Not many people know that when Lewis and
Clark and the Corps of Discovery were exploring the recently
purchased, Louisiana Purchase, that they were in great peril every
day of their expedition. Here’s why!!
President
Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis knew that there were governments
that would not be happy to see such an expedition and might try to
stop it altogether. During the time that they were make plans and
preparing for the expedition, the young nation of the United States
stumbled in to the opportunity to purchase the whole of the
Louisiana Territory for fifteen million dollars. Spain had just
turned Louisiana over to France as part of a treaty, and Napoleon
was in need of cash for an ensuing battle with England. Realizing
that it would be difficult to hold such a piece of property from
across the globe, and fearing that it might fall into the hands of
the English, he chose to sell it to the
USA.
The ownership of the
western territories of North America was yet to be determined, with
England, Spain and the USA all jockeying for the right to rule the
continent. The Spanish feared that an expedition of the newly
acquired territory might lead to attempts to conquer Spanish-held
territories to the west and south. They vowed to stop any such
expedition. In fact, as Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery
wintered with the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians near present-day
Washburn, North Dakota, New Spain launched an attempt to cut off
the expedition. They formed detachment of soldiers and Comanche
Indians. But, they never caught up with Lewis and Clark. As Lewis
and Clark prepared to break camp at Fort Clatsop for the long
journey home, another, and larger, attempt was launched in an
effort to catch them on their return trip. New Spain sent 500
soldiers and 100 Indian allies after the expedition. This, too,
failed.
Jefferson had
anticipated this possibility and realized that any information
gained by Lewis and Clark could be lost if they were captured. To
give the expedition a means of communicating with him secretly,
Jefferson devised what we now know as The Secret Code of Lewis and
Clark.
Here’s
how to find the cache:
The Secret Code of Lewis and Clark used a “Password” and a matrix
of letters in the picture provided at the bottom of the cache page.
The password for this cache is the same exact password that was
used by President Jefferson and Lewis and Clark and is also the
NAME of this cache. There are 3 easy steps to solving this
puzzle:
1. Write the “password” as many times as possible leaving a space
between all letters to complete the code.
2. Align the letters in the code with the letters in Step #1.
3. Using the matrix given below, find the code letter under each of
the password letters to find the actual message on the left side of
the matrix.
Here is the Code:
North:
GGA&WFGTBWFYKNH&HGJFUPZXXZDZNFUWBPKAGTBLZEBWH
West: PEYORBFDJXOVYPUMTCDXSFLNYMB&TAOKMQUMTPNZIKR
Good Luck and Happy Caching!!!
PLEASE DO NOT TAKE A TRAVEL BUG IF YOU ARE NOT INTENDING ON LEAVING
ONE....WRITE THE NUMBER DOWN AND "DISCOVER" IT....THANKS