Boone Island Homestead Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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George Luther Boone had the yearning to wander, much like his Great Grandfather the “Kentuckian” Daniel Boone. He began his journeys from Missouri early in life and visited many places and peoples on his way to Oregon. He began his training as a tailor at the age of twelve, traded goods with several different tribes of Indians picking up their languages along the way as they told tales of his Great-Grandfather.
Returning from a trading trip George discovered that his father, Alphonso, had set out with the family on the Oregon Trail and since the Mexican War had begun, he mustered in with the Missouri Mounted Volunteers. After thirteen months and traveling four thousand five hundred miles, he was discharged and paid off in New Orleans. He then began his trip up river by steamers and then by wagon trains to find his father and family in Oregon City, just downriver from Alphonso’s claim at Boone’s Ferry. After a short stay in the Willamette Valley, the gold fields of California called and George set off once again.
George did not stick strictly to mining but also traded and packed goods between Sacramento and the mining camps. He came back to Oregon in the Spring of 1851 married Mourning Ann Young the next Spring and decided to settle down at the ripe old age of 25, Mourning Ann was 13. They began farming in the area along Mary’s River and owned about 220 acres more or less, but in 1870 he continued his exploring driven by the restless blood of his Great Grandfather Daniel.
George had helped survey the first road over the Coast Range to Yaquina and he blazed a wagon road to the tide water where he laid claim to the homestead on what is known as Boone’s Point. The lush grasses, rivers teeming with fish, and tidelands full of clams and oysters lured George to homestead over 148 acres on the Yaquina Bay nine miles up from the current city of Newport. George Luther and his wife Mourning Ann were probably the first Euro-American settlers on the Yaquina Bay.
The farm land was green and fertile and the Boone’s raised apples (a thousand bushels a year,) pears, prunes, English walnuts, and French plums that were sold to folks up and down the river and bay. It took George six years to build the two story, white house with a veranda that sat on a hill and could be seen for miles around. The grounds had picnic areas and a lawn that ran down to the bay. Families would come for the day to picnic, buy fruit, and enjoy the surroundings.
On 4 December 1887, a devastating Pacific storm blew in to shore, up the bay and river destroying everything in its path. The next day, the storm was even stronger and although the house at Boone’s Point was built for the weather, Yaquina City was not. There were rumors that the feud between ships and the railroad was the cause that the schooner “Yaquina City” was dynamited inside the bar and responsible for some of the damage in Yaquina City in addition to the storm. Another schooner was built and destroyed and history indicates that this was the beginning of the end of the cities up the bay. With the decline of the fruit market and settlements, George began selling of parcels of the land he loved so well.
George and Mourning Ann packed up their belongings at the end of April 1905 and moved from their adored home on Boone Island to Jacksonville. It is believed that the inactivity in Jacksonville and the fate of his beloved bay country led to his death less than five years after the move at the age of 84.
The owner of the cache would like to express appreciation to George Luther Boone’s Great Grandson, James W. Fawver for the loan of his family’s history Boone: The Oregon Trace.
The cache is a camouflaged container 2” X 6” and hidden close to the Central Oregon Coast History sign. Please be careful to not stray too far from the sign which is on the highway right of way.
THE PROPERTY BEHIND THE SIGN IS PRIVATE AND TO LOCATE THE CACHE DOES NOT REQUIRE DISTURBING THIS AREA. THE OWNERS ARE AWARE OF THE CACHE, LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE GEOCACHERS AND LOOK CLOSE TO THE SIGN PLEASE.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fznyy ohfu oruvaq yrsg fvta cbfg
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