Charles City Treasure #3 Traditional Geocache

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IowaAdmin: No response from cache owner

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Hidden : 12/5/2006
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

USE EXTREME STEALTH WHEN FINDING THIS CACHE!!
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WELCOME TO CHARLES CITY, IA !
AMERICA'S HOMETOWN
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Well? What are you waiting for? Come on in. Charles City has a long history in the area.
In 1850, Joseph Kelly camped an Indian area south of the Cedar River known as the "Upper Big Woods". Kelly left in 1851 and in 1852 came back and brought with him many more families. Kelly started out the town of Charlestown -to honor his son, Charles- on the north side of the river and Dr. Robert Freeman started the town of Freeman on the south side. Eventually the two towns merged to create first Charlestown, then St. Charles, later St. Charles City, and in 1869 incorporated as, Charles City.

Years came and went in Charles City. 1854, Joseph Kelly built the town's first mill. The original mill wheel is located by the dam on Main Street on the northeast side. The Great Fire of 1862 destroyed the entire 200 block of North Main Street. It took four years to rebuild the downtown buildings. Many of the original buildings still stand today.

Charles City stands out because of the tractor. The first gasoline-powered tractor started rolling off the assembly line in 1902. It was a one-of-a-kind event that transformed this quiet little town into a bustling community.The Hart-Parr tractor plant started bringing many buisnesses to town along with opening foreign markets to these amazing work-horses. However, the Oliver Corporation bought out the company and in 1975 employed 3,000 workers. The end came though after White Farm purchased the buisness and employment started to dwindle. On July 31st, 1993 the last employees walked out the doors and the factory was no more and torn down. A giant cement slab is all that exists at the place that once employed 3,000 people 31 years eailer.

Nobody in Charles City will ever forget what happened on May 15th, 1968. A furious F-5, with winds of 528 mph, devestated the town, tearing up more than 90 square blocks. The tornado started near Dumont, Ia and snaked its way up to Charles City starting on the south end of town and working its way north . It barely missed the newly built hospital and destroyed the residential area before laying sights on downtown and industrial areas. It wiped out 58 businesses, eight chruches, three schools, and killed 13 people. Of the 3,600 families in town, 2,200 had been affected by the twister. After the tornado left town, it traveled northeast and hit the small town of Elma and finally died out south of Chester, Ia. In fact, a sign from a local business was found up in Le Roy, Minn.

This town of 7,812 is worth visiting. The cache isn't the prize, it's the beauty of the town.
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Cache is a small, camo. film canister

Walk across the foot bridge and enjoy the sculptures along the river. Also, the library has Moonery paintings in a room near the entrance. Feel free to walk in and look at the paintings.
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Map of Charles City, Ia is here
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Check out the Iowa Geocachers Organization at www.iowageocachers.org for more
information on becoming a member, its FREE!!!
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Other caches in the area:
Old Chautauqua Park #10
Chautauqua Bridge #7
Charles City Western RR Travel Bug Depot #17
Waverly Hills Hide Out
Sit And Relax #52
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Click to rate "Charles City Treasure #3"
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Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Juvpu gerr?

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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