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You will arrive at a very public business that is open 24/7. This would have been a place to rest wagons and take care of your other means of transportation.
Find the second set of coordinates here. Can easily be done from the vehicle.
This 245-mile blackwater river has many devotees who love its primitive qualities. Canoeists glide through the reflective water, exploring the meandering river swamps. Anglers set out trotlines at night, hoping for catfish but watchful of cottonmouths and alligators. Ministers wade down the river's sandy banks and baptize believers in the clean, cold waters. And yelping children swing on a tree rope, dropping into the Ogeechee's tea-stained waters on the Fourth of July.
The Ogeechee is one of the few untamed major rivers in America. Originating at 650 feet above sea level with small spring-fed creeks near Interstate 20 in Greene County, the river picks up volume as it flows south to the fall line. Leaving the Georgia Piedmont, it enters the Upper and then Lower Coastal Plain, where it picks up volume, depth, and width, with miles of adjoining river swamps buffering the river, holding back civilization and adding to its mystery. Just north of Interstate 95, it enters the tidal zone and is joined by its main tributary, the Canoochee River, where it meanders through tidal marsh until it meets the ocean at Ossabaw Sound at the coast.
The Ogeechee River basin totals 5,535 square miles and its drainage to the coast plays a significant role in forming Wassaw, Ossabaw, St. Catherines, Blackbeard, and Sapelo islands. Most rivers flow into other rivers or impoundment lakes and lose their name, or join other rivers and adopt a different name. For example, the Chattahoochee becomes the Appalachicola at the Florida border below Lake Seminole and the Altamaha is formed by the Oconee and Ocmulgee. But the Ogeechee is the Ogeechee from beginning to end, the longest river in Georgia to keep its name throughout its course.
With intimate swamps and bottomland hardwoods adjoining the river, it retains a pristine quality and provides food, water, and shelter for large numbers of raccoon, deer, otter, beaver, and mink. Trees found in the wetter areas include tupelo and cypress, and the bottomlands support water oak, laurel oak, red maple, swamp blackgum, and sweet gum. The river has a namesake tree, the Ogeechee lime (Nyssa ogeche), whose bright red fruits are found floating in quiet eddies of the river during the fall. Several rare plants are also found near the river, including pitcher plants, witch-alder, needle palm, spider lily, and others. Blooming in the spring is wild azalea. The secluded river swamps are a haven to a wide variety of birds that use the river as a protected greenway, including woodpeckers, ducks, songbirds, and wading birds. Osprey and Mississippi and swallowtail kites are seen cruising the river, and a variety of owls and hawks feeds on the small mammals found in the bottomland forests. Water snakes and alligators are common in the Ogeechee River. In the lower reaches, wood storks and southern bald eagles use the river as a feeding ground, and West Indian manatees occasionally visit the river near the coast. The fish fauna of the Ogeechee, much sought after by fishermen, includes American shad, redbreast, crappie, striped bass, shellcracker, and catfish. The endangered shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) breeds here. Where the river becomes salt marsh, commercial fishermen catch blue crab, and small operators throw cast nets for shrimp and baitfish.
It is believed the name Ogeechee comes from the Muskogean word meaning "River of the Yuchis," which was an Indian tribe that lived near the river.
William Bartram in his travels in Georgia came across this geological mineral....
After exploring the coast to the south he headed up the Savannah River valley on horseback bound for Augusta. At this back country outpost an Indian Congress was being convened to negotiate a large cession of land from the Cherokee and Creek Indians to the colony of Georgia. The Superintendent of Indian Affairs had earlier, as Bartram wrote, “proposed in order to facilitate my travels in the Indian territories, if I would be present at the Congress, he would introduce my business to the chiefs of the Cherokees, Creeks, and other nations, and recommend me to their friendship and protection; which promise he fully performed, and it proved of great service to me.” At the conclusion of the Congress Bartram joined the large party of Indians and whites who set out to survey and mark the boundaries of the newly ceded lands. A description of the boundary of the land cession was an important part of the treaty signed by Georgia's governor and the chiefs and headmen of the Creek and Cherokee tribes. The boundary was “To begin at the place where the Lower Creek Path intersects Ogeechee River, and along the main branch… to the source of the southernmost branch… and from thence along the ridge between the waters of Broad River and Oconee River, up to the ________ ____ _______.
Now there is of course historical controversy about this monument/marker and some of the research you can do after arriving at the monument. After reading some data you collect tell me in your opinion where does the true marker belong??
To get credit for this cache send answers to owner.
Then after reply you may post to the Earthcache. Do not post any photo or log that includes or refers to "give away answers "or it will be removed. (TAKE PHOTO AT ANGLE.)
Thanks for visiting and you will find several more traditional caches in the area. Have fun hunting!
To get the second stage place
Stage ONE : N 33.37.215 W 083. 05. 015
Stage TWO: N 33.36. _ _ _ W 083.03.212
Find the minutes of NORTH
___ ___ ___
Start with the length of the Ogeechee River
Add the highway route that goes to Washington GA
Add the Highway route that goes to Lexington GA
Count the letters in the last word of the business
Subtract those from the total
This total is the minutes for N in the second stage.
Five answers and Photo to log find:
1.OPTIONAL: What is the definition of "headwaters"? (a.Repeating the words in question is not ACCEPTED b."the beginning of the river", NO not accepted.c.take to the WWW to search for an acceptable response.)
2. Info on the marker at the significant historical geological site that the Ogeechee passes through?
3. What is the mineral product referenced to AT THIS HISTORICAL SITE here?
4.OPTIONAL:Name of street you parked on.
5. AS OF JANUARY 2011 A PHOTO IS NO LONGER REQUIRED ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES. YOUR OPTION.Photo of you with GPSr and historical marker. It can be your own type of "Wilson" shot! PLEASE SHOOT PHOTO AT ANGLE AS NOT TO HAVE ANY OF THE WORDS SHOWING IN THE PHOTO THEN THIS CAN BE POSTED ON THE SITE. IF IT SHOWS ANY ANSWERS I WILL ASK FOR IT TO BE REMOVED.
Park on side street just past coordinates safe and out of any vehicle traffic.
Francis Harper, ed., The Travels of William Bartram, Naturalist's Edition, (New Haven, 1958).
Thadeus B. Rice, History of Greene County, Georgia 1786–886, (Macon, 1961).
Florrie C. Smith, The History of Oglethorpe County, Georgia, (Washington, Ga., 1970).
William P. Cumming, The Southeast in Early Maps, [3rd ed. revised and enlarged by Louis De Vorsey, Jr., (Chapel Hill., 1998).
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fbzrgvzrf gur tenff vf uvtu nybat gur ebnq fvqr.