Canal Cache Traditional Geocache
Pooh and friends: The cache is missing and will not be replaced. The travel time for me is about 1.5 hours round trip and with gas prices as they are it just isnt worth it. I will try to set up something nearer to home.
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Size: 
(regular)
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Located along the Great East Canal in Acton, Maine. There is a public boat launch nearby. The immediate area (grassy area and spill ways) close to the dam is posted, but the canal and boat launch areas are open to the public. The cache is a small ammo can.
This canal was an engineering marvel of the 1800's. There was no cement or mortar used in either the archway, which supports a two-lane road crossing the canal, or on the canal itself. The large granite stones were hauled into place by men and oxen. About two-thirds of the way down the canal, two millstones, each cut in half, sit on top of the canal wall (west bank). The stones came from an old grist mill which stood just west of the canal. The canal was started in the 1850's, delayed because of the Civil War, and finally completed in the 1860's. Jeremaiah Titcomb of Farmington was the contractor. His crew was composed largely of local farmers and a few Irish laborers. Most of the work was performed during the winter because the men were more available at thet time of the year and the water level was the lowest. The laborers were said to have been paid 75 cents per day. They had to make their own blasting powder from charcoal (made from burnt alders), saltpeter and sulphur. The workers had to blast through granite ledge 21 feet down, to the edge of the granite bowl containing Great East Lake. The canal is three-quarters of a mile long (most is under water now), 16 feet deep, and 13 feet wide, and is the boundary line between Maine and New Hampshire. The canal and a dam at Great East Lake were part of a system of dams that controlled water flow in the Salmon Falls River, and provided water power for industries all along the river as far south as Dover New Hampshire. There is a state line momunent between the boat launch and the dam that is easily accessable and viewing of part of the submerged section can be done here as well.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va gur ebpxf arne n ynetr Cvar gerr.