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Where Have All the Flowers Gone: Dark-Eyed Lady LbNA #21465

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Mar 25, 2006
Location:
City:Downing
County:Schuyler
State:Missouri
Boxes:1
Planted by:Fox-fyr
Found by: LadyEilonwy
Last found:Sep 22, 2007
Status:aFFF
Last edited:Mar 25, 2006
UPDATE: 2015: One boxer reported that there may be a large brush pile on top of the letterbox.
UPDATE: 2009: Clue has been updated. Box is still is same location.
UPDATE 5/28/07: The old foundation mentioned in the clue is missing, but it is still possible to find the box without it. The foundation was located about halfway between the edge of the woods and a large lone tree at the end of the driveway. As soon as I can get back into the area I will update the clue.
BACKGROUND:
This LB is located about 10 miles south of the Missouri-Iowa border and east of U.S. Hwy 63 between Lancaster and Downing, MO.

Northern Missouri was once primarily prairie where the grass grew so tall that it would have been difficult at times to see someone on horseback as they rode through the area. The roots of of the prairie plants reached deep into the soil and made farming difficult until the invention of the modern plow provided farmers with blades sharp enough to cut through the tough prairie sod.

Northern Missouri was settled primarily after the U.S. Congress passed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which permitted Missouri to enter the Union as a slaveholding state (and Maine as a free state). Early settlers in this area were primarily white, non-slaveholding families who often had connections with and beliefs similar to those who lived in the northern “Yankee” states.

This LB is a tribute to the disappearance of much of the prairie and of the local history, both of which are gradually being restored in some areas (e.g., do a Google search on Fabius Cemetery). The LB name comes in part from the popular folk song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” whose last verse makes a reference to graveyards, and in part from the Dark-Eyed Lady featured on the hand-carved stamp.

For more information on letterboxing in north and central Missouri, including periodic Letterbox Gatherings, use the "Contact the Placer" link to send me an e-mail. Our next Gathering is scheduled for May 6, 2006 near Columbia, MO.

NOW ONTO THE CLUE:
From Downing, MO, head west on State Route 136 toward Lancaster. After a few miles near a bend in the road, pass “Sanchez” road on the left, then quickly “Hilltop” road on the right, near another bend. Look for a big red barn and a small pond on the left. Just after this landmark and just before a cell phone tower on the right, look on the left for an unnamed gravel road with a small wooden sign that reads “Fabius Cemetery” with a black arrow pointing south. Head south down this gravel road one-half mile until it dead ends in a small, little-known cemetery with a lot of history.

From end of driveway (as you face west), head left to old foundation.
Head (A) __ __ __ degrees from (B) ___ ___ corner (C) ___ ___ paces to pink granite boulder at base of a medium dark-barked tree between two smaller gray barked trees at the edge of the woods. A pace = two steps.

Stand on east side of boulder. Head (D)__ __ __ degrees (E) ___ ___ paces to a 20' tall blackened snag.

Stand on south side of snag. Head 9 paces(F) ___ ___ ___ degrees under a leaning tree to where two tall giants overlook a fallen comrade about 10-15 feet from fenceline near a small drainage.. LB in base guarded by rock.

Please be sure to put box snugly back in base and replace rock to prevent weather, animal mischief or human interference from disturbing the Dark-Eyed Lady's resting place. Then please send me an e-mail using the contact the placer link to let me know of the box's status.
--Fox-fyr, Columbia, MO

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TO FILL IN THE BLANKS ABOVE:
A) Find William Dunn’s stone in the center of the cemetery.
On the north side of the stone, take the last digit of the year SAMUEL Dunn was born. Find the date that Samuel died. Write these three numbers in Blank A.

B) Continue north to find the gravestone of the husband of M.C. Rogers. In Blank B, write down the last two letters of his nautical-sounding first name.

E & C)Continue northeast to GEERY. Find Mother Dora B. Helen. In Blank E write down the first and last letter of the year she was born. Add together the middle two numbers of the same year and write the sum in Blank C.

D) Next to GEERY lies a stone marked HULEN. Take the 1st, 3rd and 4th digitss of the year William C. Hulen died. Write these numbers in Blank D.

F) Head NW to Elizabeth HALE. Write down the date she born (just the day--not the month or year) in the first two spaces of Blank F. Move two stones to the right and one stone east. Find Bofman, son of GM Bragg. Take the last digit of the year he was born and write it in the third space of Blank F.