JaxParks and Visit Jacksonville are proud to bring you this geocache as part of the Inaugural Jacksonville Geocaching Challenge! In each JGC Geocache, you will find a stamp attached to the log book. Simply stamp your 2018 Jacksonville Geocaching Challenge Passport in the appropriate space as you visit each geocache. When you have collected 25 of the 30 stamps, you will qualify for the coin! For more information on the JGC Challenge, please visit the Jacksonville Geocaching Challenge website (link shown below) to download the official 2018 JGC Passport, review the rules and learn how to obtain a Geocoin. The website also has a brochure with the details of the JGC Challenge which you might find handy as you explore Jacksonville's great park system and other interesting places on the First Coast.
You are seeking for a camoed ammo can. Be prepared for bugs and standing water.
Park hours are from sunrise to sunset.
In the mid-1880's a small town called Yukon was situated between the Ortega River and Roosevelt Boulevard, across from what would become NAS Jacksonville. The town included a post office, store, railway depot and church as well as Dewey Park, a subdivision of about 300 houses with around 1,000 residents.
The Florida National Guard had a base on the banks of the St. Johns River from 1909 to 1917. When America entered WWI in 1917, the Federal government decided to create a base for training Army Quartermasters, naming it for Joseph E. Johnston, the Army's Quartermaster General in 1860. The red brick road that can been found in the Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park was built to transport men and supplies from the Ortega River to the base. Camp Johnstone was closed in 1919 at the end of WWI. The Florida National Guard returned to the base in 1928. In October 1940, Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS Jax) was commissioned, poised to be ready for the dawn of the jet age before the decade was over. By the mid-1950's, NAS Jax had over 16,000 military and civilian personnel.
It was the continued growth of NAS Jax that would cause the residents of Yukon to lose their homes to eminent domain in 1963 when the town was declared a risk to the station's flight patterns. The remains of roads and home foundations can still be found in the park. The Yukon Baptist Church and other buildings from the town of Yukon can still be found along Roosevelt Boulevard.
Tillie Fowler, a Jacksonville City Councilwoman and later a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was instrumental in the development of this park. In 1996, an observation tower, nature center and outdoor classroom were added. The park has 7 miles of hiking and bike trails, an archery field, a large playground and picnic area.
Thank you to the volunteer Steward of this cache -- fo2gra4
Click here for more information on the 2018 Jacksonville Geocaching Challenge