Coach Servicing & Caching Today 5/27/2008

Up early and on the road to Camping World to get the coach serviced this morning. We had the oil changed in the coach and in the generator, they had to replace the aerator in the water pump, they found out the TV in the front wouldn't work with the roof antenna because there was a wire that wasn't connected in the front compartment....just what I had figured. There were a few other small things to do and we picked it up about 3:00 and drove back to Tim's and put everything back together. While we were waiting for the coach to be serviced we did some caching. First cache was near Nine Mile Creek in a favorite fishing spot, second was across from Dunkin Donuts, third was located on Parsons Dr in a pine tree.
Then it was on to a 2 part multi cache that was our 1600th find.The name of the cache was "The Phlegethon of Unrelatable Nightmares and the first stage was located deep within the misted hills of refulgent Solvay it is whispered of a cache so unspeakable, so riddled with the scrofulous horrifying befoulment of lurking fears that those who have sought its obsequious mysteries have returned gibbering with madness, or have never even returned at all! The first stage lies within the mouldering stygian orifice you see before you, 7 "beams" into the squamous maw of DOOM! The tunnel runs thruough Terry Road Hill, and was part of the "bucket line" (think of a modern-day ski lift) that transported crushed limestone and other materials between Split Rock Quarry in Fairmount and the Semet-Solvay Company, where it was turned into soda ash. It is one of the last 3 remaining "big" structures of the Split Rock era, which ended with the infamous 1918 TNT disaster. The other 2 are the old quarry's Rock Crusher and "Frankenstien's Castle", the only remaining brick guardtower. The cable road consisted of twocarrying supported on wooden towers upon which buckets traveled and a hauling cable which was fastened to buckets to draw them along. The hauling cable was 3/4 of an inch in diameter and was driven by a steam engine located in the top floor of the lime kiln building. The carrying cable on the loaded side was 1 3/8" in diameter and the cable on the light side was an inch in diameter. There were four tension stations between Solvay and Split Rock where heavy counter weights were suspended from the carrying cables to keep them taut and to prevent to much sag. The length of the main cable was 3 1/4 miles long. The road was started in May 1889 and carried stone to the lime kilns until August 1911 when Jamesville Quarry was started. However, the cable road was continued in service until December 1911, hauling crushed commercial stone from Split Rock and was then abandoned. The gross weight of a bucket with stone was about a ton and a half. They were often spaced 75 feet apart. The speed of the cable road for several years was about 250 feet per minute, but this was later increased to 300 feet per minute as demand for stone grew. There were times when the boiler water supply at Split Rock was low and boiler water was carried to Split Rock in the buckets for use in the boiler house. We looked for stage 1 for about 15 minutes and couldn't find it. We were told to bring a strong flashlight and at first we couldn't figure out why and it dawned on us there must have been a reason and maybe the tunnel held the clue to the second stage, so in we went. Sure enough there deep in the tunnel were the coords to the second stage spray painted on the walls. We took them and put them in the GPS and off we were through the woods to stage 2 which was an easy find once we got in the general area. It really was a great cache and good one for our 1600th find.
Caches five and six were located at sites where 2 of the old Solvay schools had once stood. Cache seven was located where Solvay's "castle" used to stand. The cache is located at what was formerly the site of Solvay Process,where the manufacture of soda ash reigned as the foundation of the local economy for many years. Before 1880, demand for alkali in the United States was largely filled by imports from Europe or from potash leached from wood ash. It wasn’t until 1876, at a meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in Philadelphia, that Missouri lead-mine managing engineer William Cogswell learned of the new Solvay ammonia–soda process discovered by Ernest Solvay of Belgium. Cogswell was impressed by the process and convinced the mine's owner, Rowland Hazard, to send him to Belgium in 1878 to learn more about the procedure from Solvay and his brother. Initially reluctant to commit to an agreement, the Solvays finally licensed Hazard and Cogswell to produce soda ash in the United States. Following the agreement, the two formed Solvay Process Company and built a plant in Solvay, NY, where there were ample underground salt deposits and nearby limestone quarries. By 1884, the plant was operating with a capacity of thirty tons per day, and within twelve years, capacity was expanded tenfold. Solvay Process closed its doors several years ago, striking an economic blow to the local economy, but despite that setback the village continues to thrive. This little park was build in recognition of Solvay Process, its many employees, and the asset to the community this company was.
Eight was a multi-cache near one of the better Italian restaurants in the area Twin Trees Two. This was one of a series of 24 caches dedicated to Pink Floyd. This entire Pink Floyd series was the cache owners personal tribute to Syd Barrett, who died on July 7th, 2006 at the age of sixty. I will finish this series with a memorial cache for Syd. Both stages were easy finds and then we were off to number nine was another cache on the New York State Fairgrounds near Chevrolet Court, ten was another cache located Fairgrounds close to the Agricultural Museum, cache 11 was located near Onondaga Lake near a road sign, and last number 12 was located on one of the walk over bridges to get from the upper parking lots of the Fairgrounds down into the Fair proper.
We drove back to Tim's house and had lunch and Mom did our cache logs and I showered and caught up on our blogs. We went to watch Luke's baseball game but he wasn't there as he was sick today and stayed home from school, so we came back and I am finishing up today's blog. We almost time for dinner so we will say adios until tomorrow and we love you all and miss you.


Picture List:1-Tweety & Coach (Mom & Dad) with our 1600th cache find at Split Rock/Solvay Process Tunnel, 2-Split Rock/Solvay Process Tunnel, 3-Tunnel date Circa 1908.