Ohio Spirit Quest #59 - "We Didn't Stryke Oil" Traditional Cache

The Ohio Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of historic cemeteries built by Buckeye Pioneers. This series is inspired by and a continuation of the Indiana Spirit Quest caches created by Six Dog Team. In just over three years, the SPIRIT QUEST has grown to over 550 caches, with the hiding teams growing as well. The Ohio Spirit Quest has begun to grown to over 30 in Ohio, with five current caching teams, three each with A Man and His Dog, one with a Couple and Their Dog... and one with A Woman and her Dog.
Over 1,000 cachers have logged over 20,000 finds. One cache machine found 111 ISQ caches in a single day (daylight hours only).

Come with us now for a virtual tour of this old burial ground via this page, then go out and find the cache!


Welcome to French Cemetery

Springfield Twp, Williams County, Ohio

OHIO SPIRIT QUEST #59

"We Didn't Stryke Oil"

There was a time when Stryker was well known for the beneficial qualities of its mineral springs. Early in the history of the area, people noticed that gas escaped from local water wells. This caused many people familiar with the area to believe that there also might be oil deposits underground. A group was formed in 1861 and a well was drilled to a depth of about 70 feet. The equipment that they had was inadequate to drill any deeper. The well shaft filled with water and the gas that escaped was strongly impregnated with the odor of petroleum, adding to the belief that there was oil.



At that time the civil war started and the project was abandoned for the duration. By the spring of 1865 a company, organized from Boston, called the Stryker Oil Well Company, had set up a derrick on some land belonging to John Sheridan Jr. The drilling first penetrated through 129 feet if drift, then 68 feet of Huron shale. A vein of heavily charged mineral water was discovered at a depth of 230 feet. They did strike gas and small amounts of oil, but drilling operations ceased at a depth of 850 feet after 2 years. There was never enough oil or gas to make the operation profitable and the well was abandoned.



Afterward, water, charged with gas, continued to emerge from it. By 1870, hundreds of invalids were using the water and praising its healing effects. In 1883, the Stryker Mineral Springs Company was formed and a two-story hotel and bathhouse was built at the corner of Curtis & Center Streets. The bathhouse attracted people from all over the world, seeking cures for a wide variety of illnesses. In July of 1900, the bathhouse and hotel caught fire and burned. In 1915, the bathhouse was rebuilt. In 1950, the facility was turned into a nursing home. This business was closed in the 1960's and the buildings were torn down in 1977




Congratulations to T-Hunter for being FTF, and being his 200th!!


The cache container is a small rectangular camoed lock-n-lock.
If you find a fallen US flag, please stick it back in the ground. As always, please be respectful, and cache in, trash out.

"Ohio Spirit Quest" is brought to you by the following fellows of GEOOSQ*: The SixDogTeam, THE SHADOW, The Moop Along, -Eleanor-, TeamMina, handyman & fam. If you are interested in spreading the Quest to your neck of the woods AND WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US, email The Moop Along with caching resume and at least 25 current notarized references.


*Grand Exalted Order of the Ohio Spirit Quest*

** THIS IS A GENUINE OHIO SPIRIT QUEST CACHE**