Population 008 Traditional Cache
palmetto: No response from owner.
Archiving listing.
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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PLEASE REPLACE CACHE AS FOUND
The cache is located in a place I have visited many time with work. It is a "launching pad" into the beautiful Florida Everglades where I have worked in many TV commercials and films.
Cache is placed in private property, with permission of the owner. Please replace the camo on cache.
This cache is available from 8:00am to 6:00pm 7 days a week. Please replace cache as found.
History of Coopertown
Originally a Seminole Indian Village occupied by Jimmy Osceola and other Seminole Indians, Coopertown was founded by John Cooper and has remained with the Cooper family since. Originally from White Oak, Missouri where they came from a large farming family, the three Cooper brothers came to the Tamiami Trail from Melbourne, Florida, looking for better frog hunting in the Everglades. By 1945, John Cooper had a small frogging boat along the East-West Canal (the Tamiami Trail). Passing motorists noticed it and would ask for a ride in the interesting looking airboat. John obliged. At first it was a few people, but as more and more curious people stopped, John built a small passenger airboat to accommodate them. As the traffic down the Tamiami Trail grew, so did Coopertown.
Air Boats???
Airboats are essentially flat-bottomed vessels propelled in a forward direction by an aircraft-type propeller and powered by either an aircraft or automotive engine. The engine and propeller are enclosed in a protective metal cage that prevents objects, (tree limbs, branches, clothing, beverage containers, or wildlife) from coming in contact with the whirling propeller.
The propeller produces a rearward column of air that propels the airboat forward. Steering is accomplished by forced air passing across vertical rudders. Airboats do not have brakes and are incapable of traveling in reverse. Stopping and reversing direction are dependent upon good operator skills.
The characteristic flat-bottomed design of the airboat, in conjunction with the fact that there are no operating parts below the waterline, permit the vessel to be easily navigated through shallow swamps and marshes, in canals, rivers and lakes as well as on frozen lakes. Airboats vary in size from 10-foot hunt/trail boats, with a two- to three-passenger capacity, to large 18-passenger and greater tour boats.
Airboats are a very popular means of transportation in the Florida Everglades, and Louisiana Bayou, where they are used for fishing, hunting and eco-tourism.
History of Airboats
The first airboat, called the Ugly Duckling, was built in 1905 in Nova Scotia, Canada by a team lead by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. It was used to test various engines and prop configurations. An associate of Dr. Bell, Glenn Curtiss (of airplane manufacturing fame) is reported to have registered the first airboat in Florida, USA in 1920. It was called the Curtis Scooter and it had a closed cockpit design.
By the 1930s homemade airboats began appearing in the swamps and marshes of Florida and Louisiana. One company in Florida claims to have been providing airboat rides as entertainment since the mid 1930s. Over the years a variety of designs were tried and, through trial-and-error, the standard design used today arose.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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Treasures
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