Chambers Covered Railroad Bridge Mystery Cache
Chambers Covered Railroad Bridge
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Related Web Page
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
The Chambers Railroad Bridge is the only remaining covered railroad bridge in Oregon. It is believed to be the only remaining covered railroad bridge west of the Mississippi River. I remember countless days as a small child playing on and around this bridge as I grew up in the neighborhood. Now that its been reconstructed - its a great spot for a mystery cache that is meant to challenge the most seasoned geocachers.
The bridge was constructed in 1925 by lumberman J.H. Chambers to transport logs across the Coast Fork Willamette River to his sawmill on the east side of the bridge. The bridge was in operation from 1925 to 1951. In the 1950's the railroad was sold for scrap and the bridge was no longer used. The bridge was in private ownership until December 2006, when the City of Cottage Grove finally secured full ownership of the bridge. The bridge is listed on the National Historic Register (NRIS no.79002081).
All the info you need to solve this mystery cache can be found on the covered information board and/or in the bridge. The final location is less than 0.2 of a mile away from the listed coordinates.
Onto the Secondary Coordinates...
N 43° AB.CDE W 123° FG.HIJ
A = is number of the Locomotive which was wrecked in a head-on collision with engine No. 2 on J.H. Chambers rail line, west of Cottage Grove.
B = is the number of letters in the old name used for the township that was west of the Coast Fork Willamette River minus one.
C = is the year JH Chambers moved to Cottage Grove and took over the saw mill minus nineteen hundred.
D = is the number in millions of boardfeet lost in the fire on August 8, 1942 which destroyed the Chambers Mill.
E = is the number of people photographed in the newspaper clipping showing some boys jumping off the bridge into the water times three.
F = is (the number of boards on the walking surface of the bridge divided by the number of steps up to the bridge) minus ten. (Edit June 2018: The definition of "a board" is the plank of wood from the left railing to right railing. If that plank is made up of 3/4/5/etc separate pieces layed down end to end, just consider it 1 board)
G = is the summation of each number in the year the reconstruction of the bridge was finished. (example. 1955 would be 1+9+5+5 = 20)
H = is the number of covered railroad bridges in Oregon.
I = is the number of letters in the old name used for East Cottage Grove.
J = is the year Main Street was paved minus nineteen hundred.
Now once you have the secondary coordinates - you must average the listed coordinate to the secondary coordinates and search directly in the middle of these two for the final geocache location. I told you this wasn't going to be a simple park and grab. ;^) The FINAL cache coordinate is: not on private land, not in someones house, not in someones yard.
Please be careful with this cache and put it back as you found it to keep the difficulty high and out of muggles eye sight. Lots of young adults frequent this bridge on school days as the high school is just a few blocks away, so weekends and holidays are best to geocache this location.
FYI - Cache size is not listed on purpose.
FTF - Marabella and GeoHippys!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Abar - vgf fhccbfr gb or qvssvphyg.