Caching Around Sioux City, IA Downtown Area 8/10/2010

This morning we started out and crossed over the bridge into Sioux City, IA on the other side of the river from the campgrounds. Our first cache was in a small downtown veteran's memorial park in a tree, next was a library cache which is where someone hides a hollowed out book in a public library, with permission of course, and then puts the reference number on the cache page so you can find it. Next 3 caches were in small parks on the outskirts of Sioux City two of them hanging in pine trees and the third under a fence post cap. Next 2 caches were located in cacher's front yards. Then it was another cache in a library this one at the Morningside Library. Next cache was behind a sign near a golf course.

Then we off to the Sergeant Floyd Monument for a virtual cache. The Sergeant Floyd Monument is a monument on the bank of the Missouri River at Floyd's Bluff in what is now Sioux City, Iowa. The monument honors Charles Floyd, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, who died on the upstream voyage in 1804 and was buried here.
The monument is significant also because it is the first designated National Historic Landmark of the United States.
Charles Floyd (1782 – 1804) was a United States explorer, a non-commissioned officer and quartermaster in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A native of Kentucky, he was a relative of William Clark . He was one of the first men to join the expedition.
While exploring the Louisiana Purchase with Lewis and Clark, Floyd took ill at the end of July 1804. On July 31, Floyd wrote in his diary, "I am very sick and has been for sometime but have recovered my health again." However, this apparent recovery was soon followed by a severe turn for the worse. William Clark described his colleague's death as one "with a great deal of composure", and said that before Floyd died, he told Clark: "I am going away. I want you to write me a letter." The expedition held a funeral and buried Floyd on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. They named it Floyd's Bluff in his honor.
Clark diagnosed Floyd's illness as bilious colic, though modern doctors and historians agree Floyd's death was more likely to have been caused by a ruptured appendix. The brief "recovery" Floyd described may have represented the temporary relief afforded by the bursting of the organ, which would have been followed by a fatal peritonitis. If that were the case, because there was no known cure for appendicitis at that time, he could not have been saved by even the best physicians of the day.
By 1857, erosion had caused much of Floyd's grave—even the original cedar post marker left by the crew of the expedition—to slide into the river and wash away. Concerned citizens rescued most of his skeleton, including his skull, and re-buried it 200 meters east of the original burial site. A forensic reconstruction of Sgt. Floyd's probable facial appearance based on a plaster cast of his skull is on display at the Sergeant Floyd Riverboat Museum in Sioux City.
After Floyd's expedition journal was published in 1894, new interest was taken in him. His gravemarker was stolen by thieves. Floyd's remains were reinterred once more on August 20, 1895 with a monument. A marble cornerstone three feet wide and seven feet long was placed in 1900. When the obelisk of white sandstone standing 100 feet (30 m) high was completed on May 30, 1901, Floyd's grave was moved for the fourth time to rest nearby, where it remains to this day. In 1960, the monument was recognized by the U.S. Department of Interior as the first National Historic Landmark. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on June 30, 1960. This excerpt from the Lewis and Clark map of 1814 shows the rivers of western Iowa. Floyd's Grave is noted at the left of the map.
The Floyd Monument is now within a 23-acre park that offers visitors a splendid view of the Missouri River valley. Floyd's final resting place is located on old U.S. Highway 75, in the southern part of Sioux City, Iowa.

As we had left the last cache before the monument we had noticed the sky getting darker and darker so as we walked to the monument it really was getting dark and we could see lightening in the distance and heard thunder. Well we looked around the monument and read the plaques and historical markers and by then the storm was on us. We ran to the car and headed for the coach. Well by the time we drove 10 minutes it was over with some very heavy rain and a little thunder and lightening. So we headed back out to finish our last 2 caches. Our next cache was another virtual in the Southern Hills Mall and had to do with the Lewis and Clark Expedition and a 296 foot mural exhibit with 38 different scenes depicting milestones from the Expedition. Then Mom wanted to stop at Michael's to see if there was anything new in the craft world. After we stopped there we headed back to our last cache which was in a small cemetery back in NE. We stopped at Hy Vee to pick up milk and headed back to the coach. Well that's about it for today from here so until tomorrow we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick