Your starting point is N49 15.905, W122 46.913 (not the cache location). Follow the Continuum marker plaques south along the river, and write down answers to the following questions, which are not in any particular order. Read the plaques very carefully, because if you miss an answer you will have to go back.
While you do this note what is across the river to your right and on your left to the east, immediately after you pass under the Kingsway road bridge. Not much, you will say. But behind those trees on the other side of the river there is a construction site, and that is where the original Port Coquitlam townsite was. A wooden bridge crossed the river where the concrete one is now, and the townsite continued on the east side of the river (now a parking lot) as far as Shaughnessy St. PoCo Heritage has pictures of how it was in the early 1900s.
Looking east down Dewdney Trunk Road (now Kingsway) towards Shaughnessy St circa 1920. Present in photo: Tom Routley, Harold Routley, Irene Routley. Photo courtesy of Port Coquitlam Heritage and Cultural Society.
1. How many marker plaques are there in the continuum?
2. In 2016 what percentage of PoCo’s population was not born in Canada?
3. What was the population in 1901?
4. What year was PoCo “born”?
5. When did Simon Fraser and his crew explore this area of the Fraser Valley?
6. When did Terry Fox begin his Marathon of Hope?
7. When was the first Coquitlam dam begun?
8. What year was the fire that started in the firehall?
Add the 8 answers together. Cross out and ignore the first digit and from the last three digits only, subtract 56. The result is the seconds of the cache’s latitude. The degrees and minutes are the same as your starting point.
March 2023: The following clue is temporarily unavailable due to construction. Just write down the number 7 for now.
Now head over to N49 15.744, W122 46.862. Add together the two digits representing the total number of names on the marker and write it down.
Next, scoot over to N49 15.806, W122 46.807. Add the second digit of the engine number to the third digit. Write this down.
Looking at the two numbers you have written down, write down a third number which represents 1/24th of a gross (you know what a gross is surely?). You don’t? It’s a dozen dozens of course.
The three numbers you have written down are the seconds of the cache longitude. The degrees and minutes are the same as your starting point. Now it's a short walk to the cache location. PLEASE NOTE: Veterans Park is being extensively remodelled and is closed to vehicles, and pedestrians. If you find the cache despite all the obstructions and detours we admire and appreciate your perseverance!
Thanks for participating. Check out the museum's window display and if we are open (hours are restricted at present) pop in and see what's inside the museum. We'll be happy to meet you!
