Big Gem's
Father
In keeping with
the Milnes cache series, I present to you Big Gem's
Father.
William Milnes,
Jr. was born in Yorkshire, England on December 8, 1827. He
immigrated to the United States in 1829 with his parents, who
settled in Pottsville, PA. He was educated in public schools and
later learned the machinists trade. He moved to present-day
Shenandoah in 1865 and
engaged himself in the iron business.
He was elected to
the Virginia House of Delegates in 1870 and 1871. When Virginia was
re-admitted to the Union, he was elected to the 41st Congress as a
Conservative representing the 6th Congressional District and served
from January 27, 1870, to March 3, 1871.
Under his
leadership, work on the Shenandoah Valley Railroad commenced in
1879. In 1881, the rail was complete from Hagerstown, MD to Basic
City (Waynesboro), VA. In 1882, the line was connected with the
Norfolk & Western Railroad in Roanoke, VA. A year later, Milnes
died in Shenandoah. In September 1885, the SVRR was forced into
receivership and was ultimately absorbed by Norfolk & Western.
In 1982, N & W merged and became Norfolk &
Southern.
Through the work
of William Milnes, Shenandoah became the midpoint of the railroad
between Roanoke, Virginia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and enabled
town industries to ship out their goods through means other than
the river. Milnes took advantage of the railroad's presence and
erected the
Big Gem Cast Iron Furnace.
Many have
forgotten William Milnes, Jr. and his contributions to Shenandoah.
He was truly instrumental in forming this Town. Only
a road across the river in Rockingham County and the name of
the local Eastern Star Chapter (Milnes O.E.S. Chapter #3) prompt a
modern-day remembrance of such an important part of our local
history. I suspect even most locals don't know what a "Milnes" is,
nor cannot pronounce his name correctly (MILL-nz). With all this
anonymity, every train that passes on the nearby line is a tribute
to his entrepreneurship.
FIRST
STAGE
The posted
coordinates are for a memorial to the history of the furnace. The
last name on this marker is ??44. From these coordinates,
stand on the southernmost side of this memorial and walk
approximately 90-100 feet on a bearing of
220o.
SECOND
STAGE
At this point,
observe whom you honor with this cache. The marker has an epitaph
for the interred. Use the epitaph to decode the
following:
"????78 85
???? ?5, ?5? ?9?? 9 ????? 9? 89?."
FINAL
STAGE
Use all of your
information to fill in the final cache coordinates. (Zero) denotes
the integer zero.
CH BH.I(ZERO)G
(ZERO)GH CG.DDE
Missing some of
the coordinates? They're gimmes.
The container is a
small, waterproof Army surplus container measuring 4"x2"x3". It is
suitable for small travel bugs and trading items. The cache is
stocked with a few trinkets to get it started. Please trade up or
trade even.
Thanks for
visiting historic Forrer's Forge, Milnes, Shenandoah City, or
Shenandoah, which ever you prefer.