The Ontonagon Boulder Traditional Geocache
sciguymi: This cache appears to have washed out with high river levels at some point.
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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THE ONTONAGON BOULDER
Prior to the coming of Europeans, the Native Americans along the southern shore of Lake Superior treasured large pieces of copper, believing these nuggets possessed powerful benevolent spirits.
Rumors of large boulders were known to the French explorers and missionaries even before they arrived to the Copper Country.
One particularly large copper boulder was along of the Ontonagon River not far upstream from where it empties into Lake Superior. It has come to be known as the Ontonagon Boulder. Alexander Henry, a Mackinac fur trader, was among the first to report seeing this treasure and cut a 100 pound piece from the boulder in 1766.
Among other early visitors to the boulder were Douglas Houghton and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Their reports indicated that the rock had been scarred by ax and chisel marks left by natives and souvenir hunters.
News of the boulder spread. Michigan U.S. Senator William Woodbridge called the boulder "a splendid specimen of the mineral wealth of the ‘Far West.’" A Detroit hardware store owner became determined to remove the boulder and take it on tour through the eastern states. In 1841, he purchased the boulder from the local Chippewa Indians for $150, $45 in cash and the rest in goods to be provided later. Two years passed, however, before he discovered that someone else had claimed the section of land on which the rock lay and he was forced to pay $1365 to regain its possession. After clearing a path over 4 miles in length and constructing a portable railway, Eldred’s crew was able to mouth the boulder to the mouth of the river.
Larger and more pure copper boulders have been found in the Copper Country, none are as famous as the Ontonagon Boulder. This boulder, now owned by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, remains the only one not to have been melted down.
This cache is located near the mouth of the Ontonagon River in Riverside Park.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre gur pbeare.