IDENTIFICATION

GCW1D9	Lethbridge Coalminers Puzzle Cache	N 49° 39.549 W 112° 50.692
	Difficulty 4; Terrain 2; size - regular. Creator: Simpson Seekers. Date First Hidden: May 14/06 Date Last Found: Sept 20/08.	West Lethbridge
Description	see below
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DESCRIPTION

GCW1D9

Lethbridge Coalminers Puzzle Cache

Description

Lethbridge Coalminers Puzzle Cache Nicholas Sheran opened the first Coal mine in the Lethbridge Region in October of 1874 and supplied coal to the North-West Mounted police during their first winter in Fort Macleod. By November of 1875 coal from Sheran’s mine was sold as far away as Fort Benton, Montana. Nicholas Sheran’s mine was a small and often dangerous one-man operation. By 1881, he quarried 15 to 20 feet into the valley wall with no timber supports to protect him. Coal was quarried by pick and shovel and hauled out in wood crates on skids. It wasn’t long before others arrived in the area to take advantage of the “black gold” in the Oldman River valley... There are five coal mines in a row each with a different identifying name. There are five coal miners each working in one of the mines. They each have a different nationality and use different tools. They each have a favorite drink when working and they all are of different ages. (1) The Englishman works in the Galt Mine. (2) The Spaniard is 45 years old. (3) Coffee is the favorite drink in the Shaughnessy mine. (4) The Russian drinks tea in his mine. (5) The Shaughnessy mine is immediately to the right of the Commerce mine. (6) The man with the lantern is 40 years old. (7) The man with the shovel works in the Royal View mine. (8) Milk is the favorite drink in the Galt mine. (9) The American works in the first mine on the left. (10) The man with the pick works in the mine next to the mine with the 25 year old working in it. (11) The man with the shovel works in the mine that is next to the mine where the 50 year old is. (12) The man with the head lamp drinks orange juice in his mine. (13) The Japanese man uses dynamite in his mine. (14) The American man works in the mine next to the Coalhurst mine. Use the clues above to fill out the table below and determine: Who is 70 years old and still working his mine? Who drinks water in his mine? This table will help. ------------Mine #1 Mine#2 Mine#3 Mine#4 Mine#5 Name Nationality Tool Drink Age THE COORDINATES ABOVE ARE NOT CORRECT. To get the correct coordinates for this cache you need to complete the following: North 49 A.B West 112 C.D A = (The age of the Russian man + the age of the japanese man)- (the age of the englishman when he is 41 years older) B = (Total the ages of all men )(2) + 89 C = (The age of the man with the pick + the age of the man that likes to drink milk) - the age of the man that uses the lantern D = (the age of the Russian man 50 years from now)(8) - (the age of the man that works in the Royal View mine)(5)then take the total you found and add 17 You are looking for a tupperware container filled with goodies. There is a first to find prize. Good luck!

PLANNING

This was the second of four caches on my list for today : GC15FCT - West End, GCW1D9 - "Lethbridge Coalminers Puzzle Cache", GC153Y1 - "Adventure in Paradise", and GC1ACYR - "NS West #6". This was also the first "Puzzle" cache that I have tried.

OUTCOME

I really liked the puzzle as it incorporated 5 of the early Lethbridge coal mines. It took me about 2 hours to solve the puzzle and come up with the coordinates that I have posted at the top of this page. I assumed that the actual cache would be an easy find and that the real effort would be in the puzzle. Not a good assumption. It was a good hike down into the coulee and then the actual hide was very clever. At one point I reviewed my notes to make sure I hadn't made an error when determining the coordinates. Perseverence paid off, especially when I began to look for alternative hiding spots to the obvious bushes. somewhere down there there it is close-up contents cache guard (or robber?) the view from the cache It was 45 minutes from find #1 to find #2. A very good morning.