2014 Portland Rose Festival Medallion Hunt

E.B. and Dawn wrote the clues, hid the medallions and managed the hunt from 1989 to 2005.

Narrows the field a bit. Key words in the first two lines are zone and trade. There are 36 counties in Oregon, adding nine makes 45. "Foreign trade zone 45" is comprised of Washington, Clackamas and Multnomah counties.

I-5, I-205, I-405 add up to 615 and they surround the search area.

Hint about popular underwear brand Fruit of the Loom. Fruit in Portland history goes back to Henderson Luelling and his son Alfred, who carried trees, shrubs, and grafting sprouts of fruit over the plains in their covered wagons in 1847. Their fruit business became very successful quickly. Their original Donation Land Claims are located south of the treasure.

Early in Portland's history there was much competition between Portland and Milwaukie to become the preeminent location for shipping and commerce. Lot Whitcomb was the founder and main promoter of Milwaukie, and the medallion is hidden north of it.

Uncas was the titular character in "The Last of the Mohicans," written by James Fenimore Cooper. There are two hints in his name to help identify our pioneer James B. Stephens. Both are named James and Stephens was a cooper – barrel maker. The medallion was hidden on him Donation Land Claim, the boundaries of which were Stark and Division and from 20th to the river.

John Lodge was a singer/songwriter with the Moody Blues. One of their hits was "Ride My Seesaw." "Mon Ami" is directing you to translate seesaw into French: bascule. An informational display near the hiding spot speaks of the Morrison Bridge as a bascule bridge, which refers to the way the bridge opens. Portland's two other bascule bridges are the Broadway and Burnside bridges.

There are 118 elements in the periodic table. The 7th is nitrogen, with a symbol of N. The treasure is directly north (N) of Toe Island (a digit), a small island next to Ross Island in the Willamette River.

Another informational display along the East Side Esplanade explains the construction method used to build the walkway. Bundles of willow (salix) and dogwood were used. The last half of the clue refers to nearby Ladd's Addition, which is laid out in a geometric pattern, with streets at 45 degree angles. Most of the streets are named after "many more kinds" of trees.

There is one key word in each line: memory, Broadway, Hollywood and miles. Memory is a popular song from the Broadway musical "Cats" and if you combine Hollywood and miles you get actress Vera Miles. All this directs you to Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade. After writing the clue I realized there is an additional reference to cats: Muse=mews.

The medallion was hidden on a section of the Eastbank Esplanade that lies between the Willamette River (flows slowly) and Water Avenue (traffic flows faster.)

This refers to Echo Gate, a metal sculpture under Morrison Bridge, near the treasure.

The Hawthorne Bridge was named after Dr. James Hawthorne and the Morrison Bridge was names after John Morrison. The medallion was halfway between on the Esplanade. There is a pole about 30 feet south of the treasure that marks the location of Taylor Street. If you sit on the concrete step, your feet are inches from the treasure, which was in the hole between the rocks and concrete.