Some of you may be too young
to remember this story. Personally, I was just a lad when Paul
Powell died and his cache of cash was discovered. I placed this
geocache on October 5, 2002. Powell would have been 100 years old
now but he died 32 years ago, almost to the day. So who was this
guy?
Paul Powell was born in Vienna, Illinois on January 21, 1902. He
was a big wheel in the Illinois Democratic Party since WWII.
Eventually, he became Illinois Secretary of State during the same
year I was born, 1965. In 1966, his office was investigated for
corruption; he was exonerated, but his chief investigator was
indicted for theft of state funds. He was still in office when he
died in Rochester, Minnesota on October 10, 1970. Shortly
thereafter, a shoebox full of money was found in his room at the
St. Nicholas Hotel here in Springfield—the infamous
cache.
The famous Paul Powell
shoebox was actually more than one box, and not all were shoeboxes.
There were also metal boxes, briefcases, and envelopes. This
treasure trove—roughly $800,000 in cash—was discovered
two days after he died, when Powell's staff and his estate executor
gathered his belongings from the hotel room and storage area. The
other, less famous findings included 49 cases of whiskey, 14
transistor radios, and two cases of creamed corn. This guy was
prepared; for what, I don't know.
The St. Nicholas Hotel property has changed hands several times.
It has not been a hotel for many years. Chicago developer Irving
Barr purchased the St. Nick in 1999 for $2.5 million at a
bankruptcy auction. Gee, if Paul had invested that $800k, it would
be worth about $16 million by now. That's a lot of St. Nicks!
So, about this geocache. The posted coordinates will take you to
the St. Nicholas Hotel. At this spot, you are looking for fancy
awning on the west side. Count the number of light bulbs under the
awning. Let this be X. Now look over the doors and count the
number of "urns" that are over the doors. [Note: It seems that
both of the "urns" fell off. Until the pair gets
replaced, you'll need to guess how many there were. Checksum: Your
total of urns and bulbs should be lucky 13.] This will be F.
Now for some calculations:
A = F + 1
B = F - 1
C = X - 7
D = F + F - C
E = X - 6
Plug those values into the coordinates below to find the final
geocache:
N 39° 47.ABA'
W 89° CD.EEF'
Of course, you are looking for
a
shoebox but it is inside a .30 cal ammo can, with a
geocaching.com label. Please rehide it with the label side UP and
cover it well. The original
contents included:
- Souvenir Paul Powell money (1 per
family please)
- "Where's George
Dollar"
- Shark pencil toppers
- Marvin the Martian
- Mouse pad
- Plastic walking guy
- Crazy Eights card
game
- Seattle radio station
stickers
- The Lock-a-Bye,
Baby! Travel Bug
If you take the Travel Bug, be sure to log it properly and move it
to another geocache soon. Have fun!
