Idaho's 150th – Dewey Palace Hotel Traditional Cache
QuireNerd: I've replaced this cache at least five times. Time to let it go.
Idaho's 150th – Dewey Palace Hotel
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Idaho Territory's Sesquicentennial
Idaho Territory was organized by Congress on March 4, 1863, and signed into law by President Lincoln. This cache series is meant to commemorate the 150th year since Idaho’s inception.
The Dewey Palace Hotel
The Dewey Palace, an eighty-one-room, four-story hotel once stood on the corner where the Wells Fargo bank now resides. Built by Col. William H. Dewey (1823-1903) and opened in 1903, it was “acclaimed as one of the finest in the West.” Col. Dewey found his fortune in the mines at Silver City and worked on a project to bring the railroad there. Unfortunately, some Boise businessmen reneged on the deal and Dewey “left Boise madder than a bull in bumblebees and vowed to make cheatgrass grow in the city’s streets.”
Although the railroad didn't make it all the way to Silver City, it did reach Murphy. When another rail line was built from Nampa to Emmett and later McCall, Nampa became an important junction of four rail lines. It was the perfect place for a grand hotel.
There were two copper-sheeted cupola towers visible all the way in Caldwell, “just to enable the residents of that place to keep Nampa in mind.” It had hot water, electric lights and elevators, and boasted a bowling alley, billiard room, barbershop and bar.
Col. Dewey died three months after the hotel opened. It closed in 1959 and, with no takers for the extensive renovations it needed, it was demolished in 1963.
References
-- City of Nampa. (n.d.). Our Town. Retrieved 07 16, 2012, from http://ci.nampa.id.us/pages/history.php
-- Conley, C. (1982). Idaho for the Curious - A Guide. Cambridge, Idaho: Backeddy Books.
Cache Information:
Can be muggle-heavy. Use stealth, or the cover of night.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Arvgure fabj, abe enva, abe urng, abe tybbz bs avtug...