The "S & M" Brothers Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size:
 (regular)
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This cache can be approached by paved paths from two different directions. Terrain is fairly level but area does have the usual favorites of mosquitos, ticks, and poision ivy. (This would not be a good location for sunbathing!!) The cache container is a metal hinged container, approx. 9" x 5".
Once upon a time, there was a small ville that set on the bank of a small river. The income of this town consisted mainly of sale or trade of nuts from the orchards or the meat and fertilizer from livestock. Outside of town, a small family, consisting of 3 brothers, lived alone. Other than to hunt, trap or fish, they seldom left their cabin area. Occasionally, they would travel to Bartles to trade some of their hides. As the years went by, the population of the ville of Bartles grew and the town expanded. One day, a merchant by the name of Anthorn, moved into town and started a sugar and mollasses company. The Anthorn Sugar and Molasses Company did very well, and the ville of Bartles prospered as well. After several years, the ASM Company pretty well controlled the local economy. Practically everyone in town either worked for the company or invested their savings in the Anthorn Company. Once a year, the ville of Bartles would celebrate the anniversary of the Anthorn Company. For three days there would be, delicious feasting, extravagant entertainment, and vast assortment of treats and ales!! The only problem was that everyone wanted to celebrate, enjoy the free food, drinks, and entertainment. No one wanted to work during that span of celebration. Now the Anthorn S & M Company operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The mayor of Bartles, finally arrived at a solution to hire someone from outside of town to pull the work shifts while the people of Bartles celebrated. In the process, they hired the three brothers to maintain the Company operations while the celebration was in force. The three brothers would merely operate on 8 hour shifts. All they had to do was monitor the holding tanks for the molasses / sugar formula tanks. IF the mixtures in the tanks got too dry, an alarm would sound whereas the "monitor" would pull the Sluice lever. This lever would open the gate of the Caney River and let the ice-cold, crystal clear Caney water to flow into the holding tanks until the formula moisture level was corrected. Now for the first 3 shifts, everything went accordingly. However, when two brothers were trading work shifts, one stated that it was a waste of time to get off work and then have to walk all the way to their cabin outside of town. The 3 brothers decided to move their sleeping bags, food, and ale to the factory. Thus they wouldn’t have to transverse the long walks to work/home each day. Everything worked fine for the next few shifts. But one night, the brothers got bored and ended up doing their favorite pastime (playing dominoes and drinking ale). Some time during the night, the three brothers dozed off (too much ale??). Eventually, the moisture alarm sounded. Unfortunately, the brothers loud snoring was louder than the alarm. So, the sluice gate remained closed, no water was added to the tank, and the internal pressure of the tanks kept building…….until…….the holding tanks exploded!!! The factory was demolished, the clear water of the Caney was tainted with the molasses and sugar mixture (forever muddy!) and the brothers perished in the tidal wave of molasses. The factory was never rebuilt, the river never regained its clear water, and the 3 brother’s bodies were never found. However, some anonymous person planted a tree near the Caney path, to memorialize the 3 deceased brothers. This cache is donated to that site in memory of the 3 S&M Brothers.
Additional Hints
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