The coordinates given bring you to the bottom of a path containing marble plaques and informative signs concerning the Forks named the Wall Through Time.
The Forks is named as such since it is the branching of the Red River and the Assiniboine River. The site has recorded occupancy for over 3000 years. Many native tribes have travelled to the site for commerce ranging for Swan River Manitoba and North Dakota.
The aim of this earthcache is to show how sedimentary deposits from the rivers can help understand the history, climate and hydrology of this historical site.
As you move up the river bank, you will pass by many layers of soil and debris which have been deposited from the two rivers, the Wall Through Time shows some of the secrets these deposits hold.
For the first question, history that you cannot see. During the last ice age Lake Agassiz covered this area, while Mammoths and Mastodons roamed the area on ice up to 4 kilometers thick.
1- How far is the glacial lake bed below your feet?
Climate change can also be studied with the sediments. The plaques mention a severe drought period roughly 800 years ago. This helped the prairies expand north.
2- How do the sediments reveal this drought?
The floods, sometimes catastrophic, and the river courses can also be studied with the sediments. The panels show that the Assiniboine river change it's course through time as well.
3-How long has the Assiniboine River maintained its current course?
Extensive archaeological investigations of the sediments reveal some of the history of this area. Various pottery fragments, bone and tools can be found in the sediments which help identify the different Aboriginal tribes that hunted, fished or traded at the Forks. Later in history, trade post were established and settlers arrived. Beginning in 1886, The Forks emerged as one of the key sites of early railroad development on the Prairies.
4- Examining the plaque layer insert showing actual sediments of the railway period, how are the sediments different for this period? What causes them to have this difference?
Today, The Forks is a vibrant downtown Winnipeg setting where people gather for celebrations, recreation and, much like the early Aboriginals, to meet one another.
To log this cache as a find email the answers to the profile email. Optional: also post a picture of yourself and/or your GPSr with one or two of the rivers in the background.
Some of the information for this earthcache was obtained at http://www.theforks.com/. All information required to answer the earthcache is on the outdoor plaques.