Beechworth Bridging History II Bridge Traditional Cache
Beechworth Bridging History II Bridge
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Well worth the detour from the Hume Highway into the old Gold Rush
town of Beechworth.
Beechworth is steeped in history (Ned Kelly trial, Gold Rush
Centre, Golden Horseshoe ride, heaps happened here).
As you come into town (or leave it) you will cross Newtown
Bridge.
The first bridge to cross Spring Creek was a wooden one built in
the early 1850’s. It was decided that it would be replaced by
a bridge which “would be in service for the next 200
years”.
Quarry owners Donald Fiddes & Co. contracted Scottish
stonemasons to build it, and work started on April 2, 1874. The
bridge cost 2450 Pounds, and was built without mortar, using
keystones to lock the granite blocks together. It was opened in
1875 and considered then to be the best bridge in the
colonies.
They don’t make them like this anymore.
Then on February 10, 2000 a walking/Bike bridge was built beside
the original. Old meets new. Compare the two. Both have their
appealing attributes… well, I’ll let you decide which
you like best.
Go to coordinates S36’21.945 E146’40.931 – the
cache is right below your feet.
Interestingly, the Newtown Bridge crosses over the george where
miners, in 1856, cut a “Tail-Race” through solid
granite to drain the Spring Creek Flats. This enabled miners to
scour the area which was once a mass of small abandoned claims. The
work took 18 months at a cost of 3500 Pounds.
The Tail-Race was further cut to a depth of 8 feet (2.4M) in 1863.
It is 450 yards (411 Meters) long and was completed in July 1869.
One contractor was killed during construction by a blasting mishap.
The deeper tail-race allowed the continuation of mining from 1869
to 1876, during which time 6500oz ( or 35 Million dollars at
today’s rates) of gold was reclaimed.
Warning: Be careful and don’t let the kids go
down too close to where the water is running through the
Tail-Race…don’t want them falling down into the
cutout.
This is also close to the area where the exit to the 1 Mile Tunnel
dug through solid granite under the town of Beechworth (the
entrance to the “hidden tunnel” is at Next! Beechworth
Bridging History)
Oh, and there are a few other quick caches you can also do in the
area!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre lbhe srrg. Arj Oevqtr. Cyrnfr abgr gung npprff gb guvf uvqr pna or fyvccrel jura jrg.
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