The cache container is a medium sized round lock n lock with a few swag items and log. The coords should be accurate to +/- 10 ft.
This cache was placed to bring you to a relatively unknown and forgotten memorial for a young British Columbia Provincial Police Constable who was killed near the cairn by the McLean Brothers on December 8, 1879.
John Tannatt Ussher, usually known as Johnny Ussher, was a settler, provincial magistrate and Gold Commissioner in the Thompson CountrySouthern Interior of British Columbia, Canada in the 1870s. John Tannatt Ussher was the son of Samuel Ussher Esq., a lawyer in Montreal, and Harriet Rebecca Colclough. He was born October 17, 1830.
In 1879 the renegade sons of former Fort Kamloops Chief Trader Donald McLean, led by his eldest son Allan and accompanied by their friend Alex Hare, went on a drunken rampage across the Nicola and Thompson Countries. The "Wild McLeans" went on a binge of horse-thievery and stealing flour, liquor, ammunition and clothing. Ussher, whose duties as Gold Commissioner included the roles of constable and jailer as well as magistrate and who had previously demurred on arresting the McLeans, as attempts to hold them in the flimsy jail in Kamloops would prove futile, rode out with John McLeod, with Amni Shumway as guide, and rancher William Palmer, whose prize stallion the McLeans had stolen.
Ussher and his party surprised the McLeans at Long Lake (near Quilchena, on Nicola Lake) on 8 December, 1879, and was killed in the ensuing gun battle, which also wounded McLeod and Allan McLean. Fleeing the consequences of Ussher's killing, the McLeans sought refuge with the Nicola people and made a speech to their chief Chilliheetza, son of the famous Chief Nicola, trying to enlist their support in a revived version of the abortive uprising planned by the Interior First Nations peoples in 1874. Chilliheetza refused, knowing that the boys' motivation was not political but caused by drink, and chastised them for their shameful behaviour. On December 13 the McLeans and Hare surrendered and were brought to the BC Penitentiary in New Westminster to await trial. They were, after a second trial had to be held because of technicalities, hung for the murder of Johnny Ussher on January 31, 1881.
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Ussher)
The cache is located very close to the trail head for the Johnny Ussher Memorial Cairn which is located on private land. The owners do not mind people accessing the property as long as you do not leave the gate open, stay to the trail and respect the property by not wandering about, cutting anything or leaving any garbage.
When you enter through the gate, go to your right and follow a small trail til you see the power line overhead, then follow the power line to the clearing. Please don't follow the fence line ahead of you when you go through the gate, as it is currently a dried pond. The trail you want is short and parallels the road.
The coords are:
Gate: N 50° 30.155 W 120° 18.334 (this is only an approximation, look for a gate, it is not far from the cache, on the other side of the road)
Cairn: N 50° 30.089 W 120° 18.140
Please park well off the road. Enjoy the cache and then if you choose to see the cairn, take a few minutes when you get there to reflect "on a brave pioneer who gave his life for law and order on a cold December day nearly 130 years ago."