Indian Haulover Mystery Cache

This cache provides one with a brief history of one aspect of Fort Lauderdale Beach and gives you a chance to take a tour of the beach area. The ability to communicate with a Chirp wireless beacon is required.

In the early days of Fort Lauderdale, Frank Stranahan and his wife Ivy resided on the New River, just off what is now Las Olas Blvd. Their residence is now on the National Register of Historic places. The Stranhan House is worth a visit.

Frank Stranahan had moved to the area to man the stagecoach stop. He befriended the Seminoles and began to do business with them  -  opening a trading post in 1893. He paid them cash for animal hides and eggs and they in turn bought ammunition, fabric and supplies from his store. Ivy Stranahan became the first schoolteacher in the area.

In a 1970 interview, Ivy Stranahan explained that every six weeks a flotilla of canoes would arrive in front of the trading post carrying animal skins, hides and alligator eggs. The hides would be sold immediately, while the eggs were kept in a pen, covered with straw and debris, until they hatched. Live baby alligators were then shipped to Jacksonville. The Stranahans received regular orders for baby alligators from souvenir and novelty shops in tourist towns throughout Florida. One such order, from Osky's Florida Souvenir and Novelties in Jacksonville, requested 3,000 baby alligators for $125 per thousand.

The land mass of the area has changed significantly since those early days. Back then the Seminoles gained access to the Atlantic Ocean, from the New River Sound, by manually hauling their canoes over the beach, in the area where you will be standing when you commence this search. The historical sign posted there contains information needed to solve the puzzle and find this cache. Rather simplistic, all you need to do is equate numbers to letters of the alphabet and then transpose the appropriate combination into the given Lat/Long for Stage 1, the location of a Chirp wireless beacon. Here are the clues:

Refuge Number Four was built in ABCD

Refuge Number Four was moved to this site in EFGH

The Coast Guard began using the House of Refuge in IJKL

Coast Guard Base "M" became permanent in NOPQ

The city purchased this property in RSTU

Thus the Chirp can be found at the following location:

    N26 C.(N-R) (B-F) (G-D)  and

    W80 (U - R) . H D K

Upon arriving at the Chirp, you do not need to locate it - especially considering the Muggle level, please do not look for it. Just get within a short distance (30 feet) of Chirp GZ and the location of the Final/cache will be transmitted to your device as a Waypoint. You can select "Show chirp Details" to view the information.

Finding the cache should be easy, although it is a high Muggle area. You may need to take the nearby seat and wait for a bit until the area is clear. The difficulty rating is based on the puzzle.

FTF Honors to to GUNGADOY.