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Three Sisters at the Indian Grain Pits LbNA #11687 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Oct 17, 2004
Location:
City:Canastota
County:Madison
State:New York
Boxes:1
Found by: T-N-T
Last found:Apr 26, 2010
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Oct 17, 2004
******The letterbox has been put back into service 4/8/05*********


This LB is located in an annex to the same county park as our 'Champlain Battle at Nicholls Pond' LB. It also yields a hand-carved stamp after a short walk you're bound to enjoy!

Follow the directions for the 'Champlain Battle' LB, taking NY Rte. 13 S. thru Canastota and S. still at the stop light for 4.1 miles to
Alene Corners Rd. (turn Rt. here). Then take your first Left at Nicholls Pond Rd. keeping an eye on the left side for a blue & yellow NY State historical marker in a small picnic grove. Turn in and park in the gravel lot, and read the brief inscription on the marker.

First a little background: The pre-colonial eastern woodland tribes, the local Oneidas among them, were clever agriculturalists who supplemented their diet of hunted meat & fish with Squash, Beans, and Maize Corn. They would plant these together in small plots with the squash (and pumpkins) covering the low ground, the corn stalks then growing above, and the bean vines intertwining up the corn! This arrangement took good care of itself and provided a reliable harvest in the fall that would sustain the tribe through the winter, and came to be called "The 3 Sisters of the Earth." The bounty of the corn and beans would be dried and stored in the dug pits you can see at your feet here, which may have been dug before Columbus reached America, as archaeologists have determined that this village site had been inhabited since the mid-1400's. It's also significant to note that the Oneidas had such bounty in the late 1700's that they were able to send a substantial supply to General Washington and his troops at Valley Forge in that dark winter of our nation's birth, enabling them to hold on and fight again the next spring.

Now the clues: Find the head of the path that lead thirsty Oneidas to a drink. Standing at the top, take 28 steps down toward the source of their relief to where the path levels off for a few paces. At the end of the dirt, you'll come again to a wooden landing that will lead you downward to the right, to the Oneidas' goal. But don't hurry on just yet! Before you turn down yourself to see the spring, you'll want to look beneath your feet, to where an initial-carved beech tree meets the landing boards. With box in hand you can procede to the lowest landing, a convenient place to stamp-in. As always please carefully replace the box for others to enjoy. Be sure to make this stop a two-fer by going on to the main Park just down the road on the Rt. for the aforementioned 'Champlain Battle' LB. (If the box is missing or needs supplies, please notify us by e-mail at claymorz@dreamscape.com .)