Hidden Bridges of Jefferson County #2 Traditional Cache
Nimblebee: Too much maintenance, cache replaced several times, keeps getting damaged.
Hidden Bridges of Jefferson County #2
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This bridge used to hold incredible amounts of weight, the entire contents of a freight train! Much that came from outside into this county in the days of steam, moved over this bridge and others like it. You are going to have to get down and roll underneath the electric fence (unless you're very tall and very brave); watch out for horses and cows, stay away from the sides of the bridge (no handrails) and beware of poisonous snakes like copperheads.
Landowner has graciously given permission to access geocache on private property. This bridge belonged to the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Rail Road, made famous by the song of same name. You can easily tell how old this bridge is because the embankment is made up of huge quarried limestone blocks and later when the bridge was rebuilt the top surface was made in modern concrete). In the hey day of steam engines before roads replaced rails this track was one of six going into Valley Falls. Historical Society on Broadway in Valley has a lot of information about train service, including a bridge collapse and a train that had to be fished out of the Delaware river nearby the Cody water mill (Buffalo Bill Cody's father and partners: mill was sold several times, last to Piezzak so known in historical literature as Piezzak Mill) on the falls at Valley Falls. At its height before destruction, this mill made electricity, sawn lumber, ran a grain elevator, ground flour, crushed seed to produce oil and other jobs, all of which products would have been in part handled by the railroad. Santa Fe still exists as a company having merged & become part of BNSF, and this historic part of Santa Fe held out longer than other historic railroads in Jefferson County, which have few remains and thus far I could uncover no bridges remaining of the older historic rail lines. At its height in the hey day of steam you could sit down to a restaurant in Valley Falls and be served lobster brought in by train from the coast that day! Just downstream from the bridge on private property are etchings carved into the rock face by Native Americans. You can still view the rock paintings but Access to the carvings can no longer be made since the ledge leading up to it has since collapsed. Further down range is the location of what was once an Indian encampment, an Indian village that was seasonally occupied by local nomadic tribesmen. If you go down to the Indian village make sure to get landlord permission since it's all private property these days and leave arrowheads and artifacts were they lie; this is Federal law, even though it still private property. If you are interested in traditional Indian skills like making buckskin, arrowheads, knives, tomahawks, bows and arrows, fire by friction; & that sort of thing there are plenty of books at the library to guide you in this hobbist process.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ab arrq gb penjy nebhaq haqrearngu be ybbx ba oevqtr; ab arrq gb yrnir gur teniry evtug bs jnl.
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