GC44JQG Fort Visalia - Historic Visalia Series #4 (Traditional Cache) in California, United States created by Doogle (happily adopted by DarkZen)

This cache has been archived.

DarkZen: Area has changed. Thanks to all who visited! Archiving.

GC44JQG ▼

A cache by Doogle (happily adopted by DarkZen) Message this owner

Hidden : 1/18/2013

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

The town of Visalia, Tulare County, was first established in November 1852 when a group of settlers led by Nathanial Vise erected a fort on this block now bounded by Garden, Bridge, Race and Oak streets.

This is a rendering of Fort Visalia and one of the proposed future ideas for the site, now owned by The City of Visalia:

In the Fall of 1852, a group of pioneers built a stockade on the north bank of Mill Creek, which came to be known as Fort Visalia.

A description of the fort is given by Ed Reynolds who helped build it: "The lumber for this stockade was obtained by cutting down mammoth oak trees which grew in profusion, splitting them in half, and setting them on end, side by side, in a trench three feet deep.

"The curved sides of the logs were turned to the outside and the earth tamped in around the bottom in such a manner as to make them secure against a battering ram."At each corner of the stockade an extension of four feet was built out, across and back. Indians attempting to scale the walls would be in the direct fire of riflemen stationed at these extensions. "This stockade was about 60 feet square and the tents of the party were pitched inside, and a tunnel dug underneath the wall, for admittance purposes.

In this crude structure the first civilization was established, a dance floor was constructed from puncheon timbers and the settlers amused themselves in the evenings by dancing to the music of an old fiddle. A bridge was constructed over Mill Creek south of the stockade and it was over this crossing that the first street in Visalia was later surveyed and designated Bridge street.

History relates that during the winter of 1852-53 these individuals lived in the stockade; Judge Cutler, Tom Baker, Samuel C. Brown, Calhoun Roberts, Early Lyons, a Mr. Russell, and Nathaniel Vise, for whom the town was named. Also there were Robert Stevenson, Abe Murray, Osee Mathews, Reuben Mathews, Warren Mathews, the Glenns, and their families.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Bireurnq

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)