2004 Me2's Ghost of the Treasure Hunt Present

HERE IS THE Translucent "lilliputian ocular shape" _

--THE GHOST!

JOE

Here is the other side of it-this pic shows its depth better

I was at Como Zoo the day before the hunt was to begin and came across a kids "How Insects See" viewing tube with 3 quarter size clear 'bug eyes' FROM THE NEW ZOO STORE- I used the OCELLI eye = then I had it engraved at Har Mar Mall-

It is actually a bit bigger than a quarter-but not much.

me2---are you going to go IAN's little bash...its his 500th HIDE for geocaching?

 

 

 

Clue #1

As your confidence protects all you think you know
A suffering scream journeys across the plateau

You know Me2, her love for History
Could this be a true ghost mystery?
Respect the dead in this story
Or this may get a little gory

Past events outside your memory
Or maybe beyond your observation
Haunt our Saint Paul Parks
Causing the Cooler Crew a ghostly confrontation  



 

This was just packed!
and every word just plain worked!

Confidence? You may think you know me and what I may do -will Me2 put it in a big park?-Highland hasnt been used in a long time-Cherokee is soooo close to her house! Is it hidden in the same old places? NOPE-try a new park. Get out there and look at what the Cooler hasnt covered well. The THG was not much help due to the changes in this park. It didn't show a playground -instead horseshoes.

If you recalled any park that had a spooky background you may have a jump on other hunters. Suffering Scream was great for the spirits AND the trains that came through here basically every 1/2 hour -WOW were they loud and screeeechy!

 -Plateau WAS the change in ground - from the playground to the field area -
and YES, It turns out these are mysteries that are not all solved yet due to uncomplete records and my ongoing research at RCHS.

You may know about this park or you may not-but your gonna find out!

IN A ST PAUL PARK! not Ramsey County

THX, it was Orchard park

I will not be able to attend tonight! I am soooo sad :(

I need to be prepared for this trip - I have some personal family troubles with my mom going on right now AND I just listened to my answering machine -a message to tell me a close family relative is popping into town (fro a 5 hour drive up north) -uninvited! I am supposed to go to my sisters for dinner with them tonight!!!!!!

I was already having troubles getting away to meet up with you guys tonight!

UUUHHHHHHHHH

"JUST SAY NO"!  thats all I can do to everything-

I gave the Cooler MY ALL the past 12 days so I am gonna clean and pack and shop for the trip. and probly not show tonight for this dinner.

 

 

 

Clue #2

Forces are at play here
So, in the spirit of this game
Go the distance to gain your fame

A field of dreams
May be an illusion
Fate and tragedy
Have caused confusion

A FIELD OF DREAMSthe movie based on BASEBALL.  "Go the distance" was a main line in the movie as well as go out into the field to find the treasure. I used the earliest REAL clue to be the closest to the hiding spot.

Something I didn't expect anyone to get was "fame" I used this as a
tri-meaning idea for the 'not so famous baseball players' as well as if you went out in the field you would be close to the 'treasure' AND Cemeteries use 'Apple Blossoms' as a term for FAME-Apple Orchard(taking 2 steps).


As for illusionor not? Ray (Kevin Costner) in the movie didn't know if what he was seeing was reality or if he was crazy. Fate and tragedywas the fate of those poor baseball players whos tragedy was death before achieving fame.

If you got Baseball -that shoulda been great enough! :)

TMK was the first one to tell me Baseball -actually Aleshia figured out the clue nicely...

 

 

 

 

Clue #3

Restless youthful anomaly
Swing and slide are skeleton key
Urban Legend says you can hear their laughter
Echo after midnight as if in the hereafter

Playground

This was a fun clue for me - 'restless youth' fit for 'tots' as well as the Urban Legend. The 'laughter' are the 2 faces of the kids on the play equipment on the tot-lot which seperated this playground from any other I have seen it the city.  There is one real tot-swing. The skeleton key you ask? -this fit for the theme as well as if you were standing out in the field you could SEE the playground.

The Urban Legend is:
Dead Children PLAYGROUND

The legend is, if you go to Dead Childrens Playground around midnight, you will hear childrens laughter.

http://www.ulrc.com.au/html/grimoire.asp?RefNum=SSRT0047&Page=1&View=Legend&City=Huntsville&State=Alabama

LL- posted Dead Children PLAYGROUND urban legend

THX- it is the closest park to Como without being IN COMO! ;)

It is located off Front-between Calvary Cemetery and Como Lake -

Go to Front -turn North onto Victoria -go roughly 2-3 blocks and its right there.

Wow, I didn't actually think I was right on that one :)

 

 

 

 

CLUE #4

BEWARE!

Eagerly you decipher this deceiving clue to 
Exhume a lilliputian ocular shape that enchants you                            
It's crypted, lurking in a deadly space                                                
And just waiting, possessed, for you to trace                        

        Mwahahaha, Rest In Peace

 
1st off -I was trying something new - With this ghostly theme I had wanted this clue to be invisible or transparent. You would have to highlight it to see it. -didn't work well. Main words in this clue are: decipher,deceiving, exhume, crypted, lurking, trace    

all these words tell you to look deeply into this clue-If you figure these 2 things out you will be way ahead of the group.First letters in the rows are EEIA -backwards is AIEE = 1955 for the year the last of the remains from the Orchard Street Cemetery were moved to Elmhurst, Oakland, Union or Calvary and tranfered into an actual park.  A is the 1st letter in the alphabet, I is the 9th letter, E is the 5th letter. -there are ways to find out a year of a park-ie: library, parks and recs, history center.

Now, look at the 3rd word in every line ...the first letter of those words =
D L L W - if you take the alphabet and reverse the letters
ABC
ZYX

you get "W O O D" -the translucent circular eye piece was hidden in wood.

Rest In Peace -this park was a cemetery and there was a cemetery near by (Calvary) --  so if you din't find anything IN this clue than maybe you would think of a park near a cemetery.

This clue also told you WHAT you were searching for: lilliputian ocular shape  = something that is small and round/circular

Also:
TMK- July 19- I think that this clue is getting at what the treasure is in.  What is it that enchants us?  the treasure.  It's small and ocular in shape, or close to it. 

 

 

 

 

wow-now this one I thought everyone would figure out - BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TRACKS-- LL and Treasure Chest!!!!!!!! ;p

 

Clue #5


Calling all Angels:
                  The gateway to Heaven is open!


 All aboard for this ghostly ride
Do not travel to the wrong side
 
For not this pioneer man, but his legacy
Built an empire, such aristocracy
He had a great vision upon the hill
A phantom whistle could give a chill    



"Calling All Angels" by the group TRAIN

Heaven and Angels just plain worked here - GATEWAY DR runs right between Como Lake and this park- ALSO, I blended the wording from pioneer days of St Paul being "THE GATEWAY TO THE GREAT NORTHWEST"! 

don't travel to the wrong side of the TRACKS

Put those 2 lines together and you could get: Take the train near GATEWAY but be on the RIGHT SIDE OF THE TRACKS.

James J. Hill eventually owned the Greath Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads:






The park is located between the two railroads so don't travel outside the boundaries of the two railroads -take a peek at a map.

not this pioneer man, but his legacy --don't focus on JAMES J HILL HERE-but his accomplishments in St Paul= RAILROADS and TRAINS

also there is a Train on the playground.

Violent J---on July 21st Do not travel to the wrong side"





thing, is talkin about the river...... although... be it, that if it is referenceing Hill.... maybe its saying that we shouldnt travel the wrong side of the tracks??

:b You know, she looked so damn excited about that area I thought for sure it was back there :) I wish I woulda figured that out, then I never would have lost my keys back there!

 

 

 

 

Clue #6

Spirits make such a racket rattling chains
They like to play games with their remains
Freighting around their lovely bones
Persevering through the unknown
Forgiveness they yearn for
But Venus they desire more

RACKET and GAME and VENUS (Williams) = Tennis

I hate tennis and baseball clues so it was soooo hard for me to give you this clue but there wasnt anyway around it.

some of you looked right at "Freighting" and thought railroading again but in fact I gave you the address to the park here. Look at the First word in the middle of the clue...

Freighting = eight = 8




Persevering = seven = 7

Forgiveness = five = 5

the letters are in proper order in the word to give you a hidden word which happens to be the number :)

875 Orchard

And I bout' pissed myself when I found the roll of paper towels on "The Wrong Side of The Tracks" :)

 

 

 

 

Clue #7

photo


Ceasing to exist
Will reward you in this game
Telepathy won't help you persist
Is this just skullduggery?

Is there a skullduggery? a game/trick in this clue? Ceasing to exist = death (some of you got dead end and I hoped you may think that -but there really were only 2 parks that I know of with dead ends=Mounds and Orchard).So even if you didn't get the game in here you may get the dead end idea. 

Again I wanted to 'change up' this hunt a bit -raise the bar to new ideas:



hense the photo to help along instead of writing it in the clue.

The photo showed the A and O in greek letters for Alpha and Omega-the beginning and the end. You were to find your answer in the beginning of the clue and the end-somehow...

Ce-st

Wi-me

te-st

Is-ry

now  instead of the typical "book end" clue- what I did was take every other line- Look at the first 2 letters in the first and 3rd row ---and the last 2 letters in the 2nd and 4th row --- CE - ME - TE -RY

there are not very many parks near a cemetery (let alone was a cemetery at any time) - this widdled down your parks to probly 6 -then with the other clues you probly shoulda been thinking Orchard was looking good.
 

 

 

 

 

Clue #8





A howler's brew sits full for you
To reap a ghoulish harvest,
But please construe
And share with Me2 - the great hunt babe!

 

OK OK! I was worried at this point that someone would find it and you really want everyone to be happy that a hunt at least goes to 9-11 -soooo, I made this one more difficult. This is the clue I was gonna try "BLOODY MARY quite contrary how does your ghoulish garden grow" ---to get you to a park with a garden near by- I changed this clue to be a bit more vague...

 

Construe told you there was an anagram in here somewhere:

MEDKIDS-KUDOS! he figured out the beginning of the clue

 =A howler's brew = wheelbarrows

but no one figured out (at the end of the clue)
 

GREAT HUNT BABE =
A GREEN BATHTUB

harvest was to get you to a garden as well- this wonderful garden in the yard next to the park had wheelbarrows FULL OF FLOWERS in it AND A green bathtub full of FLOWERS!!!!

 

 

 

 

Clue #9





This is how the ghastly story goes:





Embalmed so not to decompose
Then under rushes the pine box lay
A young boy found him, no decay
A grisly yield from this watery grave
Was it MURDER? became all the rave
Just "bleaching his bones" was finally proclaimed





So let dem bones alone and don't disturb them
A passage will show you the true way
Remember, if an eerie fog or wind blows
That crime didn't pay from the first bank that day
And watch out for an outlaw to transpose



Pitts, Charlie  (Charley, Charles)                             

  Charlie Pitts was involved in the famous James-Younger Gang Northfield raid in 1876. He was killed 2 weeks after the raid. His bones were packed on ice and sent to St Paul to the state capitol for public viewing. A doctor Murphy ended up with the bones. He embalmed him and allowed people to view him at a different location - eventually disecting him. He actually kept him for 2 years before placing his bones in a pine box and submerging his remains under the rushes and waterlilies at Como Lake.

Turns out: A boy named August saw the box in December of 1878-he had to cut a hole in the lake to get water for local cow(?) (guess the rocks to hold the box under had shifted and the box slightly floated to the open ice). 

This boy ran to town to get the coroner! The whole town was in uproar! horrified because there was a gun shot hole in one of the bones-so everyone thought it was maybe MURDER. It made the Pioneer Press newpaper for a few days! No suspects! police were on alert.

Dr Murphy was out of town when he recieved the information and he headed back to St paul to reclaim his bones. Dr Murphy got back and explained who the bones were and that he was only "bleaching the bone" so he could keep him as a skeleton in his doctors office.

The bones were given back to Dr Murphy (who is related to



Dr. Henry Hoyt of St. Paul)  who then placed them in Dr Hoyts feild to dry---located at Snelling and Larpenteur Avenues.

eventually though Charlie Pitts skeleton showed up at a museum "Diamond Jims" on highway 13 -then located later in a basement at Murphy's Landing. 

I am actually still researching to find where these bones are now.

Sooooo, Charlie never had a proper burial.... the "watery grave" is COMO LAKE- but don't disturb that 'sacred' area BUT follow a passageway from the lake to the right park- --- 

"the erie fog represented water-a park near a body of water-fog comes off rivers or lakes or bodies of water in this case- becareful...is it just fog from the local lake? or is it Charlie wanting to be buried? ;)

take Victoria from Lake Como through that cool pathway right to Orchard.




1 block walk.  ---LL and Treasure Chest know it best ;)

Now, This was ground zero clue for me! This was one of the 2 basis' for this hunt- CEMETERY was once there and the Charlie Pitts bones. After I posted this clue -I didn't care when it was found (but I didn't want it to go 12 still)

If you got COMO LAKE and went to the park closest to there -you would be in ORCHARD! especially if you had already been out there to see the park-

DaMacMan was the first one to find Charlie! :)
and since he was new to the forum--he quickly learned how to DELETE his post!!!!!!hahahaha

I can't go into the whole accounts of that night right now- but that was the HEIGHT of the hunt!

Both TMK and Kitch actually went to Barnes and Noble to research! WOW! Kitch bought MURDER IN MINNESOTA - the story of Charlie Pitts was in the book BUT not the part about COMO LAKE :) and it was spelt differently in the book (CHARLEY) than on the 2 websites that carried the COMO LAKE info!!! (CHARLIE)

so if he didnt type the name in the same as the website -he wouldnt find it.

HAHAHAHA- this was the funniest of the whole hunt!!! I am still laughing

 

Turns out: A boy named August saw the box in December of 1878-he had to cut a hole in the lake to get water for local cow(?) (guess the rocks to hold the box under had shifted and the box slightly floated to the open ice).

this is one of the sites that we found that night....
http://www.genealogy4all.org/JJames.html

for a long time I was thinking Dr. Hoyt would have had the bones...but that wouldn't make sense in this story as I would have found it hard to believe the sheriff would have just handed over the bones.

 

 

 

OK-If you wernt in the correct park by NOW! here were the streets:

Clue #10


Search a sacred vicinity
To locate this trinity
Discover Colonel Nest with a grin
Be sure to stop, smell the Jasmine
Crowned Victor or Victress?
You then may win!

 

Sacred vicinity was this old cemetery/park

You were looking for 3 things here-TRINITY

Crowned Victor or Victress = Crown Victoria = Victoria St. (Linwood or Orchard)

If you really DISCOVERED this line-you would grin because you knew you were in Orchard NOT Linwood :)

Discover Colonel Nest with a grin =  Colonel Nest = Col.Nest = Colne St.

 

Jasmine= Jessamine

Now actually I gave you these 3 on purpose-if you line up Colne and Victoria and then walk the Jessamine -then you should come across the deadwood along the fenceline -STOP AND SMELL the Jessamine - this was the street you truly wanted.

:)

Man, it would take me a month to construct clues for a hunt, especially ones that'd end in a 12th clue with people still going "huh?" :)

Whatever happened to the good old days when the clues would point ya to a park, then start pinpointing the location? No offense of course me2, your hunt was great, and at the last couple clues I can see where it was going, just too plain stupified to find it there.

KC0GRN you are going tonight right?

Yep, wouldn't miss it, especially since I'll be getting my 300th find this evening. Very fitting for a bowling alley.

that particular website does tell you the lake-I have newspaper articles on the matter in 1878 - there are holes in the story on that website though- Dr Murphy and Dr Hoyt are related --soooo they both did stuff with the remains- but Dr Murphy actually (by newspaper accounts) was the one who placed the remains in the lake ---that other website as well had misinformation----hense my investigation :) ---- I am taking both websites under advisement.

 

THE POINT IS -they were in COMO LAKE ;)

well in defense -this particular hunt was working with such a small area (a small park) that you basically SAW everything in the park from practically everywhere in the park.

If this were a big park then it woulda narrowed the area down probly to the size of this smaller park because you could see stuff --keep in mind that the new PP writer rarely gave clues you could SEE from the treasures hiding spot- whe always complained we should be able to SEE some things from the hiding spot- hense the tennis courts, baseball field, train, playground, tracks. Theres not much more I could write about that you could SEE. 

I did give closer exacts with 'lining up' streets and the next clue at least trying to get people off the playground and off the area around the community center-get to the out skirts of the grounds NOT the inner.

 

 

 

 

Clue #11

Outer Limits to inspect
An object to resurrect
Of man's first disobedience, with the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Paradise is not Lost
If you can find it!

 

Search the perimeter of the park

mans first disobedience was eating an apple -Apple ORCHARD = Orchard Park

which also were the lines in PARADISE LOST by John MILTON

I already gave you street clues yesterday so this street clue should have given you an imaginary line through the center of the park-

If you searched the perimeter on either side of the park along Milton you should come across the treasure site. 

also if you were already searching the Jesamine line to connect the two streets -Victoria and Colne St  -and here is a Milton St clue -Jessamine and Milton would meet right at the dead wood.

well we talked about clue 12 yesterday---

the theory was that people would run without hearing the whole clue. If you already had Jessamine and Milton in thoughts that line up than you would see the big field lighting and look to the west and WAHLA! dead wood with life growing out of it still.

Turned out it was hidden a bit tough AND MORE leaves had grown out of the DEAD WOOD than when I hid the ghost!!! the extra leaf growth hid the spot better as well -- RRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

me2...nice job ...I've learned alot...got to visit a BUNCH of nice park...
oh...take sackett out of your map book as it is no longer a St.Paul Park and Rec.

And don't forget that North Dale is getting an OVERHAUL.

I was amazed when you told me you spent about 5hrs on each clue.....now you got me concerned...but that all good....

one more thing....can somebody help me find this.....
all CC threads prior "bigger than war and peace but way better"...I lost it somehow.....
Water CoolerI can't get it to work anymore....

Copyright 1993 Star Tribune
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

May 10, 1993, Saint Paul Edition

Typical...Star Tribune and PP...not working togethor...

A new pavilion graces the west shore of St. Paul's Como Lake, without any of the scandal or publicity of past park projects.

While draining the lake in 1923, city workers found a box containing the skeleton of Charlie Pitts, a James-Younger Gang member killed after the Northfield bank raid in 1876.

In the late 1980s, the city began a highly publicized $ 12.4 million restoration of the Conservatory, evoking memories of couples exchanging wedding vows and children posing for pictures amid exotic flowers on Easter weekends.

Yet City Council Member Janice Rettman is especially excited about the lakeside pavilion, which replaces a similar structure built in 1905-06 and torn down last year. The pavilion will reopen about May 20.

"It's elegant in a very modest way," said Rettman, who represents the Como neighborhood.

She describes the pavilion, which has cost about $ 1.9 million to date, as an essential ingredient in a mix of attractions that has helped make Como the most popular regional park in the seven-county metropolitan area.

Jack Mauritz, parks coordinator for the Metropolitan Council Parks and Open Space Commission, said last week that Como Park attracted about 2 million visitors in 1992, more than the estimated 1.7 million people who visited Minneapolis' Chain of Lakes.

He acknowledges that the numbers lack the precision of 1980s-era reports, when the commission had more staff and money to do studies and the Chain of Lakes was designated as the most popular park destination.

But Mauritz said he believes recent improvements to the Como Zoo and the Conservatory have lifted the park past the Chain of Lakes. (The Como Park projections do not include use of its 18-hole golf course.)

Much of the redevelopment of the Como Zoo, Conservatory and 372-acre grounds has been financed by state taxpayers following enactment of the Metropolitan Parks Act in 1974. The commission approves funding for the 10 local agencies that own area parks.

John Wirka, principal designer for the St. Paul parks division, said Friday that the Metropolitan Council has provided about $ 26 million for Como Park projects since 1974.

Former Mayor George Latimer has been one of Como Park's most vocal champions. Before leaving office in 1990, Latimer recalled bringing the mayor of Savannah, Ga., to the park and listening to him describe it as an area that would be available only to the rich in other parts of the country.

"It is a treasure of a park," Latimer told citizens then.

According to research documents at the Ramsey County Historical Society, some city leaders objected to paying $ 100,000 for the park property in 1873. One alderman argued it was wrong to create a playground for wealthy people who could "ride in chaises" to the area, while poor citizens had no easy transportation.

The reports also reveal that parks officials were concerned about preserving the park's bucolic nature as early as the 1920s, when they became alarmed about the rapid loss of water in the lake. It was then that they discovered Pitts' skeleton.

Pitts had been shot and killed by a posse after the infamous bank raid. His body was put on exhibit at the Capitol, according to research documents. Later, Pitts' skeleton was given to a physician, who put it in the lake to bleach it. He left it behind when he moved from St. Paul and its

discovery created a scandal until the physician returned to explain its origin, a Minnesota Historical Society document states.

Vic Wittgenstein, manager of special services for the city's parks division, said he has seen a photograph of the old pavilion with "one-armed bandits," or slot machines, on the upper floor.

But the pavilion's current importance to Como Park involves tamer pursuits. The adjoining open-air promenade, rebuilt in the late 1980s, has been the site of summer concerts, and the pavilion has been host to speedskating and Winter Carnival activities.

The new building was designed to duplicate its predecessor's Italianate-styled architecture. Three floors will be open to the public. The upper floor, to be completed later this year, will be available for rent for parties and business meetings.

Wittgenstein said that any profits from the meeting space and from the main-floor concessions, expected to include gourmet coffee and cinnamon rolls, will be turned back to the park system. Como Zoo is one of the last free zoological parks in the United States, city officials say.

Liz Olson, a Como area resident and member of the citizens group that helped plan the park improvements, said that she hasn't been inside the pavilion, but she admires its exterior.

"I'm pretty pleased with the park as a whole," she said.

turned into a proper, carnival-quality skeleton.

on another article I found..."carnival quality" ...diamond jim's???

.....
me2...at least you have me busy at w0rk...something my bo5s can't do

I am not even part way through that article you posted and I already question the 'new' pavillion??? torn down? Wasn't it just renovated.-the one we were at yesterday?

John Wirka, principal designer for the St. Paul parks division---my girlfriends dad

I heard that as well about 1923-but I don't find that accurate--thanks for adding to the research--I forgot I read that somewhere but other sources discredit a 1923 incident-looks like I have to pull 1923 newpapers

maybe there was a murder ...mwhahahahaha!

:)
Ya I find it hard to believe as well...but kinda weird.

I remember 1985-89 and that building sure didn't look brand new then!
I used to hang out with my boyfriend and raspberry brandy there.

I remember in 1986 they killed all the fish in it-you couldn't swim there-the signs were posted-I know cause it said "Don't go in the water" due to chemically treated UNTIL DECEMBER 4th! hahaha -why would you go in it in December? well, that is my birthday-thats how I recall the date.

look to the left of the giant light - the dead wood with leafs in the fence

LLady-Kitch & Mucluck

Here are the spirits! look at them go! HEY if you look close you can see SPOOK! his tail and part of his body! in the lower mid left!!!!!

This was taken twords the playgym contraption with the slides.

WHOA!

Lake Como has a history of hosting the unusual. Once it was a "promiscuous" fishing derby. Then there were those old bank robber's bones, and now it's packs of insubordinate muskrats that are turning foot-thick ice into Swiss cheese.

"It's weird," says St. Paul Parks Superintendent Bob Piram. "You expect a lot of strange things to go on in the inner city, but ice-eating muskrats are not among our usual problems."

Even though the ice on the lake is thick enough to support a truck, thin spots caused by all that muskrat action are threatening the lake's traditional ice-skating program.

You won't see the muskrats, but there could be hundreds of them living in burrows beneath the banks of the lake and doing whatever muskrats do in the winter. Muskrats operating beneath the north end of the lake, where the ice has been cleared to form a huge rink, have resulted in numerous surface holes, thought to be breathing holes, all winter long.

Earlier this week, the front tire of a snowplow went through one of the holes, and a city crew flooding the ice Wednesday said they sealed up several of the 8- to 10-inch muskrat holes.

Some believe that the muskrats use their body heat to erode the ice, according to John Poor, operations manager for the St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department. Last winter, several muskrat holes appeared in the ice, and one youngster fell into water up to his waist. Several trucks also went through the ice at muskrat holes, prompting an early closing of the lake's warming house under the lakeside pavilion.

"The outdoor skating season normally runs from about Christmas to the middle of February," says Poor. "We're halfway there now, but we've not been able to open the warming house because of unstable ice."

Kathee Koran, who lives next to the lake, said she and her children were among almost 100 people skating on the lake last weekend. They only learned of the muskrat problem when they asked at the pavilion why the warming house was not open.

While use of the ice has not been prohibited, it has been discouraged up to now, Poor said, and "Thin Ice" signs decorate many of the trees around the lake. The city will take a fling at officially opening the rink and the warming house this weekend. There was some speculation, though, that Winter Carnival events scheduled for the lake, such as a kite-flying contest and a kick-sled demonstration, may have to be moved unless the muskrats cooperate.

All this muskrat activity is not associated with the large open spot near the center of the lake where aeration is conducted and geese and ducks congregate. Muskrats stay closer to the north end of the lake where they make their homes under the shoreline.

Following the ice breakup last year, 43 muskrats were taken from Como Park by a professional trapper, but that operation apparently did not seriously discourage an animal that typically has from two to six litters with as many as 10 young each year. The gestation period is only a month long, and muskrats mature very quickly. A spring litter is able to reproduce the following fall.

"They're right up there (in productivity) with all the other rats," says St. Paul's animal control officer, Bernie Fritz. The trapping activities last spring were carried out quietly by a private trapper, who charged the city $3 per animal and who got to keep the skins, which now market for about $8 apiece. Says Piram: "We'll probably have to do that again, but not until spring."

Como is not normally thought of as a refuge for critters other than fish, unless you count the ducks and geese that flock there each fall - and old Charlie Pitts, a 19th century bank robber whose bones are said to have wound up temporarily at the bottom of Lake Como.

Following the notorious Northfield heist of 1876, Charlie was gunned down in Madelia. Custodians of Charlie's cadaver are said to have stashed it in the lake in order for the bones to get bleached and turned into a proper, carnival-quality skeleton.

And in 1985, the lake was opened to unlimited, "promiscuous" public fishing for six days to help purge the lake of aquatic life before it was poisoned during a lake restoration project. At that time, the only wildlife in any real numbers were bullheads.

The muskrats have had their way at Como for several years, becoming a serious nuisance on the adjoining golf course at the eighth water hole. Even though the muskrats are not normally sighted during a winter's day, Kathee Koran says a crew of delivery men were greeted by a hissing muskrat on her doorstep before Christmas, a muskrat that would not leave even after it was pelted with snowballs.

"At least I think it was a muskrat," she says. "I hope it was just a muskrat."

Copyright 1995 Saint Paul Pioneer Press
All Rights Reserved
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)

January 20, 1995 Friday METRO FINAL EDITION

yep...me2...And in 1985, the lake was opened to unlimited, "promiscuous" public fishing for six days to help purge the lake of aquatic life before it was poisoned during a lake restoration project...yep!!!
:)
this article made me think of the First "bearhunts" clues for giant rat.

John Poor, operations manager for the St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department.

-I dated his son briefly-and was friends with him for years-

 

COOL article - I was told the thin ice was due to the runoff from the sewers that ran into that lake -

 

Oh and one story said that AUGUST found Charlie after hunting muskrat!!! the other story is about the water for cows. WOW! fun stuff-

I gotta go though-I will post again before I leave on Friday.

Man on man, why wasn't the final clue released today? I'm sittin here listening to the pouring rain here at work. Shoot I mighta even played hookey to go watch everyone scramble around to find the ghost in these conditions :)

because me2...knows how to pick the "12 best days of summer"

all that muskrat action

Muskrat, muskrat candlelight
Doin' the town and doin' it right
In the evenin'
It's pretty pleasin'

Muskrat Susie, Muskrat Sam
Do the jitterbug out in muskrat land
And they shimmy
And Sammy's so skinny

And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin' and jingin' the jango
Floatin' like the heavens above
It looks like muskrat love

Nibbling on bacon, chewin' on cheese
Sammy says to Susie "Honey, would you please be my missus?"
And she say yes
With her kisses

And now he's ticklin' her fancy
Rubbin' her toes
Muzzle to muzzle, now anything goes
As they wriggle, and Sue starts to giggle

And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin' and jingin' the jango
Floatin' like the heavens above
It looks like muskrat love

La da da da da ...

FYI, As of right now the background on these pages is #B4E4E7. So to do this, you would need to type:
FONT Color="#B4E4E7"

(placed between
<and >)
Then the text you want invisible

and finally, the end tag: /FONT

(placed between
<" and ">" )

Type your invisible message here.

Highlight the above text to see the results.

You notice that the highlight color does not offset the text that well, so you would have to copy and paste the text into a document in order to view it.

;-)

message marked for future use

Thanks !

CLUE #4

BEWARE!

Eagerly you decipher this deceiving clue to
Exhume a lilliputian ocular shape that enchants you
It's crypted, lurking in a deadly space
And just waiting, possessed, for you to trace
       Mwahahaha, Rest In Peace

Using the editor is much easier - I'm usually on a Mac with Safari.
Just click on the font color icon and type in #B4E4E7. Otherwise, you need to add the font tags onto every line you want invisble (to make it cross-platform, cross-browser compatible).

CLUE #4

BEWARE!

Eagerly you decipher this deceiving clue to

Exhume a lilliputian ocular shape that enchants you

It's crypted, lurking in a deadly space



And just waiting, possessed, for you to trace

       Mwahahaha, Rest In Peace