NOTE: The listed coordinates are not the position of the cache. You must use the description below to learn where the cache is located. It is located in a small copse of trees, next to the street.
Thomas Jefferson
When Thomas Jefferson was appointed as Secretary of State in the early history of our nation, he decided that he should have a method of secure communication. To achieve that goal, he devised what he called a wheel cypher.
The cipher wheel consisted of a collection of disks that were set to rotate on a central shaft. Each disk had engraved upon it a different arrangement of the letters of the alphabet. To encode a message, you would arrange the disks to spell out your message and then rotate the entire device to show another line of letters, which would become the encrypted message.
The device pictured here has two more letters than the message, so the letter “X” has been used to fill in the extra spaces at the end of the message. Then, the encrypted message could be any of the lines around the wheel. We will use the next line down on the wheel, for example, so we would send “JQXLRJAGITGMHUTLAJSXRRPBMH”. Anyone that did not have an identical device, with the disks arranged in the same order, would not be able to decipher the message.
The person who received the message would take their own device and line up the encrypted message, and then rotate the entire device, looking at each line until the message became clear.
When Jefferson set up the device, he “keyed” it, meaning that he set the disks in a particular order. In modern times, we also have to “key” the device using the same arrangement of disks that was used to encrypt the message. Howie and Jan will be able to figure out the necessary key to decrypt the message, but you will have to get it on your own.
STEP ONE
Go to this site and use a device like the Jeffersonian cipher wheel to decrypt: SPKOZSSSKUOOYZMUREWSURVZS .You have to have Java to view and to use the wheel cipher. You can get Java at www.java.com. In order to use the wheel to decipher the encrypted message, you will have to enter the key that you have figured out and then press the “CHANGE KEY” button. This alters the arrangement of the disks within the device to correspond to the arrangement that was used to encrypt the message. Then dial the encrypted message in on the center line. Rotate the entire wheel either up or down until you see a message in plain English. That message will give you the decimal parts of the coordinates of the cache.
The cache is located at: N42° 38._ _ _’ W078° 02._ _ _’.
Note: Do not use the Monticello Jefferson Code Wheel for the decryption, as the arrangement of the letters on the wheels is different.
STEP TWO
When you arrive at the cache site, you will have to use a similar device to access the cache itself. The device that you will find is constructed on the principle of the Jefferson Code Wheel, but it has only five wheels and these disks are already “keyed”. Five disks are all that are needed to spell out words as long as “three” or “seven”. In the cases where spelling the digit requires less than five letters, the letter “X” has been used to fill in the spaces, either before or after the whole word. For example, “four” might appear as “XFOUR” or as “FOURX”. In the case of “six”, the filler letter would be “O” such as “OSIXO”, or “OOSIX”, or “SIXOO”. Don’t forget that after you enter the code into the device, you have to turn the entire device to reveal the encoded word.
Use the code wheel that you find to decrypt the following:
Bring these codes with you!
A = GJCQV
B = XPFQH
C = NKOLO
D = VKPUG
ABCD is what you need to access the cache.
There is a Turtle in the cache for the FTF. This cache was modeled after a cache in Illinois called “Jefferson Wheel Cypher” CG1J229 by “rocky is a very good doggie”. Thanks to the author for the ideas.