Old West Olive Depot

[garrybrand]

Greetings! I'm new here. I've been trying to find some old photos or other information about the location of the West Olive Depot. According to my research, West Olive was "given a station on the Chicago & Western Michigan by 1884." The only photo I can find is this one from 1897.



I was originally searching on the West side of US 31. However, all of the maps and my deed research put it on the East side near Croswell. Any help would be appreciated.

[Doktor No]

I would surmise that it was near the short pocket track in West Olive. (is that even there anymore?) Used to place Ethelyne oxide tanks in there for the local fruit people. Ya wanna talk about dangerous stuff THAT STUFF was it.

[garrybrand]

I'm only aware of the track that goes off to the Consumers Power Plant. Here's an 1897 Plat Map that shows the depot.

[~Z~]

On your map, looks like Gardner, 1st, 2nd st, plus either a part of May or Brayton are still there. Goss is likely Croswell. If you pull up https://www.oldmapsonline.org , you can find a map that shows the small pocket track Doktor mentions on the west side of CSX at the Croswell crossing. Won't help with photos of the depot, but should get a more likely location. Appear us-31 came through and ate up most of those plots you showed.
Couple screenshots of the maps if it helps:

[garrybrand]

Thanks! I was thinking Goss was Croswell too. I'll need to research that. Goss was a big name in the Michigan Lake Shore Railroad.

I checked out oldmapsonine. I was able to find an 1873 map I didn't have. WIth all the changes to the roads in that area, I'm still pretty confused about where the depot might have been. Looks like there was an elevator there too.

I don't see any physical remains of any structure or pocket track there. Obviously, that was a long time ago!

I'm going to an Olive Township Historical Society meeting Tuesday. Maybe they know something.

I appreciate the comments.

[garrybrand]

Thanks for helping me with this mystery! I was also sharing with the "Historic Images of Ottawa County, Michigan" group on Facebook and they made this overlay. This puts the depot on the west side of US-31 just North of Croswell (Goss). I then went back through the Ottawa County Historic Imagery Viewer and BINGO ... found the pocket track Doktor mention. See attached.

Much appreciated.

[garrybrand]

It's long and dry, but here's a recent presentation I did based on the information you helped me find. Thanks all!

Garry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ZKmYKnUnM

[Jetlink]

Neat amount of history you give. I watched the video while on a layover. I like the research you do into the surveys and the deeds. Would be interested to know if you ever find more out about the steam sawmill. Was it a portable set up perhaps? Powered by a non-stationary engine? I. E. a tractor with a large flywheel for a power take off? i have seen several examples. Odd though that a portable rig would be drawn on a map so likely not.

[TerryT]

[attachment=0]C0DEBCB6-36D0-400C-A9B8-C309462BAF7A.jpeg[/

[J T]

Thanks for helping me with this mystery! I was also sharing with the "Historic Images of Ottawa County, Michigan" group on Facebook and they made this overlay. This puts the depot on the west side of US-31 just North of Croswell (Goss). I then went back through the Ottawa County Historic Imagery Viewer and BINGO ... found the pocket track Doktor mention. See attached. OverlayMapWestOlive.jpeg
Much appreciated.PocketTrackWestOliveDepot.png

I'm not sure when they removed the pocket track, but it was still there when I took this photo in May of 2008.

[J T]

Still there in August of 2009.