The coordinates listed above will NOT take you to the cache! You must solve a puzzle in order to find the true location of the cache. The cache isn't underwater, so there's no need for a boat or scuba gear.
The (Great) Dayton Flood of 1913
In March of 1913, from the 21st through the 26th, the city of Dayton and the surrounding area was at the epicenter of the greatest natural disaster in Ohio history. After raining heavily for 3 straight days from March 21 - March 23, the Great Miami River and its tributaries burst through the existing levees of the time and, with Dayton sitting on the river's natural flood plain, the inevitable happened. Between 8-11 inches of rain fell on the already saturated ground, and while it didn't rain on the 24th, the water levels in the river continued to rise. By March 25, 1913, at around 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning, the flooding began. Nature's fury had been unleashed!
By mid-afternoon, the lower areas of the city were sitting under 10 feet of water and by the early morning hours of the 26th, the water depth exceeded 20 feet in some of the lower lying areas of downtown. The water rushed through the city at up to 25 miles-per-hour and the river swelled to over a mile in width on each side. All of that water rushing through the city made conditions worse, but to make things even more interesting, the temperature had fallen to below freezing - as low as the mid-20s. Imagine how it must have been for the townsfolk in temperatures that low if they got wet, as it wouldn't have taken long at all for hypothermia to set in.
In the end, this disaster left roughly 123 people dead in Dayton alone, with combined fatalities in Dayton and the surrounding area reaching nearly 400. Property damages in the Miami Valley were in excess of 100 million dollars, or the equivalent of approximately 2 billion dollars today. If not for heroes such as NCR Founder and President John H Patterson, who instructed his company's carpentry department to build an estimated 200-500 flat-bottomed rescue boats, the loss of life would have most certainly been ever higher. While not the only hero, Patterson was likely the most prominent.
So, you're probably wondering what all of this has to do with Geocaching, huh? Well, I'm about to get to that part. You probably noticed that this is a Five Rivers MetroParks cache, so you've probably already guessed that the cache is hidden in one of their parks, but which one? Well, as with any mystery cache, you're going to have to do a bit of work to find out. The park in question was destroyed by the flood but was rebuilt shortly afterward. Maybe you've never been there and if that is the case, you're about to visit a very beautiful park.
It is my hope that the extremely short summary of the events that occurred here in Dayton in March of 1913 is not only interesting to you but will encourage you to do your own research in order to learn even more about not only the flood but also about the MetroPark where the cache is located. On a side note, you may not know this, but Dayton used to be the home of quite a few local amusement parks and the park in question was the location of one of them. There is so much history in the city of Dayton just waiting to be learned!
Okay, okay -- I know, get on with it already, right? Alright, to find the coordinates of the cache you're going to have to do some additional research - and a little bit of math. The coordinates are in the following format:
N 39 AB.CDE W 084 FG.HIJ, but it's not quite THAT easy! See below:
A = After the flood, community leaders hired this engineer to develop the regional flood protection system.
B = NCR stands for this.
C = The last name of the famous brothers whose original sketches of the first airplane were lost in the flood.
D = This man headed the team that surveyed the land and originally laid out the city of Dayton in 1795.
E = This man was the governor of Ohio at the time of the flood.
F = The President of the United States in March of 1913.
G = On May 2, 1913, this group started a 10-day fundraising campaign that raised $2,000,000.
H = Author of the 2008 book Images of America: The Great Dayton Flood of 1913.
I = This Dayton attorney drafted the Vonderheide Act in 1914.
J = This town's residents had to move to make way for the Huffman Dam.
N 39 (A-150)(B-212).(C-76)(D-114)(E-89) W 084 (F-204)(G-288).(H-111)(I-106)(J-79)
Once you've gone through all the steps of solving this puzzle, you can use the solution checker to verify the coordinates before heading that way. The park you'll be visiting is in pristine condition. Please help keep it that way. If you see any trash, carry it out with you. CITO. Not only will this help MetroParks, but it will make the experience wonderful for the next visitors to this cache as well. The cache should be pretty easy to find. It's not in a tree and there's no need to cause any kind of destruction while looking for it. All of this was done purposely so as to minimize us geocachers' "footprint" so-to-speak.
There is an FTF, unregistered Geocoin in the cache for the First To Find as well as a TB or two that will be starting their journey from this cache. For a small size cache, there is a fair amount of starter swag in the container as well. Please, if you take something, leave something of equal or greater value so that there's always something nice in the cache for the next finder. You must sign the log in order to claim a find on this one. Once you've finished up with the cache, please replace it in exactly the same spot as you found it unless it was obviously left out of position by someone. If that's the case, please note it in your log and kindly hide it wherever you think it was supposed to be in the first place, keeping in mind the coordinates.
If you enjoyed this cache, please let me know that in your log. If you didn't, well, let me know that too! This is my first cache and I have plans to hide more in the coming months. Your feedback will help me to know what you all like and what you don't like. Plus, your log entry is the only reward us COs get! Thank you and I hope you had fun solving the puzzle and visiting MetroParks!!
Placed with permission of Five Rivers MetroParks - Permit GO6724.19