SWS (RMNE) - Provemont on the M&NE (PM) Mystery 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.

This is a mystery cache and is not at the posted coordinates. To determine the coordinates, solve this puzzle using information from the cache page:

• N 44° 58.ABC W 085° 44.DEF
  
  
• A = Third digit of the year the branch line to Cedar City opened.
• B = Tens digit of the day of the month the post office was established at Provemont.
• C = Third digit of the year the fur trader attempted to drive an oil well.
• D = Ones digit of the day of the month the name Lake Leelanau was adopted, minus 1.
• E = Day of the month that the ICC granted the railroad's request to abandon the line between Cedar and Lake Leelanau.
• F = Fourth digit of the year the last train ran between Traverse City and Cedar.
  
  

You are looking for a soda preform very near the grade which passed through the intersection.

^{Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, Charles Conn Collection.}
Back (south) side of the M&NE Depot, Provemont (Lake Leelanau), Michigan.

Provemont:

The lake known as Lake Leelanau today was called Carp Lake by white immigrants that came here in the mid 1800s. The indians called it lee-lan-au, meaning delight of life. When French fur traders and settlers came here from Canada, a settlement called Le Naro was started. In 1867, a fur trader named Andre de Beloit (sp. DeBelloy by some sources) attempted to drive an oil well at a point on the east side of the lake just south of the narrows. Instead of oil, he struck an artesian mineral water well at a depth of about 700'. Today the well continues to run in front of the resort at Fountain Point.

^{UpNorth Memories - Donald (Don) Harrison collection, used with Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).}
Colorized postcard of the M&NE Depot, Provemont (Lake Leelanau), Michigan.

A post office was established at Provemont on May 10^th, 1871, with William Horton as postmaster. The name was reportedly derived from the word improvement. The office and village remained named Provemont until March 31^st, 1924, when the name Lake Leelanau was adopted. The post office remains open today. The Manistee and Northeastern Railroad always referred to the station as Provemont.

^{Photo courtesy of Leelanau Historical Society Museum.}
Mosier Saw Mill on east side of the Narrows?.

^{Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, Charles Conn Collection.}
Wreck of an M&NE Mixed Train near Provemont, early 20th century.

Early plans were to continue this branch to Omena and land there was purchased for a right-of-way and station. Apparently when the Traverse City, Leelanau and Manistique Railroad constructed its line up the west side of Grand Traverse Bay, these plans were aborted.

^{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
• Leelanau Historical Society
• UpNorth Memories - Donald Harrison
• 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.