This cache is on the former grade of the Pennsylvania Railroad, now the White Pine Trail, at the late 1870's station site of Rust. This cache is a replacement in a nearby location for GC5397K which succombed to muggles.
1879 plat map showing the proximity of Rust to the Muskegon River and Stanwood
The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad erected a station and built a siding here in 1874 to serve the Ring and Rust sawmill. The mill site was apparently north of the cache site. The station was short lived. When the timber harvest was complete, saw mills were moved elsewhere.
The GR&I spent thirteen years as a paper company before being built. Service began between Grand Rapids and Cedar Springs on Christmas Day, 1867. By the middle of 1869, the rails were down as far as Morley and on to Paris in the fall of 1870. Trackage was also completed between Grand Rapids and Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1871, the GR&I acquired the Cincinnati, Richmond & Fort Wayne Railroad Company, extending the GR&I to Cincinnati. Trackage was extending northward as well. By late 1872, a branch was completed between Walton to Traverse City. By the end of 1873, the line reached Petoskey and in 1882, Mackinaw City, becoming the longest north-south line in the country, at that time. As such, it had a large role in the settlement of northern Michigan. In 1886, the railroad also built a line connecting Grand Rapids and Muskegon.
The primary business in the early years was timber and lumber. This shifted to tourism and the GR&I advertised itself as "The Fishing Line". In partnership with the Michigan Central Railroad, the company built and opened the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in 1887. In 1918, the GR&I was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad, which operated it until 1975. The Michigan DOT purchased it and leased it to the Michigan Northern Railroad until 1984.
Today, most of the line is gone. The portion of the line between Grand Rapids and Cadillac has become the White Pine Trail. The trail, a state park, is open to hikers and bicyclists in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter.
The cache is easily accessible from 185th Avenue and Johnson Road. There is ample room to park on the shoulder on 185th.
Sources:
Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad depot photos/
Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad
Michigan Place Names, Walter Romig, L.H.D., © Wayne State University Press, 1986
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Proud Lake Superior Member