SWS - Sparta on the TS&M (GT) Multi-cache

This cache is not located at the listed coordinates. The coordinates take you to the former Toledo, Saginaw and Michigan/Grand Trunk Western Railroad Depot, now a historical site. To find the cache, solve the field puzzle described below. Do not attempt to enter the depot. If the gate is locked, do not attempt to enter the grounds. The information you need is visible from outside the gate.

^{Photo by AGHudley © 2015.}
TS&M/GTW Depot, Sparta, MI, on date hidden.

Sparta:

The first settler, Jonathan Nash, came to what is now the village of Sparta in 1846. He named the place after himself, calling it Nashville, and built a sawmill on Lick Creek, which he renamed Nash Creek. Since there was already a Nashville in south central Michigan, the state the state legislature suggested Sparta Center, which it was known by until 1885. The village was platted in 1867 and incorporated in 1883. The first railroad, the Grand Rapids, Newaygo and Lake Shore, arrived from the south in 1872 and became part of the Chicago and West Michigan in 1881.

The second railroad to reach Sparta was the Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon. The line ran east-west across central part of the state. The depot was constructed in 1888. When the rail line was abandoned, both it and the railroad right of way became the property of the village of Sparta, but it stood vacant. In 1973, the West Michigan Historical Society purchased and restored the depot and used it for their society meeting place. In 1992, the Depot was designated a State of Michigan Historical Site and a marker placed there. A static display of some railroad equipment is also on the property. The West Michigan Historical Society has been inactive of late and the depot has been behind a locked gate. The gate is once again open.

^{Photo courtesy of michiganrailroads.com, RRHX, Charlie Whipp collection.}
Double-headed TS&M Passenger train in the early 1900s

Just east of the Sparta depot was an interchange with the Chicago and West Michigan Railroad, later the Pere Marquette. As the TS&M arrived after the C&WM, the TS&M was responsible for constructing and manning an interlocking tower to control train traffic at this crossing. The tower was identified as Saxon. It was in service until the October 5^th, 1933. By then, traffic on the then Grand Trunk Western was reduced considerably between Greenville and Muskegon.

^{Photo courtesy of trainweb.org.}
Saxon Tower after 1910 looking west toward the Sparta Depot in the background

The map below shows the north half of Sparta, circa 1907, annotated with the location of Saxon Tower and showing the rail line continuing west.

^{Standard Atlas of Kent County, Michigan, G.A. Ogle & Co, 1907, c/o UofM Digital Library.}
North half of Sparta, 1907, showing TS&M/GTW depot and Saxon Tower

Toledo, Saginaw & Michigan Railroad - The Turkey Trail:

In 1887-89, a railroad line originally known as the Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon, was constructed between Ashley and Muskegon. Rails reached Carson City in September of 1887, Greenville in November of 1887, Cedar Springs and Muskegon by the end of the year. Construction continued in 1888 for ballasting, sidings and depots. On August 1st, 1888, the lease of the TS&M to the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada was completed. GTC later purchased the line outright. A mail and express train and a mixed train (with passenger service) was operated daily between Owosso (over Toledo, Ann Arbor & Northern Michigan to Ashley) and Muskegon. The line was locally known as the GT version of the Turkey Trail because it meandered like a turkey and also because it allegedly never made money.

In 1928, GTC was merged with other Michigan Grand Trunk subsidiaries into the Grand Trunk Western, itself a subsidiary of the Canadian National. In 1930, GTW secured trackage rights between Grand Rapids and Muskegon over the Pennsylvania Railroad (former Grand Rapids & Indiana). Service on the Turkey Trail was reduced to way freights and mixed trains. In 1946, with heavy service operating over the PRR, the portion of the TS&M line between Greenville and Muskegon was abandoned. For a time, the former GTW track from the interchange at Saxon to the industry just west of the depot was serviced by the PM/C&O. The caboose and boxcar are former C&O and there is a sign in the east end window of the depot that says the C&O owned it.

The Cache:

The depot, at stage 1, may be behind a locked gate. All of the information needed is visible from outside the gate. Photos are welcome, but any photo that includes the data needed below will be deleted. Stage 2 is a short drive away. Do not attempt to walk the grade to the cache, or you will be trespassing. Have fun.

• Stage 1: At the posted coordinates, gather the following information:
  • abcd is the number on the yellow C&O boxcar
  • efg is the number on the Roadrailer trailer
  • hi.jk is the number of miles to Muskegon
  • lm.no is the number of miles to Ashley
  
  
• Stage 2: N 43^o qr.stu W 085^o vw.xyz
• • q = l-m
  • r = m-a
  • s = j-n
  • t = h+n
  • u = o-f+m-j
  • v = k-n
  • w = f-d
  • x = b-m
  • y = m-h
  • z = o-h+d-a
  
  
• Check your solution

Sources:

• TS&M history.
• RRHX: Sparta.
• Trainweb.org: Saxon.
• Standard Atlas of Kent County, Michigan, 1907, G.A. Ogle & Co.
  
• Wikipedia: Sparta, Michigan.
• Michigan Railroads & Railroad Companies, Meints, Graydon M. Michigan State University Press, © 1992.
• Michigan Railroad Lines, Meints, Graydon M. Michigan State University Press, © 2005.