Thursday, Sept. 14, one week after the raid.
After crossing the Blue Earth River in
Mankato in the middle of the night, the gang settled down near
Minneopa Falls. When I was a kid we regularly had family reunions
at Minneopa Falls - picnicking and hiking around the falls. Usually
Jesse James stories would come up. Every cave for miles around was
designated a Jesse James Cave. And we imagined that he hid under
the falls.
Reality is more mundane. You'll find their campsite for Thursday
morning to be by a knoll for a lookout and by a ravine for hiding
(see the additional waypoint below). Not a good place for a cache:
near the railroad and the road and the no parking signs. Not a good
place for a campsite either. The site is practically visible from
the railroad and they had a fire (under their raincoats to protect
the fire from the rain) for cooking some purloined chickens, melons
and field corn for breakfast. They were spotted. But rather than
waiting for other posses to surround the gang, a posse made a hasty
charge. The alerted gang was able to escape into the heavy woods
leaving some of their breakfast and raincoats behind.
Rush Lake, north shore. Here, after the narrow escape in the
morning, the gang decided to split along brotherly lines with Pitts
joining the Youngers (Cole, Jim and Bob) with whom he's more
closely aligned. The Jameses are in better shape physically, steal
a horse, and head toward
Lake
Crystal . The Youngers and Pitts, still afoot, continue to
trudge through the swamps and woods toward
Lake Linden.
Rush Lake, as its name implies, is more rushes than lake, a
hunter's paradise, and so today is a Wildlife Management Area,
which the cache is near.
As this is also a letterbox, you may use the
letterbox directions to lead you to this secluded spot and the
cache although the cache is located at the listed coordinates.