Cache hunting?? Where to start??

[greenacarina]

I'm interested in cache hunting but not sure where to start (being totally new to this). I realize that research is the key to the hunt, but where should I start looking for any sort of beginning? I live in the Pacific NW...relatively young area comparatively....and it seems like most of the old stories you hear are in relation to the south, midwest, etc.. Basically parts of the US with an older heritage. Any pointers would be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

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[Siegfried Schlagrule]

cache hunting in Washington State

Howdy, Marcus Whitman in the 1830s or 1840s got folks traveling on the Oregon Trail. You also had a mining boom, fishing and logging. All those activities led to lots of small to middling caches. There were usually small settlements near the canneries too. You can read the old newspapers on microfilm at the bigger libraries and the old county history books that were published around the centennial in 1876. On modern stuff make a file from your local newspaper about robberies and embezzlers, etc. Hear tell the big crime of choice these days is cigarette smuggling from the reservations to the towns. With cartons legally selling at over $75 in town and $25 on the reservation there is bound to be lots of money getting squirreled away. Should be lots of folks getting arrested and written up in the papers too. Good Luck, Siegfried Schlagrule

 

[boomer]

Research

some places this book could run $40.00. but they have some for $10.95. remember, research and be sure to use topo maps, good luck. boomer

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[whiskers]

Greenacarina - Forget about what's in other states; concentrate on what's in your own area. (I wish I could dig up Civil War relics here in California, but I can't, so instead I dig up pre-Gold Rusb Spanish relics located not too far away.)

You reminded me of a Washington state story I reprinted in my first book some years back. Here 'tis. Enjoy. And we can all dream about what the cache would be worth today. A pity it was found before much of that stuff had historic or collector's value - Jim Lyons

AN OLD CACHE

The Strange Discovery of a Party of
Campers in Washington.

The other day, while looking for a camping place on the bluffs adjoining the Palouse river, J. Y. Walker, William Hillman and N. D.
Mullinix made a strange discovery. While walking along under a bluff Mr. Walker, of the party, was surprised to feel the earth give under his step, and called to his companions. They all stepped upon the spot, when they could feel it spring up and down as a floor without center supports. Led by curiousity they began to dig and soon came to a board floor. This led to further investigation, which resulted in the discovery of a circular pit six or eight feet in diameter, ten feet deep, and carefully walled with thatched straw, carefully braided. The pit was almost full of a varied collection of articles, consisting of clothing for men and children, beads, beaded goods, harness, farmers' tools, cooking utensils and money. The money, a large amount, was in an iron tea kettle in the very bottom of the pit and was in silver and gold nuggets.

The contents of the pit would make more than a load for a four-horse team, and while some were well worn, some were entirely new so far as usage is concerned, many of the articles still having the retailers' cost marks plainly visible. The discoverers think the pit was made perhaps a quarter of a century ago, as the ground above was all grown over with bunch grass and no signs of disturbed earth were visible. The location is a peculiar one, being on a flat, overhanging which was a high bluff, and it had been so carefully made that not a drop of water had ever penetrated it. The bedding and clothing were all in a good state of preservation and there were several boxes and jars of herbs as if put away for medicinal purposes.

Reprinted from the
San Francisco Chronicle
July 30, 1891
Page 10, column 3
Which copied it from the Waitsburg (Wash.) Times