This cache is one of several placed in Herculaneum to celebrate the Great American Eclipse (GAE), August 21, 2017. Not since 1442 has a Total Solar Eclipse occurred in this part of Missouri. In fact, it has been 148 years since a Total Solar Eclipse has occurred anywhere in Missouri. And the next Total Solar Eclipse will not occur in this part of Missouri until 2505! I doubt anyone alive today will be around to see the next one.
Eclipse Timeline in Herculaneum
Partial Eclipse Starts: 11:49:46 am
Totality Starts: 1:17:06 pm
Totality Ends: 1:19:38 pm
Partial Eclipse Ends: 2:44:37 pm
Please wear special eclipse viewing glasses for all phases of the eclipse.
In 1798, Moses Austin, a settler from Connecticut, obtained a Spanish land grant of one square league (approximately 3 square miles) of land after learning of the richness of the area’s rich mineral deposits. After bringing in equipment and workmen from Virginia, Austin began mining and smelting lead despite frequent problems with the neighboring Osage tribe.
In 1808 Moses Austin and Samuel Hammond laid out a town at the mouth of Joachim Creek. The purpose of the new town was to serve as a shipping point for the lead smelted at mines in Jefferson and Washington Counties. It is believed the town was named by Moses Austin, who called it Herculaneum because the limestone strata was so eroded that they resembled seats in the amphitheater of the ancient Roman city buried by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
This cache should be a quick P&G. Please bring you own writing instrument. A gold dollar coin is the reward for the first to find this cache.