Of Life, Scouts, Family, and Friends
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The above coordinates will only get you close to the correct location. Figure out this EASY puzzle and score the cache. Once you have solved the puzzle check the hint out.
While out hiding a cache with JKnasinski and TTNT it was decided I got to maintain this cache. JKnasinski wanted to place a camera travel bug and thought this would be a good location. What we found surprised us. Myself and TTNT being active Boy Scout leaders were very familiar with one of the residents.
Hoosier Ranger probably already knows the location...
I think the hide is TOO easy so I decided to make an easy puzzle to go along with it. The cache is hidden in a small cemetary that only has one or two locations for a regular cache so the puzzle doesn't reveal the coordinates but rather gives the name of the cemetery and a locally very well regarded person buried there. Take some time to read the cache page and do a bit of research before you go for an easy grab. Be sure to walk along the west side and visit the grave that inspired this cache.
The cache is NOT at either of the two locations below. They only help you solve the puzzle.
Now to some history...
1. The oldest firm still in existence in Muncie began as Nottingham & Swain,located on the second floor of a frame two-story building on East Main Street. John Nottingham was one of the earliest settlers to the area, and Job Swain was later mayor of the city. The partners had built up a good reputation as master furniture makers. Robert and Isaac Meeks were born in Virginia (present-day West Virginia) in the 1820s. Robert became an apprentice with Nottingham & Swain in 1841 and bought an interest in the partnership several years later. Isaac joined his brother in 1846 and they bought out Nottingham, who previously had purchased Swain’s interest. The brothers produced quality furniture goods, and one publication noted that they were known for their “honesty and fair dealing.” A county fair entry, submitted by the brothers, was awarded the silver cup in 1857. Caskets were built to order. The brothers prepared numerous residents for burial, including the last of the county’s original settlers in 1875.
In 1871 James Meeks, the oldest son of Robert, joined his father and his uncle in the business. The firm’s name was then changed to R. & I. Meeks and Company. With the furniture business booming, the partners decided to build a two-story brick building on the southeast corner of Elm and Washington Streets. James managed the furniture factory until a fire destroyed the building in 1890. In 1881 James’s siblings, Martin and Will, bought out their uncle a short time before his death. The company’s name was
changed again to R. Meeks & Sons. Martin worked in the furniture department until the mortuary side of the business demanded his full attention. A fire destroyed the firm’s original structure, and the partners relocated the family company to East Main Street. In the 1890s the brothers discontinued the furniture-making business, but they continued to sell furniture until 1911.
Arthur, Ernest, and Charles Meeks, Martin’s sons, became the third generation to run the family business. Martin remained head of the company, and the firm’s name was
changed to M. L. Meeks & Sons. After the turn of the century the partners disassociated themselves from the furniture business altogether, selling their stock to the Banner Furniture Company.
The mortuary strove to keep up with changes in the profession throughout the years. After World War I the brothers bought a motorized funeral car, the first in the
county. After the death of Martin, the brothers began construction on a building to serve as a mortuary. Previously, arrangements had been made in the individual’s home or in the church of the deceased. The first Meeks facility designed and built specifically as a
mortuary opened in 1932. It featured a chapel with pews and leaded art-glass windows, and the facility also had a modern crematory, the only one in Delaware County. The
facility was featured in an article in American Funeral Director magazine.
The mortuary celebrated its century mark during World War II. By the end of the 1950s the fourth generation, David Martin Meeks, Arthur’s son, had joined the firm.
2. Camp Red Wing - Muncie, Indiana
Camp Red Wing is a Boy Scout Camp located southeast of Muncie, Indiana in Delaware County. The newly formed Boy Scouts of America found its way into the Muncie area by the early 1920's. It was not until 1924 that the Delaware County Council of Boy Scouts was formed. The following year, Aretus Rees and his wife gave the Scouts permission to use part of their farm along the White River for camping. It was in 1925 that the first summer camp was held. It was called "Camp Red Wing" at the Rees Scout Reservation. In later years, the Rees family made a gift of the land to the Scouts. In 1972, the Delaware County Council merged into the Crossroads of America Council who now oversee the camp.
Welcome to Camp Red Wing. Enjoy your tour through our camp. This site is intended to provide camp history as we share the past with the new. We always welcome comments and are always seeking people to share their photographs and history about this camp.
The name "Camp Red Wing" came from the name of a popular song of that era (1925) by Kerry Mills.
The Early Years
Camp Red Wing
Starting a summer camp program presented a struggle for the newly formed Delaware County Council. E.H. Justice was the new executive for the council. Part of his duty was to have a summer camp on the Aretus Rees farm southeast of Muncie. In 1925 he was able to put together a staff and set up a camp site on the bluff overlooking the White River.
In 1926 Lynn Perrigo was given the job of the council executive which included running the camp. Tents and cots were borrowed from a Y.M.C.A. for the month of July. With one week left, Mr. Perrigo rounded up the junior leaders and some volunteers. They camped on the site and prepared their own meals over campfire. They built a makeshift bridge over the river, erected tents, set up cots, installed dining tables, kitchen range, made plank dining benches, constructed a platform with diving board by the wide pool in the river used for swimming, and stocked up with supplies. The staff succeeded in completing all their preparations on Sunday forenoon before the Scouts and their parents began arriving at camp. (Years later a lodge was built on the site of their dining tent.
Ford Longsdorf was hired as the program director. He was a college senior preparing to become a Scout Executive. The junior leaders on the staff were a few older Eagle Scouts. That first time they included Robert Brady, aquatics, Thomas Tighe, storekeeper and librarian and Harry Cranor, instructor. They also had an adult truck driver and two cooks from Berea College in Kentucky.
A stock of craft work materials was obtained as well as a selection of appropriate books from the public library. A minister came to the camp each Sunday morning to conduct chapel service under the trees on a hillside.
In 1927, three weekly sessions were conducted. About thirty Scouts attended each session. They were grouped together for instruction according to their interests as Pioneers, Indians, Explorers, and Toolers. The schedule also included aquatic events, track meets, help with Boy Scout tests, a game night, a story-telling night, a stunt night, and an award night. Usually around 200 visitors would show for the Court of Honor. They would be seated on wooden benches around the campfire. The leaders would conduct singing, give talks and present skits. The story of Red Wing was always told and the Scouts were honored for their week at camp. A Bugler would play Taps while the guest returned to their cars on pathways impressively lighted by railroad flares.
For five years the program at the camp continued with only slight variation. In 1930, the camp came close to having a disaster because it rained almost constantly everyday during the first two weeks. The staff did their best to carry on under that handicap. The camp had nearly new, almost leak-proof tents obtained from a contribution of from George Ball.
Another contribution allowed for the drilling of a well so that the Scouts would not need to haul water from the distance Rees farmhouse.
Through another contribution, materials were obtained to build a better bridge for crossing the river. Ernest Ebrite (who later became a driving force in the council) and another teacher, Oscar Mossburg, constructed a swinging footbridge suspended on steel cables. At this time, the only way into camp was down a lane on the Rees farm and across the river. Everything had to be carried across the river.
Later, an arrangement was made with the farmer who owned the land north of the camp site to donate a right-of-way from the road ,along a line fence, to the northeast corner of the camp.
In order to figure out where the cache is located you will need to discover the identity of the 1875 pioneer burial by Meek's Mortuary. This individual lived on present day Camp Redwing and was a friend of the Reese family, who were definately friends to the Boy Scouts.
If you can't figure it out then try some google research on the topic geotechnical/geophysical evaluation of Karst Limestone sites. The second document deals with the location and will yield a name.
To get coordinates take the name you receive and do some quick math to get the coords.
4
0
0
Letter 1 -1
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Letter 2 -9
Letter 3 -4
Letter 4 -8
8
5
Letter 5 +0
Letter 6 -5
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Letter 7 -6
Letter 8 -5
Letter 9 -12
This should be a VERY easy puzzle to make sure you did your homework on the pioneer....
This cache has started with some nice swag and a travel Indiana travel bug.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
#1 Bevtva bs bhe fgngr'f anzr naq n irel pbzzba svefg anzr.
#2 Ohkhf zvpebculyyn fvavpn