The cache is not at the posted coordinates.
Digging up Hidden History Geocache Series We recommend completing— or at least reading – the geocaches in the numbered order.
Make sure to record the code for the final, found on the cache’s log sheet!
Pittsburgh has a history that is well known to its residents. We learn from a young age of Fort Pitt and the evolution of the little town of Pittsborough; we learn of the steel mills that blackened the sky, the Homestead Strike and the defiance of Pittsburgh’s immigrant working class; we learn of the cleaning up of the legacy of pollution. What we don’t hear about, though, is the racism that plagued the city sometimes called “up south”, the booming “Little Harlem” that was the Hill District, and the civil rights protests that pushed for opportunities for Black people to climb the social ladder. Operation Dig was a huge movement to bring African Americans into the construction industry that took place from 1969 into the early 1970s, yet not a single placard or monument can be found to recognise it. We decided to take this matter into our own hands, creating a Geocache series titled Digging up Hidden History.
Freedom Corner
In the 1960s, there were virtually no Black people working in the construction industry. Unions often would not admit them, and they had very little access to training. This was a huge barrier to Black people as they sought to improve their living conditions, since getting a job in the trades was a ticket to the middle class. Nate Smith – a Hill District resident who grew up before the Lower Hill District was raised and who was the sole Black man in the Operating Engineers Union – was fed up with this unfair treatment. He started the Black Construction Coalition to pressure the Master Builders’ Association and local government to provide more opportunities. This was called Operation Dig.
The puzzle:
Project ABCD feet from the ‘center’ of freedom corner at a bearing of EF°
You will need to find the original addresses of these locations, most of which were demolished for the civic arena construction, to find out how far away and in what direction the cache is.
Roosevelt Theater - A862 Center Avenue
Loendi Club - 8B Fullerton Street
Bethel AME Church - 12C6 Wylie Avenue
Crawford Grill - 214D Wylie Avenue
Fulton Hotel - 5E Fullerton St
Harlem Casino - F714 Center Avenue
You can validate your puzzle solution with
certitude.
Hidden History #1: Freedom Corner
Hidden History #2: Three Rivers Stadium
Hidden History #3: Bidwell Training Center
Hidden History #4: US Steel Building
Hidden History #5: NAACP
Hidden History: The Final
If you find any historical mistakes (or puzzle mistakes) in any of these caches, please let us know!