SWS - Manistee River on the C&MR II Mystery Cache

Cache:

This cache is not at the posted coordinates. This is a mystery cache. To get the coordinates for the final, find and solve the simple puzzle in the description below.

There are not many easy mystery caches caches in Kalkaska County. This cache adds one more which should be useful for cachers trying to qualify for the Michigan County Grid Challenge by MiGO, the Michigan Geocaching Organization. To learn more about that challenge, visit the MCGC page on the MiGO website.

This cache is at the site of the Manistee Lumber Company log dump on the Manistee River. Logs were floated from here to mills in Manistee, usually in the spring when water levels were high from winter snow melt. The cache is on property owned by the State of Michigan. It is off King road and is a short walk from the CCC Bridge campground. The posted coordinates are where a previous traditional cache of the same name was hidden, where the old railroad grade enters the forest heading south.

^{Claude Stoner Photo, Bentley Historical Library, UofM, provided by Dr. James Hannum.}
C&MR Locomtive Nicholas, built by Brooks.. Solve Here!

Crawford & Manistee River Railway:

The Crawford &Manistee River Railway was built in 1885 to transport white pine timber harvested east of Grass Lake (near Stratford) to the banks of the Manistee River. According to Dr. Hannum's work In the Pines - An Atlas of Michigan Logging Railroads, Articles of Association were signed 16 September 1885 and ten miles of track had been built by 11 October 1885, when the line went into operation. Original specifications called for a railroad beginning in Section 13 of Glade Township (now part of Garfield Township) and terminating at a Manistee River log dump, in Section 26 of Oliver Township.

^{Map of SE Kalkaska county by Dr. James S. Hannum.}
Southeast Kalkaska County showing the C&MR Ry in pink.
The log dump is just up and left of center.

Over the years, it branched out to Pioneer in Missaukee county also ventured into Crawford County. When the timber was played out south of the river, the company built from the north side, a little west of here, to Bear Lake and beyond. The railroad was abandoned in 1904, with the completion of the harvest on lands owned by the company. The grade can easily be seen as a trail blocked now by a line of stumps after a recent timber harvest. From this log dump, it proceeded up a draw and became what is now Sunset Trail south of where King road turns to the west. The line can be traced on USGS quadrangle maps, down Sunset Trail to a point about four and a half miles south, where it branched both east and west..

Listen... can you hear the whistle?

Sources:

The following sources provided information for this cache page. Thanks very much to my two railroad history friends, Jim Hannum and the late Don Meints for their hard work.

• Hannum: In the Pines - An Atlas of Michigan Logging Railroads, James S. Hannum, M. D. © 2017, Michigan State University Press
• Meints: Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies, Graydon M. Meints © 1992, Michigan State University Press
• Meints: Michigan Railroad Lines, Graydon M. Meints © 2005, Michigan State University Press