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Fair Winds, Matey! LbNA #40681

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Jun 7, 2008
Location:
City:Timken
County:Rush
State:Kansas
Boxes:1
Planted by:Team Timken
Found by: Team Timken
Last found:Jun 7, 2008
Status:O
Last edited:Jun 7, 2008
Fair winds, matey! Letterbox
(That’s "Goodbye and good luck, friend!" in pirate language)

The first finder gets a special treat for their treasure!


This letterbox begins with a little history of the town of Timken, KS in Rush County.
Land grants played an important part in the settlement and development of Kansas and Timken, Kansas was no exception. Jacob Timken’s family had emigrated from Manneheim, Germany in 1840 and he was one of those who came to Rush County and settled on a homestead two miles west of Bison. During a visit to Rush County, his brother, Henry Timken (business entrepreneur and inventor of the Timken ball bearing) invested in several sections of land. They established a longhorn cattle partnership and named it Timken Ranch. When the railroad, which is known as the Scott City branch of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, was being built from Great Bend west, its subsidiary, the Railroad Town Sit Co., laid out town sites along the line of the proposed railroad. Henry Timken sold the section of land on which the town of Timken is located to the Town Site Co. in return for stock in the company and with the understanding that the town and station would be called Timken.
Beginning in 1878 a Czech migration to the farm land near Timken began. Many of these people came directly from their family homes in Bohemia and Moravia; others came from established Czech communities in the other parts of the US. Some of the first Bohemians to settle in this area were the Holopirek, Pivonka, Bohol, Smrcka, and Pozalek families. The early twentieth century was a boom time for the Timken community.
So, we turn the pages in history to the mid 1900’s. By this time there had been established in Timken a variety of commercial enterprises, including the grain elevators and the Timken bank, an elementary school, and the Holy Trinity Church. John and Elizabeth Vesecky gave land bordering the Walnut Creek in the north part of Timken to the Coterie Club to be developed into a community park and recreation spot. A commemorative marker honoring the Veseckys was erected at the entrance to the park. This marker is where you will begin your treasure hunt.

(Adapted from an article “Chapter XXV-Timken” Compiled by Dorothy Jones, Elsa Luft, and Elma Jecha)

CLUES

1) From the John and Elizabeth Vesecky commemorative marker follow the path of playground equipment of something that is old toward something that is new.
2) Standing at the new equipment, locate the covered area that would be good for sitting and eating. Walk into it and through it until you are standing in the doorway of the north end.
3) With your eyes, find a yellow diamond shaped sign on a post (it says ‘Dead End’). Walk about 20 steps toward that sign. Walk 20 more steps toward the sign. Finally, walk 20 more steps toward that sign. That should be 60 steps in all.
4) You should be at a small cluster of trees. Look down about knee level for the treasure’s final resting place. Fair winds, matey!