The Lost Village of Grabtown Traditional Cache
The Lost Village of Grabtown
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache marks the location of a former 19th century squatter's town for loggers, in the midst of the redwoods.
In 1867 Eugene Froment and two partners bought 750 acres of timberland in San Mateo County, on the headwaters of Tunitas Creek. They proceeded to set up a steam sawmill along the Creek, at its junction with Mitchell Gulch (probably near the present King's Grove holiday cabins). The offices of Froment's logging company were near this cache. Sawed lumber from the mill was 'gulched out' in single wagonloads dragged up the route that is now Tunitas Creek Road. A teamster, having brought up two loads, would overnight here and then take the tandem down to the Redwood City docks the next day. The layover spot was a logical place for a settlement, and though Froment had not planned it, one sprang up on land that actually belonged to his company. Soon there was a boarding house, a stable, and a number of ramshackle homes on the flats here near the company office, all without benefit of title. Since there was no title, there was no sale of property. If one family moved on, another moved in and 'grabbed' the location. Boundaries were a matter of convention and argument. Legend says an argument about a barn starting to go up on a spot that another family regarded as its garden resulted in the settlement being briefly called 'Grabannapolis', quickly shortened to 'Grabtown', which caught on. Froment's business prospered for a few years, but overextended itself in the downturn of the 1870s, and was sold in bankruptcy in 1879. The redwoods in the upper Tunitas had largely been cleared, and the buyers moved the mill machinery down the valley. With the office gone and the mills moved, Grabtown ended as quickly as it had begun. The name lingers in the form of Grabtown Gulch below on the Purissima drainage. The cache is an ammo can. You'll find one interesting old growth redwood nearby. It and the other tree cover increase the difficulty a bit.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Cnenyyry ybtf
Treasures
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