The 12th of a series of caches planned to be hidden at or near the historic rural schoolhouses of Routt County (RCSH - Routt County School Houses). See the first cache of this series (GC6QQ71) for a complete and updated list of the ones currently available - but this list will continue to grow as there were 96 schools which served Routt County neighborhoods from 1883 until 1960 when the rural districts consolidated.
A small pill bottle with a log and some small collectables located at 6922’ above sea level on Fish Creek in West Routt County.
This was the site of the homestead of Kasper & Helen Weberskirch, German imigrants who came to the Routt County area in about 1911 to work the coal mines in Oak Creek. They became naturalized citizens in 1912 in Oak Creek and later shortened their surname to Weber - which the children went by (Cass, Harry, Johnnie, Helen & Frances). By 1917, the Weber family homesteaded here on Fish Creek. Kasper became the mail carrier in 1928 and carried the mail from Hayden, through Twenty-mile park and to the Dunckley Post office on the Marion Yoast Ranch (see GC6R4VM), back down Sage Creek to Hayden.
On this homestead, for a short time (probably 1926-1927) Ethel Dunckley taught the Weber and the Neffs children as part of the Dunckley School District # 14. This school was also called the "Fish Creek" school by some and was described as "a little old board shack". Dunckley School #2 (see GC6R4TE) would have been operating at this time, but would have been a very long jaunt for small children to attend in that building, although obviously within a few years, they did attend there! Be sure and check out all of Dunckley school house caches!
At one time, the "Weber Mine" operated across the road from this homestead. It is currently being "capped" as the coal seam has burned for YEARS. The Weber Mine was a "box" mine, in which coal was mined by hand and sold by the wagon box load to many of the residents of the Dunckley community and beyond.
Many residents also remember the "Weber barn" which was built right against the road near this cache - "down in the creek bottom". The upper level barn loft was even with the road and the hay could be loaded right from the road to the loft - or vice versa!