SWS - Fishville on the DL&N Traditional Cache

Cache:

This cache is on county road right of way just south of the former logging settlement. The railroad grade crossed Cedar Lake Road near the creek crossing north of Evergreen Road.

^{"Standard Atlas of Montcalm County, Michigan, G.A. Ogle, 1897, c/o UofM Digital Library"}
1897 plat of a portion of Evergreen Township, Montcalm County, Michigan, showing Fishville.

Fishville:

Fishville was a settlement in eastern Evergreen Township in the late 1800s. It was established around a sawmill on Fish Creek. Fishville was reported by Michigan Place Names to have been settled in 1879 at the mill, with a store owned by Robert Evans. On November 9^th, 1886, a post office was established at the store with Evans as postmaster. The post office remained open until July 31, 1905. For a few years, the settlement was served by a branch of the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad. Several lumbermen, including Alexander McDonald, D.T. Fargo and J.M. Weatherwax had significant land holdings around Fishville.

The 1897 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory listed the population at 40 with a Free Methodist church, but a Baptist Minister, Mr. Evans' General Store, Alexander McDonald's shingle mill, Fred Regis' grocery. Evans' wife Jennie E. Evans was listed as the Post Master. The volume mentions a daily stage coach connection to Stanton. The nearest shipping point was also reported at Stanton, on the Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western Railroad (recently reorganized from the DL&N). Apparently the branch line was gone by 1897, indicating that the log harvest was over. The 1907 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory reports that mail was then delivered from Sheridan. Enough roads were established at that time to use Vickeryville, on the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, five and a half miles south, as the shipping point.

Today, there is nothing left of the little town. There are several homes in the area but no indication if any were part of the original settlement. The exact location of the railroad grade crossing Cedar Lake Road is indeterminate but is likely used today for people's driveways. Parts of the Grade of the Fishville Branch can be seen at Half Moon Lake and crossing near the intersection of Tow Road Sidney Rd southeast of the settlement.

^{"Tackabury's Atlas of the State of Michigan., H.F. Walling, 1884, c/o UofM Digital Library"}
Montcalm County page of 1884 Tackabury Atlas showing the Fish Creek Branch of the DL&N.

Detroit, Lansing and Northern 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.

Construction between Ionia and Stanton 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 the depot in 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.

^{"Google Earth imagery marked up by aghudley - 2018"}
Fish Creek Branch of the DL&N annotated on 2006 Google Earth Imagery.

Fish Creek Branch:

According to a local newspaper, the Stanton Weekly Clipper, the Fish Creek Branch of the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad was approved in late 1879 and constructed in the summer and fall of 1880 from a place near Stoney Lake (east Twin Stome Lake) called Weatherwax Crossing, to Fishville, 5.2 miles east. The first load of lumber from a mill owned by J.M Weatherwax, either at Fishville or the west end of Half Moon Lake, was shipped over the line on November 1st, 1880. Equipment for the mills was said to have come from the Colby mill. According to a 1928 report to the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Fish Creek Branch was abandoned by the DL&N in 1892.

Stanton Branch demise:

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. Greenville and Stanton were connected in 1902 by the PM, giving the railroad a connection between Grand Rapids and Saginaw. After that, the importance of the line from Haynor to Stanton was lessened.

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.

Sources:

• Ionia and Lansing Railroad
• Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railraod
• Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad
• Pere Marquette Railroad
• Stanton Weekly Clipper, courtesy of FB post by N. Korstange
• History of Montcalm County Michigan, Its People, Industries and Institutions, John W. Dasef, 1916 B.F. Bowen & CO, c/o Google Books. See p148.
• Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1897, R. L. Polk & Co.
• Michigan Place Names, Walter Romig, Wayne State University Press, © 1986
• Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies, Graydon M. Meints © 1992, Michigan State University Press
• Michigan Railroad Liness, Graydon M. Meints © 2005, Michigan State University Press