2008 Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt

It's a first clue. Not much more. Not much less.

Point Douglas Road??? Doesn't even come close to Indian Mounds, let alone the part of the park the medallion was in. Since this was something of a re-do of the Capture the Flag hunt in 2005, where the flag was hidden near the Matron's Grove, those of us who participated in that hunt had some knowledge of the grove. That doesn't mean that the guys and wise gal makes for a good reference to the grove though. We've never seen a rash associated with a burn, however rashes often come with the sensation of burning. Given the fact that most hunters have had the impression that Indian Mounds is verboten, even if not explicitly stated as such, we believe that doing something quite rash makes much more sense as a reference to searching at Indian Mounds rather than a nearby street.

We grant points on this explanation for the method of concealment used for this year's puck. We fail to make the link between being on one's toes, and searching hilly territory. Given the presumed off-limits nature of the park, this makes more sense as an indicator that Indian Mounds is considered a regional park, in concert with Battle Creek, rather than a local park (hence the county reference), and that hunters should expect a surprise when the park is actually revealed.

We actually think the Wells Fargo reference is a pretty darn good landmarking reference, and that the Obbs reference is a lot more obscure. However, while WFP is visible from the park, it's visible from nearly any other park within a couple of miles from downtown. Being clue four, this clue is right on the border of where we should start seeing landmarks that are visible from the medallion site, rather than from the general area. Getting up for the mission may have been a better reference for the air national guard hangar at the Downtown Saint Paul Airport

For those of us who paid attention to Mr. Soucheray's "heinous act", this clue could actually have made a lot of sense. In some ways, making the leaps from the school, to the play, to the Native Americans, to the park is taking way too many steps. If one looks at it from the perspective of the "L'étoile du Nord" clue, the school is about two miles up the road from the park and the location of the puck within the park, roughly the same distance in the previous clue. We'd say that despite being afraid of Clueless Joe's pen, they did use the clue again, and while, like the original clue, it is completely useless to the task at hand (if you neglect the context of the clue's history), they get bonus points for that. The only thing preventing this clue from garnering five stars is the triple leap in the official explanation.

At clue six, since little has been effectively revealed by the clues this far, the Scottish references make this a great red herring for Highland Park. Kudos to the writers for that one. However, the kudos are hereby revoked because it takes so many hops to get from the kilt, to the particular church and college (both of which are south and west of downtown, and again more indicative of Highland Park), to their founder, and back to the first excavations at the mounds. The kilt reference would have been better, had it been to the Scottish Rite Mason temple across the river from Indian Mounds. Now, hope evoking the Hopewell Indians, that's a good reference, which could have been enhanced by including the word well somewhere within the text of the clue.

Not bad references overall, but by the 7th clue, we should know the park and start to restrict down where specifically in the park the medallion is hidden. From the open space near the medallion, the Warner Road bridge over the railroad yard should be at least partially visible providing something of a landmark, but there's still a lot of park space where that bridge could be seen from.

Not only are there deer in Indian Mounds, but there are deer in Battle Creek and there are deer in Highland Park. In fact, there are probably deer in most of the larger parks in Saint Paul. Big deal. I understand the Mason Memorial in the park, but again, it's not anywhere near where the medallion was found. Once again, they refer to Point Douglas Road. Why? It's not near enough to the medallion spot at this point. What's really interesting about this though, is that if you link up a line between Obbs and the Matron's Grove, and run a line from there to the Scottish Rite temple on Plato, the medallion was found roughly along that line. What could have been a really interesting clue explanation, was drowned out in excess cruft.

A great reference to a nearby street. But given its lack of proximity to the hiding spot, it's too late in the game. This could have been a single-stanza clue, with just the last verse and had the same effect. Since it wasn't, if you look at the hills are referring to the mounds themselves, it sets up some nice boundaries between the street and the mounds as far ends for where you should dig, given the puck's resting place, roughly halfway between the two. What had the potential to be a great clue was marred by its final explanation.

So we officially get Mounds Park, together with three street references. The Burns and Etna references are really useless at this point, particularly Etna, since it runs into the far eastern end of the park. Thorn Street is actually the best reference here, as it puts you close to the hiding spot.

Didn't they say they were going to cover their tracks this year? Oh well, pretty good clue, without a lot of excess explanation, though about half of it should probably been saved for tomorrow.

Clue number 12. Although, we take issue with using movable (and removable) objects as references for anything with the medallion