The town received it name after railroad surveyors attempted to run a straight line north through the timbered highlands. Instead, they came across a beautiful lake surrounded by virgin maple, and appropriately named it Maple Lake. The next lake encountered was bisected by the surveyed town line and hence was dubbed Town Line Lake. The final lake they encountered had a range line running along the west side so they named it Range Line Lake. As a result, the supply station born on the frustration of these surveyors was marked “3 Lakes”. “3 Lakes” became a hub of activity as loggers came seeking the pine and hardwood forests, to be followed in time by pioneer farmers.
These 3 Lakes are just a small portion of a much larger chain of lakes, linked to yet another chain. Indeed, The Three Lakes Chain, also known as Burnt Rollways Reservoir, contains 20 lakes with several more not connected but a short distance away. Together with The Eagle River Chain of Lakes, which connects 9 more lakes, these two chains create the largest inner coastal freshwater chain in the world. Perhaps this is one of the contributing factors to the town's stupendous claim?
To solve this puzzle, you will need to find the total acreage of the 20 lakes in the Three Lakes Chain and sort them from largest to smallest. Substitute the size ranking for the sampling of lakes listed to get the final coordinates. In the case of a double digit answer, drop the first digit.
N45 AB.CDE W89 FG.HIJ
A Deer Lake
B Planting Ground Lake
C Whitefish Lake
D Big Stone Lake
E Fourmile Lake
F Range Line Lake
G Maple Lake
H Dog Lake
I Crystal Lake
J Round Lake
All Three Lakes | SS caches are meant to be watercraft retrievable. You are advised to approach them by water, even if, in some cases, there seems to be way to get them via land.
Permission granted to place this cache by landowner and longtime friend of the family.
UPDATE: 8.27.13 Since the Three Lakes site contains a dubious map that includes 2 lakes from the Eagle River chain and 2 that aren't in either, I have uploaded a map for reference. Use the 24 embossed lakes labeled in the map, but omit Lone Stone, Spring, Moccasin Lakes and The Thoroughfare.
UPDATE: 8.20.15 I have revisited a couple of lake acreage sites and determined that my list is still solid based on the provided map. Cache was relocated to make space for a memorial cache to come.