Personal Cache Note: This is a hard area to get a good triangulation on the GPS, so look around when your GPS says you are there. I noticed that the GPS will give differing readings
Geocache Description:
This geocache is located on the Manistique Railway Grade. The railroad grade to the east can be seen
and the North Country Trail actually runs along the railroad grade at this point. The grade continues to Baker Creek where there was a railroad bridge, and the grade continued south and south west along the Baker Creek grade until it connected to where present day M-77 runs. From near the geocache location the grade headed west into town, along present day H-58, and to the depot that stood near the bandstand on the bay.
The Manistique Railway was the area's largest logging line and common carrier. In 1893 the Alger-Smith company, owners of the railway, acquired a sawmill in Grand Marais and extended the railroad into the town. The business purpose of the railway was to haul cut logs into the sawmill at Grand Marais, and as a common carrier, gave Grand Marais passenger service to Seney, Germfask, and Curtis. Because of the railroad access, the town prospered, and at one time was considered as the county seat of Alger county (it eventually went to Munising). However, when the white pine ran out, the Manistique Railway was abandoned on December 17, 1910. The town almost became a ghost town, without a good road into or out of town, until the Old Seney Road was opened about 1918, and M-77 state highway was built about 1925. The railroad information was taken from “A Map of Logging Railroads, by James L. Carter, 2006.
Parking
From Grand Marais, you can go east on H-58 until you come to the North Country Trail Parking area. The parking is big enough for three cars.