The cache site is on the old raised railroad bed that was once
part of the branch line that connected the Great Northern Mainline
with the Milwaukee Road Mainline to the south via the longest
covered railroad bridge in the western hemisphere (pictured below).
Trains first crossed the river here in 1911 on a trestle and
covered bridge slightly to the east. They were replaced by this
route in 1939. That covered bridge was replaced in 1967 and the
branch line abandoned in 1973, and although it was later renovated
as a spur line to serve a quarry in the Tualco Valley, it, too, was
later abandoned and the line allowed to deteriorate. The railroad
bridge was demolished last summer when the southern pylons became
unstable and the entire bridge was in danger of collapsing into the
river. For a more more photos and information, read this
history.
Just to the west of the cache is the old City of Monroe well
sites, which can be seen through the trees, and the spot where
while drilling for water they found natural gas in 1909. For more
on the early history of Monroe’s need for water, read Hiram
Pearsall's colorful memoir.
Another in series of caches that focus on Monroe-area
history. You are looking for a small Tupperware container under
a log just off and parallel to the west side of the tracks directly
opposite a sawed off log perpendicular to the tracks on the east
side in
Al Borlin Park. Although there are a number of approaches, the
easiest is to park at the north end of the park and take the trail
that leaves the north end of the picnic area until it reaches the
old railroad tracks and then follow them south to the cache
site.
