Gambo Gunpowder Mill Gambit Traditional Cache
Gambo Gunpowder Mill Gambit
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Fairly easy family oriented cache hidden along the short Gambo Gunpowder Mills Trail on the Gorham Land Trust in Gorham, Maine, USA.
This cache is hidden along the short Gambo Gunpowder Mills Trail. A map of the trail can be found here: (visit link)
This is a neat little hidden area tucked along the Presumscot River in Gorham, Maine. This area has a lot to offer including access to the river, a new foot bridge built on the remains of an old bridge, a working hydroelectric dam, an informal canoe portage, remains of an old canal system and the ruins of a gunpowder mill.
You can park at these coordinates: 43'44.864N 70'26.282W.
Due to the recent changes in the area the best way to reach this cache is to go down the Windham side of Gambo Road off of River Road in Windham. You can park at the end of Gambo Road there and cross the new foot bridge built on the ruins of the old road bridge to access the cache area. The area can also be accessed by walking down a dirt road that has been built in the new park area at the end of Partridge Lane off of Route 237 in Gorham, Maine. Gambo Road off of 237 is now blocked off completely and the end is marked as private, so please don't try to reach the cache that way.
Gambo Road used to cross the river and connect the River Road and 237, but became 2 dead-end roads ever since the bridge over the Presumpscot River was closed in 1990 after being washed out by Hurricane Bob.
The nearby Shaw Brothers Construction Inc, (visit link) ) are the folks who donated the land this trail is on to the Gorham Land Trust.
Anyhow, along the Gambo Gunpowder Mills Trail are the remnants of the historical Gambo Powder Mills, which were built in 1824, incorporated into the Oriental Powder Mills in 1859 and later became the Dupont Powder Mill, which ran until 1905. Some of the massive stone foundations can be seen from this trail, which includes part of the old canal towpath. This complex was once the fourth largest powder mill in the country and produced gunpowder that was exported to all over the world. During the Civil War the mill ran day and night producing two and one half million pounds of gunpowder per year, which represented 25% of the gunpowder used by the Union forces.
The gunpowder was loaded in boats and shipped down the river along the Cumberland and Oxford Canal to Portland where it was then sailed to Boston.
Wooden wheelbarrows made with non-sparking copper alloy nails were used to move the gunpowder around. All of the buildings were placed far apart so that any explosion at one building would not effect the others. Despite these measures, there were many explosions at the mills, which led to 46 unfortunate deaths between 1828 and 1924. According to historical accounts, since these jobs paid as much as double the prevailing wage, each explosion would bring lines of local men looking to land one of the jobs left vacant by the accident.
On July 2nd, 2005 we replaced the original container with a stardard size ammo box. The original cache container was a standard 4 liter clear plastic Rubbermaid with a blue rubber seal around the top. Please re-hide the cache as good as you found it or better.
On Sept. 1st, 2008 we had to replace the cache after the ammo box went missing. We've rehid it with a more camo'ed container.
Please take note of the exact hiding spot and positioning of the cache when you find it and replace it exactly as you found it.
Enjoy! And remember to Cache In and Trash Out!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va pnivgl zvqjnl hc ba bhgfvqr bs sbhaqngvba. rxns xpbe