The “spring check” in 2019 will be the last of the regular formal checks at this location; hereafter, we will visit only when we are informed in a log or personal e-mail that maintenance is needed - so please keep us informed!
The Reason for the Cache
Back forty years - we’re creating this in 2015 - a significant event happened in our lives so we thought we’d have you look back from this perspective at a few other interesting things that happened in Canada in 1975 and bring you to a typical "back forty" location to make the find.
The Events
Charlotte Whitton
Charlotte Whitton ended a long and useful life on 1975-01-25. Born in Renfrew, Ontario in 1896, she was a social worker, a politician and a feminist. To quote from The Canadian Encyclopædia, “she was one of [last] century's most colourful and controversial women. Pugnacious and energetic, she is best remembered as Ottawa's flamboyant and outspoken mayor during the 1950s and 1960s.” In her earlier years, however, she was director of the Canadian Council on Child Welfare and, as such, “she crusaded relentlessly for professional standards in the care of juvenile immigrants and neglected and dependent children.” Starting her political career in 1950, she enjoyed the role of a feisty fighter for what she saw as “the right” for over twenty years.
In what year did Charlotte Whitton become the first female mayor of a major Canadian City?
A B C D: __ __ __ __
The Nickel
On 1975-03-24, royal assent was given to an “act to provide for the recognition of the beaver (castor canadensis) as a symbol of the sovereignty of Canada.” The beaver, having been the most lucrative catch for the fur traders of old, had long been an icon representing Canada in various ways. For example, we just pulled two nickels from our change and on one side of each is the image of a beaver perched on a dam. The dates on these coins are 2007 and 2012 respectively.
In what year did the beaver first appear on the Canadian nickel?
E F G H: __ __ __ __
Thanksgiving
In 1975, Thanksgiving was celebrated on October 13th. Thanksgiving was first celebrated on November 6th in 1879 but, at that time, no annual date for it was fixed. On 1957-01-31, it was decided that Thanksgiving would be celebrated annually on the second Monday in October.
In how many years from 1957 to 1975 including both those years, was Thanksgiving held on the 13th of October?
J: __
In which one of those years, are only three different digits used to write the year?
KLMN: __ __ __ __
The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
"Superior," they said, "never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early!"
(Gordon Lightfoot, 1976)
The Edmund Fitzgerald sank on November 10, 1975 with no survivors. She had set out at about 14:30 on November 9th from Superior, Wisconsin accompanied by a nearby ship, the Arthur M. Anderson. Both ships adjusted their routes to try to avoid bad weather which only got worse overnight and by mid-afternoon on November 10th, the former was reporting damage. The last conversation between the ships was at about 19:10 and radar contact was lost within five minutes. Captain Cooper of the Anderson was convinced that the Fitzgerald had been damaged by sailing too close to the “Six Fathom Shoal” running north from Caribou Island, Ontario and that, from that point onward, she was doomed, although she did make some headway towards Whitefish Bay close to Sault Ste. Marie. Some twenty years elapsed before the families of the twenty-nine victims met with authorities, objected to the increasing number of visits to the wreck - a “graveyard” after all - and asked to have the ship’s bell salvaged and erected as part of a memorial. That was done and a replica bell bearing the names of those who died was placed on the wreck in its place. The original bell was restored as a memorial and can be seen in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Paradise, Minnesota on Whitefish Point, a drive through the U.S.A. of about 120 kilometres and less than two hours from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
In what year was the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald launched?
PQRS: __ __ __ __
On what day of the month was the original bell pulled from the water?
T: __
Calculating the Co-ordinates of the Cache
Summary of Above Results
A = ___ ; B = ___ ; C = ___ ; D = ___ ; E = ___ ; F = ___ ; G = ___ ; H = ___ ; J = ___ ;
K = ___ ; L = ___ ; M = ___ ; N = ___ ; P = ___ ; Q = ___ ; R = ___ ; S = ___ ; T = ___ .
Calculations
The co-ordinates of the cache are: N 44° ab.cde' and W 078° fghjk' where the lower case letters have no relationship to the upper case letters except as follows, remembering that (A)(B) means A multiplied by B and A/B means A divided by B:
a = B + (R - T) - N = ____ ; b = M + G - D = ___ ; c = (H + S)/G = ___ ;
d = [2(A + F)]/T = ___ ; e = (Q + L)/N = ___ ; f = [K(E + J)]/P = ___ ;
g = (A)(B)(C) - (F)(K)(R) = ___ ; h = [Q(D + E)]/(T + R) = ___ ;
j = (H + J) - (S + P + K) = ___;
k = P - (T - F) - L + (N - R) + C - (K - H) - D + (B - M) + G - (F - H + Q) = ___ .
Thus you are looking for: N 44° __ __ . __ __ __ ' and W 078° __ __ . __ __ __ '
Comments
- Please bring your own writing instrument.
- If you trade, please "trade equal or up."
- Beware of water in certain seasons and please watch the slope in any weather.
- You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.