.The post office was in operation until May 15^th, 1912.

^{Map by A.G.Hudley © 2017 using Google Earth and Google Maps Engine.}
Provemont Branch with stops. 1894-1954.

M&NE Provemont Branch:

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

Two years after the main line was completed to Traverse City, a three mile branch line was constructed from Solon, fifty-nine miles from Manistee, to Cedar, originally called Cedar City and so called by the railroad, tapping a new area of timber. The branch opened for business on December 1, 1894. The branch was originally referred to by the railroad as the Glen Arbor Branch, with that town as its planned goal. Cedar City remained its terminus for eight years, at which time the railroad extended the line eleven miles to the village of Provemont, at the narrows of what was then called Carp Lake. Service started to Provemont on December 17^th, 1902. The railroad had refocused the goal to Omena, on the shores of West Grand Traverse Bay. A right of way and site for a station had been acquired but no work had begun when the Traver City, Leelanau and Manistique Railroad built thier line through Omena to Northport. The M&NE's plans were shelved.

Once the timber harvest along the line was completed, the surrounding land was turned to farming, predominantly potatoes. This supported the branch for a few decades, but by the nineteen-forties, business along the line was insufficient to support the railraod. The Interstate Commerce Commission granted the railroad's request to abandon the eleven miles of the line between Cedar (City) and Lake Leelanau (formerly Provemont) on March 3^rd, 1944. A portion of the main line south-west of Solon was also abandoned at ths time.

On August 4^thth, 1954, the ICC gave permission to the railroad to abandon nine miles of railroad between Hatch's Crossing and Cedar City. The last train ran between Traverse City and Cedar City on March 31^st, 1955.

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.
• Atlas of Leelanau County, Michigan, C.E. Ferris, 1900, UofM Digital Library
• Traverse Area District 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.