![]() ![]() The Trail area is still filled with wildlife, though the bears and prairie chicken booming ground have been replaced with coyotes. In 1833, David Trumbull wrote his father in Connecticut about bears, wolves, prairie hens, and plentiful turkeys and deer in the area. The Falling Waters Trail’s Ecological and Environmental History Kalamazoo River was important to the development of the village and area. The saw mill equipment was installed in 1835, west of the railroad bridge on Concord’s main street. The first dam built in Concord, then called Van Fossenville, was constructed in 1833 near the Falling Waters Trail on the north branch of the Kalamazoo River. ![]() The remnants of docks and equipment are visible to trail visitors in the bottom of crystal clear south Lime Lake. The Portland Cement Company dug marl with two large steam dredges from 1900 to 1929, forming the lake into its current size, split by the railroad tracks. Lime Lake was originally only a four-acre pond called Bateman Lake on Carter Road from which Methodist Episcopal Church Seminary students cut ice. Our Trail’s Economic and Sociological Historyĭouglass Houghton, Michigan Territory geologist of the early 1800s, described the area of the Falling Waters Trail from Jackson to Spring Arbor as “rolling filled with marshes, lakes and cat-holes ” and “filled with numerous springs of peculiar character that seem to contain minerals and extensive beds of marl” near our Lime Lake’s well known Peppermint Springs and “beautiful oak openings with primary boulders” proceeding further on to the lovely site of Concord. In the 1970s Conrail abandoned the line and tore up the tracks. The railroad continued in 1884 across Michigan from Niles, east through Jackson on to Romeo, and on into southern Canada. There was also a depot at Lime Lake with a ticket agent in 1903 as well as one in Concord. existed in 1867 and became a busy rural shipping point with four passenger trains and up to 40 freight trains every 24 hours. The Michigan Air Line railroad was completed in 1871, although Snyder Station at Moscow Rd. ![]() The Falling Waters Trail’s Railroad History Jackson County is headwaters for four Michigan rivers and the Land of Falling Waters was the Native American name for this area. The name, Falling Waters Trail honors the Pottawatomie village of the “Kitch-ti-ki-pi” or Big Springs. Cross roads, draws its name from the old village of Pottawatomie whose site became the first village of Spring Arbor in 1835. Falling Waters Historic Park, located a quarter mile north of the trail at Hammond and S. The earliest recorded inhabitants of the Falling Waters Trail were the Pottawatomie natives, who had major encampments near the trail, as well as burial sites and council grounds. The Falling Waters Trail has Native American History to Sparks Foundation County Park | 1.75 Miles ![]() This is a trail you will want to visit time and time again to experience the seasonal changes in scenery. At the mid-point of the trail, stop, relax, and enjoy the natural beauty of the picturesque Lime Lake. As it travels through natural springs and lakes that form the headwaters of four major Michigan rivers.Īt the western trailhead in Concord, the trail crosses over the Kalamazoo River where you can view a great expanse of wetlands filled with abundant wildlife. The 10.5-mile, 12-foot-wide paved trail is ideal for walking, running, or biking. One of Michigan's most popular rail-trail destinations!Ĭonnecting the Village of Concord with the City of Jackson, the trail was built on an abandoned stretch of the Michigan Central Railroad. ![]()
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