Historic Hamilton:Dundas Post Office & Clock Tower Traditional Cache
Historic Hamilton:Dundas Post Office & Clock Tower
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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Historic Hamilton: Dundas Post Office & Clock Tower Historic Hamilton will be a series of caches that serve to bring cachers to historic places in and around the City of Hamilton. These caches can be placed by anyone, and are not limited to one CO. If you know of a historic place that you would like to bring people to, feel free to add it to the series!
Cache is a micro container that contains only a log. Please bring your own writing instrument to sign the log, and replace exactly as found. This is a high muggle area, so please use stealth. Built in 1913, the Dundas Post Office building has a Romanesque facade, which is dominated by the 100-foot Venetian clock tower, with each clock face being six feet in diameter. The entire clock was manufactured and shipped over from England. The building was almost demolished in 1973, but public pressure saved it. The clock sits 100 feet above King Street in the tower of the old Dundas Post Office on 104 King Street West. It has been here for 90 years. The time reads 4:05—at least the side facing King Street does. The other three sides read different times ranging from 3:35 to 4:10. It is obvious that the old clock is not working. In 1909, the federal government purchased the property, formerly the 'Campbell Block', and built the Post Office, which also housed the Customs Office. The official opening was on October 30, 1913. The clock was manufactured by J. Smith and Sons, Midland Clock Works of Derby, England. The bell that tolled each hour was built by John Taylor of Loughborough, England. It struck on the hour, 24 times per day by a hammer which was powered by a counterweight. Each clock face is six feet in diameter. The hour hand is two feet, six inches in length, and the minute hand is three feet, six inches. It had a pendulum which swung on a wooden handle connected to the clock by a strip of spring steel 25/1000 of an inch thick. During the period when the clock was working, the caretaker of the Post Office wound the clock manually once every six days. He lived in an apartment on the third floor of the Post Office. The clock ceased to keep time properly, and was restored after a decade of silence in 1979 when the Post Office was completely rebuilt. This clock was wound once a month and struck on the hour. Some time after 1980, the clock stopped working. Exactly when and why, no one knows. Today, the clock is still. The building itself is a ghostly trace of its former self. But the noble Venetian tower, even with the still-life clock, is still a majestic feature in the streetscape of downtown Dundas today. Congratulations to Zavod on the FTF!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Cnl Urer - Snxr Obyg Ba TE