2025 Golden Beer Can Hunt

Our can is painted gold, and it's certainly cold sitting outside, byt St. Paul Brewing wasn't around in the days of old. Back then the Yoerg Brewery produce the number one beer, The brewery was located just down the street from Harriet Island, Ethel (as in ethyl alcohol) Street to be exact. Harriet Island Drive runs through the east end of the park, sharing a name with the park. Across the river you will find Elm Street. It is just two non-consecutive blocks along (a split tree) and points right to where the treasure is, sitting on the grass.

The park contains some wild areas where the trees and grass are not manicured. Nor are all the edges of the park made up of streets. But there are plenty of benches and picnic tables. If you are in the shadow of the morning sun, you would be in the West, alluding to the west side of the park as well as the fact that it is considered to be on "the west side" of the city. The can was hidden inside of a mitten.

Looking up you would see Prospect Park (a chance at success). You could also take the steps down to the river, where you would be in distress if you actually went on the ice. From the park you can see the Farwell, Ozmun & Kirk building, a company that went on to become OK Hardware. There are many paths in the park, one which goes high, up on the levee and another that crosses below, through the tunnel in the levee. The paths all loop around so you might find yourself where you started, but it also alludes to the fact that most seasoned hunters have done one hunt or another at Harriet Island before.

Harriet Island was at one time called Wakan Island also Devil's Island. It was labeled Harriet Island on a map as early as 1851, but there seems to be no official record of who named it that/ My own theory is that it was John Irvine who was the first to claim the land that included Harriet Island, and Harriet Bishop lived in his house when she first came to Minnesota in 1847. On several of the old maps Harriet Island is labeled as "Lot 6", and on the earliet maps it is shown as having been two separate islands with a narrow channel dividing them. The eastern half was an island named Barns. Today, Harriet Island does indded have parking lots and is a park most everyone knows about.

The three internal angles of a triangle always add up to 180 degrees and there is a triangle made by walking paths very near the treasure. It is also near the turn around by the parking lots which looks very much like a 0 from above. Harriet Bishop founded The Home for the Friendless. The "good" latitude was the horizontal area of St. Paul between Goodhue St. and Goodrich Ave, which defines the search area of the park.

Old McDonald in this case was Michael McDonald. This clue contains the titles of various songs by him, Christopher Cross, and Kenny Loggins, some of the key figures in "Yacht Rock". Yachts should definitely lead you to Harriet Island and our treasure was disguised to look a bit like a rock.

Dr. Justus Ohage who figures prominently in the history of the park and has a street there named for him donated the land for the park to create a place for public health. He was known for specializing in gall bladder surgeries. River pollution eventually drove people away from the park which led him to feel very disappointed towards the end of his life. Today, there are no sporting facilities on the island so no one plays ball. Between just you and me, that is to say "Just-us". To seek out the cure, or The Cure means looking for the lead singer Robert Smith. The park is found between the Robert St. and Smith Ave. bridges.

The two men who held office most high are George Washington and Millard Fillmore. Part of Water St. is actually still called Fillmore and if you draw a line between that and Washington Ave., the treasure is found very close by. The treasure is found between Water St. and the river, but not real close to either. It was frozen in ice though. Don't slip is telling you to stay away from the slips in the marina if you were to head toward (Tom) Kelley's Landing from the parking lot. It's not that far away 

The island park in this case is Harriet Island and you'll want to go to the part that a sign labels as the "West Park Grounds". Once in the parking lot, park near the Kelley's Landing picnic shelter. Two walking paths form a large bow shape and in the midst of that is a dry pond. Find a small double stump, locate the "1" on the horizon, and take 55 steps toward that to find the treasure.