Time Is On My Side
The Cañon City Clock Tower
UPDATE March 25, 2023: After disappearing several times I replaced this cache with a nano container. It's still easy to find and the hint still applies.
This 100-year old clock was originally in the old Fremont County Courthouse at Fourth and Macon. That building was torn down in 1962, but the clock had stopped working sometime in the 1930s. For 40 years the clock sat out back of the Cañon City Municipal Museum as an exhibit of sorts.
In 2002 Silver Cliff resident Jim Cole offered to restore the clock. Cole painstakingly restored the Edward Howard & Co. clock to working order, repairing the striking race which tolls the hour, remaking the 8-foot long pendulum and reattaching the original pendulum ball, which weighs nearly 100 pounds. Dennis Garoutte custom-made the clock face and hands with copper accents. The copper weather vane atop the tower was imported from India. The bell weighs one ton.
A fundraising drive raised $90,000 towards building a tower to house the clock. The original plan for the refurbished clock was to close Fifth Street between Main and Highway 50 and build the clock tower there, but several business owners in the area objected to the street closing. The project was stalled until Lettie and the late Bobby DiRito offered a space in the parking lot across the street from their restaurant. The tower was completed in August of 2005.
Once a week local artist Robert Henderson climbs up the tower, winds the counterweight that powers the clock, and does any needed maintenance.
Old timers will remember when a used car lot was located here.
This is a log only micro container. Bring your own pen and use stealth if muggles are present.