The location of Fort Belle Fontaine near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers made it an ideal starting point for many of the western and northern expeditions of the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase.
The Corps of Discovery Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, spent the first night of their journey on an island opposite Cold Water Creek in 1804. And in 1806 on their return back to St. Louis they spent their last night of the journey at Fort Belle Fontaine.
In 1806 Zebulon Pike began his Upper Mississippi exploration from Fort Belle Fontaine. Pike returned to Fort Belle Fontaine the next year only to lead an expedition to the Spanish held western territory in 1806. During both trips he left his family at the fort during his absence. Pike had many natural features named after him, such as parks and lakes, the most famous being Pikes Peak in Colorado.
The Yellowstone Expedition, sometimes called the Atkinson-Long Expedition, was another frontier expedition that began at Fort Belle Fontaine and explored the lands that would later become the first National Park. The expedition was led by Colonel (later General) Henry Atkinson. It was also chartered to perform science and engineering functions, in conjunction with which a U.S. Army topographical engineer, Major Stephen Harriman Long, was ordered to select and lead a crew of notable specialists in zoology, geology, cartography, journalism, art and botany, to accompany the expedition.
To find the final location of the Letterbox, first determine the missing letter of the words below. The missing letter equals its placement in the alphabet, i.e. A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.
Then substitute the value of the missing letter into the coordinates using the given variables in front of the words.
N 38 AB.CDE W 90 FG.0H0
G - Corps of Disovery
D - Fort Belle ontaine
H - Henry Atknson
B - Merwether Lewis
F - Stephen Hrriman Long
C - William lark
A - Yellowstone Expeition
E - Zeulon Pike
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
Park hours are 8 a.m. to one half hour past official sunset. The park shares property with a state facility, so there is a guard gate at the entrance of the property. Sign in as a park visitor.
IF ANY SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY OR DAMAGE IS NOTICED IN A ST. LOUIS COUNTY PARK, PLEASE CALL 314-615-8911 AND REPORT IT.
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NOTICE: Please be respectful of the posted park hours. If you enter the park after hours you are trespassing. If you are stopped you can be ticketed or arrested and will put the future of geocaching in the parks in jeopardy. |
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Special permission to hide caches in St. Louis County parks is NOT needed as long as the Groundspeak rules are followed. "Blanket Permission" has been worked out in advance with the park service. DO NOT CALL THE PARK as they cannot handle the calls. The Groundspeak cache reviewer does need to know exactly how and where the caches are hidden and what type of containers are used. The geocaching liaisons will notify the park service of new caches. Remember NO AMMO BOXES or PVC PIPE caches. |
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