Massachusetts City & Town Cache is a series of caches dedicated to documenting the origin of the names of towns in Massachusetts. This concept was "borrowed" with permission from SKYTREK in Connecticut. You get a little history lesson and log a “FIND”. All caches in this series will require you to find the coordinates (bring paper and pencil) to the final cache (in a local Park) from clues provided at the first locations. On January 21, 1826 the corporators of the "Three Rivers Manufacturing Co." were given the lawful right to build a mill in the town of Palmer at the spot where the Ware and Quoboag Rivers join to form the Chicopee River. The area known as Three Rivers was officially recognized in 1829 when the plan was placed on record at the Hamden registry of deeds. In 1863, the cotton mill in Three Rivers burned down, and the village suffered some hard times. Ownership of the property changed several times until 1872 when the mill was rebuilt. The 1870's and 1880's saw increased rail traffic and commercial activity in the area.
This is a simple multi-cache. Park at the coordinates listed above. The last two digits of the Northern coordinate can be found by taking the last two digits of the date on the stone fountain and subtracting the last two digits of the date on the monument in the park. The last two digits of the Western coordinate can be found by taking the date on the auto bridge over the Chicopee River, subtracting the date on the original concrete abutments to the Rail bridge that runs parallel to it, and subtracting half of the third digit in the date on the auto bridge over the Quaboag River. Actual cache location: N 42 10.7xx W 72 21.5xx As of Aug 29, 2010 I moved the cache about 10' from it's original location due to environmental changes and the fact that it has been CITO'd twice. The size was also reduced to small and the hint was changed.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.