Mine Au Breton (Moses Austin Tomb) Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

*gln: [b][green] ARCHIVING Disabled cache. [/b][/green]

[B][green] NOTE: do not select reply in your e-mail program if you wish to respond to this message from the geocaching.com mail bot. Go to your cache page and e-mail *gln from the log there OR email us at Glenn.GeocachingAdmin@gmail.com OR Mongo@geocachingadmin.com , referencing the cache URL's, or GCxxxx waypoint numbers. [/green][/b]

Greetings,

It has been a while since I first looked at this cache. I can't find any recent responses about maintaining this cache so for the time being it will be archived and removed from the active cache listings. We are no longer leaving caches stay disabled for extended periods of time.

Groundspeak and the geocaching community appreciate your contributions to geocaching and I hope to see this cache back in operation soon.

If you can get it back up and running in the next week or so contact me to get it re-listed. Otherwise plan to move it slightly and set up a new cache page.

[B][green]Most problems can be solved with good communication so reply back to the reviewer and we will do everything possible within the guidelines to get your cache published. It is best to give me as much information as possible instead of saying nothing at all. This will speed up the process and we can get your cache published. [/green][/b]

Glenn

"Seek quality, not quantity".

Your friendly Missouri Geocache Review team is
Glenn (*gln), Mongo & Banjo-Boy

How to get your cache published quickly: http://tinyurl.com/yhnva3g

More
Hidden : 1/8/2004
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

A brief history of Potosi, Missouri

The historic village of Potosi, lies some 70 miles southwest of St. Louis and was originally called Mine Au Breton. It was named for Francis Azor, who discovered lead ore outcropping on the south side of Breton Creek sometime between 1760 and 1780. Azor was a retired soldier from Ft. DeChartres, Illinois, and was called "The Breton," as he came here from Brittany, France.

Azor built crude stone furnaces to produce lead metal. A primitive mining village quickly sprang up which was called Mine Au Breton, or Mine of the Breton. Mine Au Breton became the most intensely worked lead mine of the time. Some French miners used black slave labor in their mines. In 1807 the village of Mine Au Breton had about 40 houses. From the time of the discovery of lead a continuous settlement has existed here.

Hearing about the rich lead mines in what was then called Upper Louisiana Territory, Moses Austin, a wealthy and ambitious businessman, set out from Virginia in 1796 to investigate them. In 1797 Austin stated that, "Without doubt, Mine Au Breton is richer than any in the known world." Austin received a grant for 7,153 arpents (about 6,080 acres) of land. Then he transformed lead mining and smelting into Missouri's first major industry.

Austin sank the first mineshaft in Missouri and built the first reverberatory furnace west of the Mississippi River. As a condition of the grant he provided many improvements for this area. With his 40 to 50 slaves and employees Austin built bridges, roads, a store, a blacksmith shop, a flourmill, a sawmill, and a shot tower. He turned out the first sheet lead and cannonballs made in Missouri. In 1798 Austin moved his wife and family here where they resided in beautiful Durham Hall, which he built and named after his birthplace in Durham, Connecticut. Austin also had a home in Ste. Genevieve.

Washington County Missouri was organized on August 21, 1813. Austin donated 40 acres of land on the north side of Breton Creek for establishment of a county seat. Lots and a public square were laid out and a new town evolved around Durham Hall. The town was named Potosi, after the ancient silver mining city in Bolivia. The name Potosi comes from a South American Indian word, which means "place of much noise."

In those days Potosi had a post-office and two whiskey distilleries. In 1814 the first courthouse was built. In 1815 a one-room 13 x 13 foot hewed log jail was built near the public square. For all of his improvements and donations to the area Moses Austin is considered to be the founding father of Potosi. Mine Au Breton on the south side of the creek and Potosi on the north side consolidated in 1826 under the name of Potosi.

Moses Austin is not only the founding father of Potosi but also "The Grandfather of Texas." In 1821 he traveled to San Antonio and received the first American grant for a colony in Texas. After Moses' death in the same year his son Stephen took over the project of moving 300 families from Potosi to Texas, making Stephen "The Father of Texas." Austin, the capitol of Texas, is named for Stephen F. Austin.

Moses Austin is buried in the Potosi City Cemetery on Breton Street. The cracks in his tomb were made in 1938, by Texans who wanted to move his body back to Texas. They sent an undertaker and a hearse to Potosi. The undertaker was discovered chipping away at the tomb. The Marshall was called, the town aroused, and the Texan was sent packing! A few weeks later the Governor of Texas sent his Secretary of the State to Potosi with a public apology for the incident. Potosians like to brag that we are the only town that ever took on the state of Texas – and won!
(from History of Mine Au Breton/Potosi, by Esther M. Ziock Carroll)

You are looking for a black 35mm film canister. It contains only a log sheet. You’ll need to bring your own pen or pencil.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Haqre fueho oruvaq gur gbzo.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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