The history lesson:
On May 6, 1836 the New York Legislature authorized the
construction of the Genesee Valley Canal. The canal started at the
Erie Canal in Rochester and ended at the Allegany River in Olean
passing through many villages along the way including Belfast,
Mount Morris, Portageville, and a branch going to Dansville. The
canal locks in Oakland, deep cut, the tunnel section, the pass
under the high bridge, and the Portageville aqueduct are the five
most complex engineering feats of the canal and located between
Portageville and Nunda in Letchworth State Park.
In 1838 Elisha Johnson, then fifth mayor for the City of
Rochester and a civil engineer, became very interested in the canal
project and was awarded the bid for Section 57 of the canal better
known as "The Tunnel Section". Johnson's plans were to blast and
dig a tunnel 27 feet wide and 20 feet tall through 1082 feet of
sandstone. By 1840 Elisha realized the lengthy nature of the
project and decided to move his family to the area as he was
already staying there. Plans were made to build a rustic cabin 100
feet directly above the tunnel site which Elisha named "Hornby
Lodge" after William Hornby, a local land speculator who owned most
of the Cottinger Tract.
Elisha leased a tract of land from George Williams, a local
farmer, near the brink of the Genesee River Gorge and construction
was started on the lodge. In the middle of the lodge was a great
oak tree trunk that supported the three upper floors with a winding
staircase to access said floors. The staircase ran all the way to
the observatory or fourth floor of the lodge. The first floor was
octagon in shape with a grand room that spanned 32 feet across
surrounding the oak tree trunk. Each corner of the room was cut off
and lead into rooms built at an angle to give the grand room its
octagon shape. These rooms served the purpose of library, kitchen,
conservatory, office, parlor etc. and were only a small portion of
the 18 total rooms that made up the lodge. The second floor was
rectangular in shape with its corners protruding over the rooms
that made the first floor octagon shaped.
The decor of the lodge was a mirror of the wilderness
surrounding it. The door frames, window frames, verandas, and
furniture were made from the crookedest limbs that could be found
in the forest. The bottom of the oak tree trunk was surrounded by
cases with all matter of fossils and minerals inside as animal
skins and stuffed animals adorned the walls and corners of the
grand room.
By 1842 trouble was looming with the Genesee Valley Canal. New
York State no longer had the funding to back the construction and
work was halted. Elisha ran into problems of his own with his canal
billing practices and in 1844 or 1845, he and his family left
Hornby Lodge. Work resumed on the canal in 1847 without Elisha
controlling the laborers. Blasting and excavation continued on the
tunnel below the lodge and in 1849, badly damaged and in disrepair,
Hornby Lodge was torn down. Subsequently after numerous cave-ins
and hitting quicksand the tunnel was also abandoned after only 400
feet of completion. Alternate plans were made to blast away the
gorge walls to make a ledge for the canal. This totally erased all
traces of Hornby Lodge. Today Hornby Lodge only exists in the
drawings of Thomas Cole and a rustic couch at the park museum.
About the cache:
This cache is a five leg multi that takes you on a little over a
1.5 mile hike on the east side of Letchworth State Park ending with
a big old 50 cal hidden in the woods. There is no reason to tear
anything apart while searching for the legs. All legs can be found
by a close examination, a light touch, or looking at the right
angle. No part of the cache is closer than five feet from the
embankment so there is no reason to hang, crawl, or reach over the
edge to get anything for the cache. This area gets a lot of use so
make sure everything is hid back as found especially the final.
The logbook has a lot of history in it so take a minute and thumb
through it. You may even recognize a few names. There is some good
swag in the cache and plenty of it. Please trade fair.
The east side of the park is open from 6am to 11pm. Please no
caching outside of these hours. There is no fee to enter this
side of the park. The trail to the cache can be found behind the
water fountain that is behind the pavilion at the Parade Grounds.
It is fairly steep at the beginning hence the terrain rating but
flattens out to a very nice walk. The trail will become obscured by
downed trees but it should be able to be picked up again near the
starting coordinates. Please watch your footing on the trail as
it is close to the embankment in some places.
The first to find gets a choice of a $5 gift certificate at
Timmy Ho's, three lottery tickets, or an unactivated travel
bug.
Thank you to Roland Beck, Letchworth Park Manager, for his time
and approval of this cache. Also thanks to Dehgawanus, P-Man, and
Cracker. for their help.
All of the information for this cache was found on "Exploring Letchworth Park
History". A fantastic website by Tom Cook and Tom Breslin.
Thank you for all the info.