1974 Remembered - Hope Floats! Mystery Cache
ledbelly: There is a lot of road construction going on in this area, so I am just going to close this one down. It's been a blast!
1974 Remembered - Hope Floats!
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Size: 
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In April, 1974, a massive tornado ripped through downtown Monticello, destroying the White County Courthouse and heavily damaging the First Presbyterian Church and several businesses. This violent storm killed several people, including some out-of-towners that were in a mini-bus traveling over the Washington Street bridge.
Monticello has continued to progress since this tragedy & recently adopted the “Monticello – Life with a Splash” logo to highlight the wonderful quality of life found in this community on & near Lakes Freeman & Shafer along with the vacation activity at the Indiana Beach Amusement Park.
In 2010, the city, through its Department of Parks & Recreation, established the Monticello Tornado Memorial Park to remember those that died and to celebrate the spirit of the people who survived this disaster, picked up the pieces and emerged stronger. This cache is placed with the permission and cooperation of Mayor Jason Thompson and Dept. of Parks & Recreation Commissioner Mitch Billue.
The starting coordinates will take you to the middle of the Tornado Memorial Park. If you take a few, peaceful minutes to study and reflect on the information provided in the park you can easily find the answers that will take you to the final cache site.
To determine the final north coordinates, first add to the last three numbers the number of tornados that swept through the Midwest in this 2 day Super Outbreak in 1974, and then subtract the last 2 digits of the year that the destroyed courthouse was originally built in the 1800’s.
To find the final west coordinates, first add to the starting west minutes the number of tornado survivors that were buried in the Monticello City Cemetery during that April, 1974; then to the last 3 numbers add the number of Fort Wayne, IN, residents that perished in the tornado, subtract the total number of fatalities from the Monticello tornado, and also subtract the date in April that this horrible event occurred.
This should take you right to the cache site, located near ample parking and out of traffic. The container is a watertight medicine case; there is no room for swag & bring your own pen. As always, watch out for muggles. Please replace the container just as you found it.
Don’t you just hate it when you work out a puzzle cache only to find that all of the challenge was in the puzzle & none in the final hide and that it’s in a guardrail or lamppost base – hopefully you will not find that to be the case here.
Good Hunting!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gbhtu rabhtu gung lbh znl whfg arrq gb oevat nybat na rkgen obggyr bs jngre
Treasures
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