Fort Payne and Eastern Railroad Mystery Cache
Hidden : 1/1/2010
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:


The cache container is not at the posted coordinates. This is a puzzle cache and cannot be solved on-site unless you are a real history whiz. No stickers, please.

Solve the puzzle,
Find the cache,
Sign the log sheet,
Replace the cache exactly as you found it, including any cover,
Log your find online,
Enjoy the adventure.

The container can be found at these coordinates:
N34° AB.CDE
W085° FG.HIJ
These coordinates were obtained by a Garmin Oregon, averaged to a 97% sample confidence rate. If you calculate more than a mile or so away, you did something wrong.



Fort Payne was a small rural community, a little village of less than J00 people, surrounded by Wills Valley cotton fields. This was Fort Payne, Alabama in 1887. Weather and crops were important topics of conversation, though some attention was given to news of the industrial growth in the Birmingham-Bessemer area of the Alabama mineral belt, but that was almost H00 miles away. The three-year boom period, which began in 188I, was to provide historians and amateur buffs with more absorbing factual material - as well as exaggerated myths - than had the whole previous fifty-year period beginning with the forced removal of the Indians.

The Fort Payne Coal and Iron Company was organized in November 1888 by a Vermont financier and the fabulous boom soon began. The capital of the company was established at $5,000,000, with 50,000 shares of capital stock having a par value of $D00 each. Most of the $G million in stock offered to the public was sold in New England within five weeks after being placed on sale.

Boasts were made of the high quality of iron ore contained in Iron Mountain, the name so optimistically given to the western ridge closest to the center of town. The capacity of the red ore mines located here was given as E00 tons a day. The capacity of the Brown Ore Mine, located on the eastern slope, was said to be A00 tons of good ore per day. The western side of Iron Mountain was thought to be rich in red hematite and large fields of ore containing manganese had supposedly been located on Sand Mountain, as well as smaller deposits of red and brown ore on Lookout Mountain. The coke used to convert the ores into pig iron was made from coal mined on Lookout Mountain.

To facilitate the movement of ores and fuel, the Fort Payne Coal and Iron Company built and equipped a railroad. The railroad was begun in 1889 and completed the following January. It ran from the Alabama Great Southern Railroad in the valley in a northeastern direction to Beeson Gap and eastward to its terminal at the Lookout Mountain Coal Mine. A network of sidings in the manufacturing district made it possible to load and unload freight at the factories. The train consisted of a locomotive, combination passenger and baggage coaches and coal and construction cars. A considerable amount of passenger and freight service was provided for the public in addition to the company's business. The railroad was intended to form a link in an east and west line connecting the Tennessee River at Guntersville with the Atlantic Coast. 1F and one-half miles were laid on this line at a cost of over $7B,000 but the road was never completed. It was later taken over by the Alabama Great Southern line.

During the latter half of 189C, it began to appear that the mineral resources, especially coal and iron, were below expectations both in quality and quantity. Thus far the Fort Payne Coal and Iron Company had actually been operating at a loss. Even desperate attempts, including the floating of a $5,000,000 bond issue in December, could not keep the boom going. By 1891 property values had dropped, industries had lost money, and people had begun to leave the city.

I have never seen any maps, but it is thought that the area near the final cache location is part of the roadbed of the line intended to reach Guntersville.

Many thanks to Landmarks of DeKalb County, Alabama for their repository of information.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

arkg gb gur ebpx jvgu gur tbbtyl rlrf

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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