Sandy Creek Cowboy Cache No. 13 Traditional Cache
Sandy Creek Cowboy Cache No. 13
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Howdy history buffs, welcome to Cameron Valley. If you are looking for a clan of historic San Diego County characters to admire then you have definitely come to the right place. The Cameron clan had a major influence on the back-country history of San Diego County. This Geocache will round out your back-country education.
Look directly south from Old Highway 80 as you approach the small bridge that spans La Posta Creek about a half-mile west of La Posta Diner. See that lone Poplar tree? Near that poplar tree are very old fruit trees and the crumbling remains of the Thomas R. and Mary Catherine (Lee) Cameron homestead. Unfortunately the land between Old Highway 80 and Cameron Road is thoroughly posted against trespassing so y’ can’t visit the actual ruin. That old homestead is where Tom and Mary raised their considerable brood of hearty children including Sam, George, Charles, Lillian, Jessie, and Jane. The Cameron’s were of Scottish descent as their family name implies. First-born Sam Wesley Cameron arrived on November 29, 1856. His story is most notable because he kept a diary about his experiences between 1878 and 1903, now called “Sam Cameron’s Diary.” To read his diary is to realize what life was truly like during the Cameron years. Simply said life was tough. What follows are examples of Sam’s colorful prose about his hard-scrabble life. “Tousday. To day and yesterday the Tig-E-the-mom-E-ter was about 900,000,000,000,000,000 above zero. The heat was ter-rar-a-bil. Ther is no shade trees here. The sheep stood in the son and swet dripened of them. And me I laye under a bush and cussed. This is true every word.” “Sheep hearding is pretty much the same as penetenechery. He must be with them day and night. If they ever get out of his site they will not stop this side of kingdom come. Ba ba ea fifty thousand bas may be music for some but it has no charm for me.” “I wish that our sheep were in hell, and I was thair to herd them.” As you can imagine Sam found sheep herding, cattle ranching, farming, mining, and the weather to be no less than miserable. Still he worked through hardships and disappointments as any cowboy would, you know, gripin’ and complainin’ every step of the way. The location of this Geocache is the actual spot at which Sam Cameron had his fill of sheep and cattle. With a good ear you might be able to hear a faint echo of Sam Cameron shouting “Dad burn it, I quit!” As you will see he walked away from his last posthole and his last string of barbed wire. Why don’t y' pitch in and finish th’ job that ol' Sam Cameron started? Go ahead, we’ll wait on y’. One hope we have for that ol’ wrangler is that the fires of Hell incinerated all the fence posts before Sam arrived. Sam, ol’ pardner, we’ll see y’ in Hell, The Sandy Creek Cowboys
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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