I had a bunch of caches picked out for the day, but for various reasons, we didn’t have any luck getting anywhere near the rest of the caches.  Unfortunately, the park that was the main subject of our hunt was actually closed for the day.   We did find the Gift Wrapped Cache though.  Here’s a few pictures of the fun:

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One of the things I noticed while walking along the path were the remains of a cement stucture to the south at the point where what is now a creek crosses the remains of the canal and the towpath.   The cement structure appeared old enough and of the relative size and shape to have been part of a canal lock, leading me to wonder if in fact it was.

After doing some research, I learned that in fact, lock #38 was in the area.  Unfortunately for my speculation though, it appears that lock 38 was actually in the area that once was Rialto and based on map features, was probably in the area near where Port Union Rialto and Rialto Road meet.   Here’s a map of the area if you’re curious.  I’m basing my assessment on a review of the original canal plat maps I found on a DNR site.  I’ve saved the map that covers that area, but it’s a bit big to put up here.

So, being interested in such things as canals and canal locks, I did a bit of research on lock 38.  Apparently, based on this picture and information, the remains of the lock are still visible at least as of 1983.  I’m sure you can guess what comes next!  I’m planning on doing some exploration to see if perhaps the remains are still visible and accessible.  I’ll report back when I do, with pictures of course!  Wouldn’t that be a cool place to put a geocache?

So, what of my cement structure?  I don’t know.  Based on the plat maps, the structure I found is northwest of what was Port Union and probably corresponds with some canal features on the map I haven’t figured out yet.  It isn’t a lock however.   For the moment, that is still a mystery.   Perhaps, when I go seek lock 38, I might make a side trip and wade in the creek for a closer look at this structure too.

Edit:

Hot-diggity    With a bit more research, I found that the lock shows up on a “historic inventory” of Union Township.  The good news is, since it’s on such a list, it would have been on the radar for protection in the event of development in the area.  Further, the site links to the actual form that was filled out when the inventory was conducted.  Pretty cool!  The form also confirms the location I suspected.  Field trip!

After a looking through a couple more listings, I found one on the way home that seemed promising:  GC29ZHW For the Love of a Pond

Amusingly, I thought this was going to be a retention pond that was part of someone’s landscape in a nice neighborhood based on it’s map location.    Bzzzzzz.   Wrong.   Turns out the retention pond in question was one behind a small strip shopping center and it happened to be dry at that.  So much for scenic.   Behind the pond was a narrow strip of woods.  GPS lead me right too it.  Oh well, can’t complain about the easy ones

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After a few minutes of looking through the list, I found the BCTC Port Union cache and thought it would be a good one, like many of their others I’d done.   So, plan established, I headed toward the area of the now long gone Port Union Cafe.  Turns out, this is now the Trinity Pub.  Looked like a nice place.   I didn’t visit.

After a short walk up the trail I found the spot after crossing a creek bridge.  On the bridge, looking south, you can see evidence of a large “water related” concrete structure.  Considering this trail is built on the towpath for the Miami – Erie canal, I can’t help but wonder if the structures I could see were the remains of a lock.   Might have to do some research.

Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t find the cache.   I suspect it is gone.  There was obvious evidence of 2-3 ft deep flooding in the area of the cache, and I even found a mass of camo tape that probably was around the cache container based on the previous logs for the cache.

Oh well.  It was a nice walk down the trail anyway!  Here’s a couple pictures:

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In my research on the mine, I learned that there were a number of other mines in the area, one of which suffered a similar fate to the Richland Mine, namely the Nelson Mine, which according to maps, is nearby.  I also found:

The NY Times article on the disaster (be sure to click the link to see the full article) and

a transcription of an article from the  Evening Herald Syracuse New York 1901-05-28.

(I’ve printed all  of these to PDF in case the links should expire…)

I also found another article apparently from Trenton Evening Times, Trenton NJ 21 Dec 1895 on (I think) another mine explosion in the area.  I thought this might have been the Nelson Mine, but it isn’t cited in the article, so I’m not sure.  If it is the Nelson Mine, there’s an apparent date discrepancy.  This article on the Nelson Mine from the Ticonderoga Sentinel New York 1902-04-03 puts the Nelson Mine disaster in 1902, after the 1901 Richland Mine disaster.  Perhaps the 1895 disaster was a different mine still.

Fascinating stuff.  In another post, I’ll put up some maps of the mines in the area.   One of the things I noticed was that the actual location of the Richland Mine entrance doesn’t match the USGS topo maps of the area… but that’s a subject for my next post!

** Addendum – while poking around some more, I found a digitized copy of the book:

So, Elizabeth and I decided to do this one on Saturday.  Boy, I’m glad we did.  The geocache is just inside an abandoned mine near Dayton TN in an area that I’ve seen referred to as the Bowater Pocket Wilderness and the Laurel-Snow Pocket Wilderness. Tennessee DNR calls it the Laurel-Snow Pocket Wilderness.  Locals tell me that it “used” to be called Bowater…  In any case, you can find the DNR site on the place here.

What we found when we arrived was nothing short of amazing.  I’ll have some other posts on the Wilderness and other geocaches here shortly.  As for this one though, we had the opportunity to meet one of the locals who was busy picking up some trash.  I think his name was Arthur.  He told us all about the history of the area and in particular of the mine that the geocache was in.  It’s called the Richland Mine and back in the early 1900s there was an explosion and collapse at the mine that trapped and killed 21 miners.  He tells me that his grandfather was one of the men working in the mine, although he wasn’t one of the ones killed.  Apparently, a number of the bodies of the miners were not recovered and are still entombed in the mine.  Others who were recovered and some that died later of injuries sustained are apparently buried in wilderness near the mine.  Arthur tells me he has looked for evidence of those graves and so far has found none.

Among other things he told us, he indicated that we should use extreme caution if we choose to venture off the marked trail, especially above the mining areas.  Apparently there are a number of ventilation shafts for the old mines that open up above them, and most are not covered.  It would suck to fall in one!

After chatting with Arthur for a while, we finally got to venture into the mine a short distance. Arthur had warned us about venturing too far into the mine, because there was a shaft back in there that dropped an unknown distance.  That wasn’t an issue for us though (not that we would have anyway) because the mine was flooded and we couldn’t get much further than about 20ft in without getting into the water.  We ended up not finding the geocache because of the water.  I would have waded a bit, but I couldn’t be sure about the depth and didn’t want to do anything foolish.  We got a bunch of pictures too:

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Here’s the geocache page if you’re interested:

Geocaching.com – The Flames – GC2F83

Geocaching.com – The Blood Stained Mausoleum – GCKNVT

Here’s one account of the story surrounding this place:

John Henderson Craigmiles was a very successful man. He was a former sea captain, and a prominent business man in Cleveland, TN during the 1800s. However, his endured more tragedy than most people can imagine.

Nina Craigmiles was born on August 5, 1864, to John Henderson Craigmiles and his wife, Adelia Thompson Craigmiles. From the day she was born, her entire family fell in love with her, especially John. He showered her with affection, and bought her the best toys money could buy. He rarely ever let her leave his sight, and, as a result, she had few friends her own age. Some people have suggested that she wanted friends her own age, but if she did, she didn’t appear to want for it very much. She seemed very happy in such a loving family.

Sadly, on October 18, 1871, that happiness came to an end. It was Saint Luke’s Day, and Nina’s grandfather, Dr. Gideon Blackburn Thompson, was taking her for a ride on a horse and buggy. He had done this many times before, and Nina absolutely loved riding. Apparently, Dr. Thompson lost control of the horse and buggy, because it went directly into the path of a train. Dr. Thompson was thrown to safety, but Nina was killed.

The entire town was saddened by the news, and many people showed up for her funeral. After her funeral, Dr. Thompson and two others were baptized. The Craigmiles were devout Episcopalians, and since the Episcopal congregation of Cleveland did not have a church to visit at, John Henderson Craigmiles vowed to build one, which he did in memory of Nina. Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church was consecrated on the third anniversary of Nina’s death. It was (and still is) a very beautiful church. Not long after, Mr. Craigmiles had a mausoleum built behind the church in memory of his daughter. She was laid to rest inside, as was another infant son who died, and Mr. and Mrs. Craigmiles. Mr. Craigmiles met an untimely death after falling on some ice, which apparently triggered blood poisoning. A third member of the family had met a tragic death.

Today, if you visit the mausoleum, you will notice red streaks the color of blood appear on it. Almost everyone agrees that these streaks appeared just after Nina was laid to rest inside. These streaks are said by many to represent the tragedy that the Craigmiles family endured. People have tried many times to wash of these streaks, but they cannot. No one can explain what caused them to appear.

In the area around the mausoleum, children have been known to play. Some children have claimed to see the ghostly apparition of a young child dressed in 1800s style clothing. Other people have also reported seeing this, and hearing crying coming from the vicinity of the mausoleum. Local legend says that it’s Nina crying and wanting to play with the friends she never had in life. For years, youth in the area would approach the mausoleum after dark as a test of bravery. Many failed this test.

No one doubts the pain endured by the Craigmiles family. One can only hope that it doesn’t remain now, after their deaths’.

I of course took pictures…   I also did some brief online research, but all I found pretty much parroted whats written above.

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