History, Trivia, Urban LEgend, and Compass Work LbNA #13896 (ARCHIVED)
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Add Location| Owner: | Adoptable |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Mar 20, 2005 |
| Location: | |
| City: | ??? |
| County: | Mystery |
| State: | Oklahoma |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Planted by: | osugeography N5CL  |
|---|---|
| Found by: | ??? |
| Last found: | Jan 2, 2006 |
| Status: | FFFFFFa |
| Last edited: | Mar 20, 2005 |
NOTE: Confirmed missing. If you have searched for this box, and not found it, please email me, and describe the setting, and I will send you a stamped page for your book, along with a bonus stamp, of sorts.
CONGRATULATIONS abd thanks to those several people who have found it!
A (very) little history and trivia, an early "urban legend" and some compass work....
WALKING DISTANCE: One-half mile round trip.
DIFFICULTIES: Grass is mowed and has a length of about three inches. Ground underfoot is gently rolling. Burrowing animals pock-mark some of the ground surface. Mosquitoes, in season. Ticks? Maybe. Never picked one up here, in a dozen or more visits. LOTS OF SANDBURRS in the grass!
NOTE: The letterbox is not located in a busy or congested part of town, but be careful on the highway getting to the letter box, as elsewhere.
SOME CAREFUL COMPASS WORK is required. The pacing has been carefully measured, but the distances are not super-critical, and the bearings attempt to pick out solitary objects. Compass bearings are all magnetic, and have been cross-checked with another compass and with GPS bearings and distances for the intermediate and final points.
A compass bearing for an initial check is included below.
WHERE to START: Many People are familiar with the fabled “Route 66”, a favorite for east to west travel in the United States and an object of present-day nostalgia. But do you know what highway was conceived as the main north and south highway in the United States in the early-middle part of the 20th century? The starting town for this letterbox is on this highway. This still-functional U.S. Highway crosses six states, and was conceived as a part of the highway system that linked Winnipeg, Canada, and Mexico City, Mexico.
WHENEVER YOU FIGURE OUT the highway number, you must spend a little time in the "urban legends" zone. A death-bed admission of guilt by a man who claimed to be the assassin of Abraham Lincoln occurred in this town on the highway in question, and that town hosts the Letterbox.
Travel on the little-recognized highway, within the city limits of this town, driving until you come to a set of stoplights at an intersection with a cross-street with the same name as a well-known university in Indiana. Turn west here and continue four-tenths of a mile until you come to the entrance of a city park. Turn left there, and go south to the second picnic table under a shelter. Start at the tree (bright orange mark on base, west side) about ten feet east of the east side of the shelter.
NOTE: Be careful with your compass work! Keep objects away from the compass that cause inaccuracy. REEMEMBER ALL COMPASS BEARING ARE MAGNETIC BEARINGS, NOT CORRECTED TO TRUE NORTH.
FIELD CHECK for compass: From the starting tree, a nearby church steeple has a magnetic bearing of 169 degrees.
DISTANCES at the site are given in paces of 2.5 feet.
Finally, here goes! FROM THE STARTING TREE, Point 1:
1) Go 100 paces at a bearing of 114 degrees to a tree, Point 2.
2) From Point 2, go 125 paces at a bearing of 95 degrees to the the nearest lone object, which was designed to catch pie plates!
3) At Point 3, go 57 paces at a bearing of 60-65 degrees to a small, multi-branched tree/bush, point 4. NOTE that the 60-65 degree bearing is variable because the object that is Point 3 causes a very local deviation of the earth’s magnetic field, affecting the compass reading.
4) From Point 4, go 118 paces at a bearing of 176 degrees to another pie-plate catcher. Watch out for golfers!
5) From Point 5, go 20 paces at a bearing of 65 degrees to a (general) type of tree sometimes prized for its fragrance and resistance to disease, even though farmers and ranchers often do not hold it in high regard...
HERE on the south side of the tree, within the branches and about three feet above ground, you will find my letterbox. It can be hard to see, however, as the outer Ziploc bag is painted close to the color of the foliage of the tree.
The log and stamp are double-bagged, without a snap-lid box.
Sincerely, osugeography/N5CL
CONGRATULATIONS abd thanks to those several people who have found it!
A (very) little history and trivia, an early "urban legend" and some compass work....
WALKING DISTANCE: One-half mile round trip.
DIFFICULTIES: Grass is mowed and has a length of about three inches. Ground underfoot is gently rolling. Burrowing animals pock-mark some of the ground surface. Mosquitoes, in season. Ticks? Maybe. Never picked one up here, in a dozen or more visits. LOTS OF SANDBURRS in the grass!
NOTE: The letterbox is not located in a busy or congested part of town, but be careful on the highway getting to the letter box, as elsewhere.
SOME CAREFUL COMPASS WORK is required. The pacing has been carefully measured, but the distances are not super-critical, and the bearings attempt to pick out solitary objects. Compass bearings are all magnetic, and have been cross-checked with another compass and with GPS bearings and distances for the intermediate and final points.
A compass bearing for an initial check is included below.
WHERE to START: Many People are familiar with the fabled “Route 66”, a favorite for east to west travel in the United States and an object of present-day nostalgia. But do you know what highway was conceived as the main north and south highway in the United States in the early-middle part of the 20th century? The starting town for this letterbox is on this highway. This still-functional U.S. Highway crosses six states, and was conceived as a part of the highway system that linked Winnipeg, Canada, and Mexico City, Mexico.
WHENEVER YOU FIGURE OUT the highway number, you must spend a little time in the "urban legends" zone. A death-bed admission of guilt by a man who claimed to be the assassin of Abraham Lincoln occurred in this town on the highway in question, and that town hosts the Letterbox.
Travel on the little-recognized highway, within the city limits of this town, driving until you come to a set of stoplights at an intersection with a cross-street with the same name as a well-known university in Indiana. Turn west here and continue four-tenths of a mile until you come to the entrance of a city park. Turn left there, and go south to the second picnic table under a shelter. Start at the tree (bright orange mark on base, west side) about ten feet east of the east side of the shelter.
NOTE: Be careful with your compass work! Keep objects away from the compass that cause inaccuracy. REEMEMBER ALL COMPASS BEARING ARE MAGNETIC BEARINGS, NOT CORRECTED TO TRUE NORTH.
FIELD CHECK for compass: From the starting tree, a nearby church steeple has a magnetic bearing of 169 degrees.
DISTANCES at the site are given in paces of 2.5 feet.
Finally, here goes! FROM THE STARTING TREE, Point 1:
1) Go 100 paces at a bearing of 114 degrees to a tree, Point 2.
2) From Point 2, go 125 paces at a bearing of 95 degrees to the the nearest lone object, which was designed to catch pie plates!
3) At Point 3, go 57 paces at a bearing of 60-65 degrees to a small, multi-branched tree/bush, point 4. NOTE that the 60-65 degree bearing is variable because the object that is Point 3 causes a very local deviation of the earth’s magnetic field, affecting the compass reading.
4) From Point 4, go 118 paces at a bearing of 176 degrees to another pie-plate catcher. Watch out for golfers!
5) From Point 5, go 20 paces at a bearing of 65 degrees to a (general) type of tree sometimes prized for its fragrance and resistance to disease, even though farmers and ranchers often do not hold it in high regard...
HERE on the south side of the tree, within the branches and about three feet above ground, you will find my letterbox. It can be hard to see, however, as the outer Ziploc bag is painted close to the color of the foliage of the tree.
The log and stamp are double-bagged, without a snap-lid box.
Sincerely, osugeography/N5CL