Sand Prairie - Old Waushara Series Multi-Cache

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Hidden : 6/7/2010
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


This cache is an offset cache and will require a short walk to the final.

Photobucket

The photo above is of the quarry during the active quarrying days. Since the quarry is listed as being over 200 feet deep one can imagine that this was taken fairly early on.


William Bannerman, a Scottish immigrant, first found a red granite formation near Berlin and operated two quarries there for a time. He learned that the hard stone would not split properly in cold weather. He looked around for other deposits and found the very fine rock underlying the five or six farms in an area known as Sand Prairie. Crops could not be raised in the thin soil on top of the granite, and the land was considered valueless. He purchased the 126 acre Cronk farm at a very reasonable price in 1889 and found the stone under it was unusually hard and saleable. Although the quarry he operated had a comparatively short history, the town that grew up on the edge of it boomed. Some of the largest cities in the United States had streets paved with the hard red granite, in the era before concrete."

In Bannerman's words: "The Cronk farm granite was of pink or red color and was not as hard as Berlin granite. Its nature was such that it could be worked in winter as well as summer. It would splitstraight and clear in cold weather, something different from the Berlin stone. The Berlin quarry had to shut down in the winter and this new granite offered an opportunity to work year around.

The quarry was a success from the start, the only major difficulty being the fact that the paving blocks, the main product, had to be hauled 11 miles to Berlin in the winter by horses and sleighs. This was however a boon to the area farmers because they could furnish transportation at a time when they had little to do on their farms. The blocks were stored on the right of way of the Chicago-Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad at the stockyards in Berlin until they were sold to Chicago or Milwaukee markets for street paving purposes. The paving of heavy traffic streets in the midwest, prior to this time, was mostly brick or cedar blocks, which did not stand the test of time. When granite was introduced the future looked bright for the quarry business."

It was another step forward for the granite quarry businesses in Redgranite when the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad extended its Fond du Lac-Princeton railroad line in 1901 through Neshkoro and on to Marshfield, with a 10 mile spur line to Redgranite from what was named Bannerman Junction, north of Neshkoro.

When the quarry owners decided that Sand Prairie was not a proper name for this industrious crossroads place, Redgranite was incorporated as a village in 1904.

From 1905 to 1918 Redgranite really boomed. It was in its heyday. Paving cutters and quarrymen of all nationalities flocked in from the eastern states, Minnesota, and European countries.

During those boom days, Redgranite was the largest village in Waushara County and had close to 2,000 inhabitants. The school system was first class, including a high school with all college graduate teachers, before that was a requirement. About 25 carloads of paving blocks were shipped out each day during the spring and fall seasons.

A history of Redgranite relates that after a 1913 strike, and gradually until about 1920, concrete and asphalt took over the paving business and paving blocks became a thing of the past. Only stone for buildings, monuments, crushed stone, and riprap for Great Lakes breakwaters were quarried. When the Great Depression hit there was very little work and Redgranite was hit hard. Stores went out of business. Houses were sold for little and some were moved out of the village. The village population settled down to a low of about 600 after these developments.

To find the final you will need to do a couple of quick calculations. The given coordinates bring you to a parking lot on the northwest side of the quarry. There you will find a sign that lists some rules and regulations.

The final is located at N 44 02.ABC W089 05.DEF

To find ABC take the ordinance number for littering and remove the dashes, making a three digit number. Subtract 279 from that number to find ABC.

To find DEF take the ordinance number that references the possession or consumption of alcohol and follow the same steps as above (disregard the (a) after the number). Add 37 to that number to find DEF.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

nybat abegu genvy bs dhneel va cvar gerr

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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