2019 Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt

Exhorts federal employees who are idled by the government shutdown to make the most of their time and hunt for the treasure. “Park” indicates the medallion is in a park. “Stall” alludes to the hundreds of stalls that once made up the Twin City Packing Company on Long Lake that once vied with the South St. Paul stockyards in the late 1800s.

The weather this year had the CW flummoxed. In year’s past, the puck has often been encased in ice to help camouflage it. This year’s temperate weather convinced the CW to use something found all over Long Lake Regional Park instead — leaves. (“Fall” was a hat tip, too.) “Plethora” refers to the many leaves in which the medallion is buried.

In 1925, a tornado hit Long Lake, sucking up fish and frogs and spewing them out over the old downtown district of New Brighton.

Soo Line gave the Bulwer Junction Depot to New Brighton Historical Society, and in 1990, the building was moved to its current location in Long Lake Park, where it serves as History Center. Outside the building there is a restored caboose.

The Hipp family, among the oldest and longest residents of New Brighton, operated the Lakeside Berry Farm along Long Lake. “Sweet” refers to the berries. Extra credit to those who divined “stockyards” from “meet.”

The “opulent” Cattlemen’s Hotel was built in the 1890s to accommodate traffic to the new stockyards near Long Lake — replete with hitching post for the cowboys. The building, which later became known as the Exchange Hotel, housed a bank, a land company, railroad offices, stock commission offices, a telegraph office, newspaper presses, a barber shop, a saloon, and gaming rooms. It eventually became a canning factory and, finally, Beisswenger’s Hardware. In 1988, Beisswenger’s built a new store behind the former hotel, which was razed. Beisswenger’s moved to another building in the city in 2005.

“Long” refers to the Long Lake, and “carping” to the problem that the lake has had with carp. “Brighten” alludes to the nearby town of New Brighton. “Barking” alludes to the “Goldzilla” celebration the Long Lake Regional Park hosted last year that featured golden retrievers. “Gold” also refers to a time, in the 1920s, when a local farmer said he heard a rumor that gold bars were buried along the eastern shore of Long Lake by bootleggers, sparking a mini “gold rush” along Long Lake to find the treasure.

“Try” and “angle” reference the triangle that is formed by the cardboard cutouts of the gnomes Snap, Crackle & Pop from Kellogg’s Rice Krispies planted in the vicinity of the medallion. Located a distance apart in places hunters often look — in a stump, behind a sign and alongside a fallen tree — it’ll still take cooperation to triangulate the prize. The characters seemed appropriate given this year’s temporary relocation of Winter Carnival activities to Kellogg Mall Park from Rice Park because of construction. “Exchange” references the New Brighton Exchange Development, adjacent to the puck’s location in the park.

“… noises we’ve stirred” refers to the Rice Krispies cutouts we’ve planted around the medallion, and “viewing quite the sight” is for The View Apartments overlooking the hiding spot. “Don’t go near track, path is best tack” suggests hunters should stay close to the trails if they want to find the medallion. The puck is also hidden on the ground in two leaves, or “veined take.” Plus, “veined” is an anagram for “Devine,” the nearby street that points to the location of the medallion.

“… noises we’ve stirred” refers to the Rice Krispies cutouts we’ve planted around the medallion, and “viewing quite the sight” is for The View Apartments overlooking the hiding spot. “Don’t go near track, path is best tack” suggests hunters should stay close to the trails if they want to find the medallion. The puck is also hidden on the ground in two leaves, or “veined take.” Plus, “veined” is an anagram for “Devine,” the nearby street that points to the location of the medallion.

Whether parked at the swimming beach or the boat ramp at Long Lake, hunters should hop on the connecting trail and turn away from the housing to the east. The medallion is on the lake side of the trail, hidden with the help of a couple of leaves.

The medallion isn’t far from the path, but if hunters are still having trouble figuring out at which point on the trail to look, they’re referred back to the anagram in Clue 9, “veined,” which, when spoken, “sounds” like “plain.”

For hunters in New Brighton’s Long Lake Regional Park, it’s time to leave the Lakeside Berry Farm and the area around the Depot, because the puck is hidden down the shore.

By lining up with nearby Devine Drive and a large tree just to the east of the trail, hunters will be able to take a few steps east from the trail to the hiding spot.

Taped between two discs of cardboard from a Rice Krispies box and then swaddled in two leaves, the medallion waits for a quick — and lucky — hunter.