SMITH HUBBARD & TICHENOR GOLDENGATE’S

for June 21, 2014

TRUCKEE

WHERE is the TRUE KEY of the TRUCKEE

AND IS IT YOUR KEY

to a SUMMER of ……….

From the desk of

WELCOME BACK …..

Where y’all been.. ?? Is EVERBODY Ready …? Get Ready for

I’ll get to that in a moment. Yes… I know there’s a little issue with our track record of these summetime Jamborees!! But why let a little thing like perpetual failure get in your way? I always say. Could we just hold that thought?

LOOK: Most of the cascade of catastrophic cross-defaulting events that lead to the untimely and too-early CANCELLATION of last summer’s widely bruited, much-anticipated 1st Annual S.Y.M.-F.O.N.I.C. ! occurred in a realm of physical and social confusion and causation that lay completely beyond my range of control !! The memory of these events is/are as painfully familiar to me, dear readers, as they are an enemy to thee! Why bring them up now? Hmmm? And, NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT…. what ELSE would you have me do? Suspend all activity and all FUN until the ATTORNEYS have finished?? As IF … !!!!

OH, Yeah? Well, you’ll need an INJUNCTION for that, buddy!!! “Buddy …” [ Sarcastically – Ed.]

LOOK: Everyone KNOWS what happened that last week!! It was all meticulously documented in the TAHOE issue !! [ See, When and Where did Albert Bierstadt Paint his Heretofore Unidentified Landscape “Lake Tahoe in Wintertime” – Sept 1, 2013 – Ed.] IT’s HISTORY ! !! Can we not just MOVE ON ?

I KNOW! But management is hardly not responsible for the renegade actions of a few self-dealing staffers!!! Are we? And it was precisely to limit exposure to liabilty from such malfeasance by our well-intentioned but oh-so-extremely HUMAN subordinates, that we incorporated ANYWAY!! Remember? We were incorporated way back in 2012 by SMITH HUBBARD & TICHENOR, LLP – of Port Orford! Yes … SH&T, LLP, that’s correct … That’s too easy. Yes. That’s right. They’re representing UNK-Nown now, in a civil lawsuit against Randy Kajtushka, and in which we are also named as a defendant … Hey …. GOOD LUCK!!

LOOK: I’d advise you to think TWICE before you do !!

You DON’T want to mess …. with ME !! Believe me …

PLAYERS, PLAYERS, PLAYERS !!!!

Since all human affairs are subject to organic disorder, since they are created in and sustained by a certain half-disciplined chaos, then the stubborn adventurer – like ME – who in great things seeks success, must never wait for smooth water; which never was and never will be; but with what straggling method

he can, must dash with all his derangement at his subject, leaving the rest to ... FORTUNE !!!

Why does that sound familiar?

IN other words, PLAYERS: Fortune favors the bold!! And the only ones who never failed... is them that NEVER TRIED!

AND GOD KNOWS HOW I TRIED !!!

Remember the Wright Brothers ??? !!!

Well, ... Players...

IF YOU ALL THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER ... This is a special invitation for you, PLAYERS to TRY YOUR HAND

AT IT !! To send us your ... SUBMISSION !!

In fact, THIS VERY TRUCKEE ISSUE of S.Y.M.-Zonia is the result of a SUBMISSION by our newest contributing expert, Rupert R. Roget, Surveyor of Coon County (Ret.) about a persistent OLD LEGEND associated with the TRUCKEE RIVER !!! [We need to talk – Ed.] Rupert says he learned this story while conducting a P.L.S. Resurvey of the Oregon-California Border, while under retainer as an expert witness in a Southern Oregon land dispute, in federal court. This work also required Rupert to check and reconnoiter the California-Nevada border, which lead him as far south as TAHOE !!! [ OKAY – You have been warned. Gloves off - - Ed.]

It was there, in the area around VERDI, Nevada, said RUPERT, that he met an old miner who told

him of ….

YES !!!! O, PLAYERS!!! I SWEAR IT !! It’s TRUE !! MORE ON THIS BELOW !!!

BRINGING YOU ALL UP TO SPEED: PLAYERS: so as to address the interim interstitial silence between our LAST ISSUE, of September 13, 2013, at the time only scant days before the then-impending S.Y.M.-F.O.N.I.C., which was unavoidably and by sheer necessity inevitably CANCELLED due to RAIN, it may therefore be advisable at this point to see what’s currently …

IN THE NEWS

SO YOU SEE, Players, the situation is reaching the BREAK-DOWN point , or POINT of NO RETURN and could not hold much greater promise of a complete and utter total breakdown of the social, economic and legal systems of Northern California – which, in collapsing, would rip away the tissue-thin veneer of civilization that holds all these communities together.

IT IS TO FORESTALL THIS EVENTUALITY or OUTCOME, and to prevent the further isolation of these overlooked communites, teetering as they are now on the brink of SECCESIONISM and RACE WAR that we have decided for the time being to hunker down here in YREKA, in SISKIYOU COUNTY, in CALIFORNIA !! in order to be as close as possible HERE, to the epi-center of the CALIFORNIA SECESSION MOVEMENT, and also to UNK. Yes: Indeed, it’s quite true, that UNK is being held in the Trinity County jail in Weaverville, some 100 MILES from here !!! But rents are cheaper in Yreka, Players! It’s that simple!!! And it’s much warmer here, the nights are pleasant for sleeping out-of-doors. And in fact there are a few good, sheltering OVERPASSES over Deer Creek, which provide easy access to transportaton on I-5, and to a number of dumpsters. Also, it is easy to grab the commuter bus to Montague (Cal.), or hitch a ride to Gazelle (Cal.) MORE ABOUT THIS LATER !!!!!!

Ulterior motives – WE HAVE NONE!! ALL OUR EFFORTS over the course of the winter, to identify the position of the cache and locate the rumored “Shasta Valley Advance Sheet Treasure” as indicated by the maps, not only exhausted our paltry residual savings, but proved completely useless, as you no-doubt expected, since -- as we advised you last year – after all – “THERE IS NO TREASURE!!!” Suzy Cue said she could have told me THAT all along, before we spent 4 months trudging through the snow-covered climbs of the South Fork of the Salmon River, in the southernmost reaches of SISKIYOU COUNTY, CAL. !!! YES!!! Players!! I can no longer hold back !!! YES. … WE WERE TO CONVENE …

AT CECILVILLE !

How many of you got it right?

I Know… YES: it had become quite obvious !! [Please … I’m having a “moment” here – Ed.] I laid the clues on pretty thick there, in order that there might be no disgruntled PLAYERS among you, the better also to avoid legal repercussions… And, in fact, we’re pretty well covered in that regard!!! GOT IT???

DETAILS WILL SOON BE AVAILABLE in the

OFFICIAL SOLUTION SUPPLEMENT !!

COMING SOON …

[Could we put that in those new text graphics? – Ed.]

WELL -- so… while there’s much more to say, and much catching up to be done, we do have a job to do here.! And that’s to get busy filling your SUMMER … with S.Y.M.-ERGY !!!

PLAYERS, NOTE: Given that a number of our EXPERTS are tied up in the courts, or otherwise attending to personal affairs, I’m workgin more o r less alone on this one, as I said, a SUBMISSION from our our old expert RUPERT ROGET !!!

HERE IT IS!!! AN INVITATION AND AN OPPORTUNTY for all you aspiring Puzzlers – both young and young at heart : SUBMIT! Really!! I mean, Show me your SUBMISSION!!! Please …..

PLAYERS!! Players .... SUBMIT!! Do it NOW! YES!!! [Alas !! I tried that with Suzy Cue over the winter, before she left. “Submit, wife!!” I said. – but I meant “Contribute a Puzzle!! I Swear!! She’s got the baby, staying with friends -- in Ashland!! – Ed.]

While we receive scores of eager contributions and submisisons every week, most of them are not quite adequately constructed, nor sufficiently polished to be immediately ready to publish. However, this one here, is so good we’re adopting it as our own

Our new submissions policy [At left – Ed.] appears at left under the title “Mystic”. It was submitted by the mysterious contributor known only as our old friend, “MYSTIC KNIGHT” – whom we have reason to believe is an active member of Petaluma (California) EXCELSIOR ARK No. 3 of the A.O.K. [Ancient Order of Knighthood – Ed.] . See also, “Corrections”.

I thought it a GOOD IDEA to reproduce our new submissions policy here, because THIS WEEK we open our with a specially prepared ….

(What a great word !)

PRESENTED by our own in-house surveying

expert, RUPERT R. ROGET, P.L.S., Surveyor of Coon County (Ret.) over here …. A little further … who thereby advances to the rank of PRIMARY CONTRIBUTING EXPERT, [And, meanwhile RRR (Ret.)® becomes a Registered Trademark of S.Y.M.-Zonia – Ed.] Rupert’s SUBMISSION is SO GOOD in fact, that ….I mean his CONTRIBUTION is so good, it is, indeed as if he had “DOVE[n – Ed.] DOWN INTO THE DAZZLING CAVE OF PUZZLEDOM” referenced by MYSTIC KNIGHT – and so … I’ve made it the FEATURED PUZZLE in this very SPECIAL S.Y.M.-ERGY ISSUE !!! TO JUMP-START SUMMER !!

Wowee !!!! It’s that simple!!!

PLAYERS!!! Yes: just let me expand a little on this SUBMISSION POLICY! You, see, even Rupert Roget, P.L.S., (Ret.) has submitted other Puzzles for our consideration – none of which have, until this one, MADE THE GRADE!! Take, for instance, this item received last year, involving Section 6 of a an Isolated Township in Coon County, Oregon – a section, incidentally, that is both “A Rhomboid and a Square… “ as Mystic Knight describes it, in our Submission Policy above!!! Well…. as such it really is a considerable Puzzle!! This map shows Rupert’s 2001 Resurvey of this section, with his initials “Rupert R. Roget” and the initials “C.S.” for “Coon Surveyor” !! YET …. this fascinating submission – which Rupert titled, “How to Square a Rhomboid or Trapezius in Three Easy Steps, ” lacked, the visual verve and sense of intellectual Schwepervescence to which our Subscribers and Youngstermembers

are accustomed!! Plus, it’s a

bit …

TECHNICAL !!! Just a bit technical !! So, we knew it wasn’t exactly what our readership would welcome!! HOWEVER, and therefore, we [I , mostly– Ed.] nevertheless kept working with Rupert on the other, earlier, more promising, in fact, powerpacked submission respecting the elusive TRUE KEY of the TRUCKEE ! !!! [ FTGDEP!!! – Ed.]

AND THE RESULT … IS IN YOUR HANDS !!

Wowee!! Today!!!

As I said, this achievement also moves Rupert up from the ranks of Consulting Experts, into and among, the rare & highly coveted company of ……. Contributing Experts !!! See how that works? Cool !! SO PLAYERS!!! GET BUSY & SUBMIT!! You can see, it’s WORTH the effort !!

Just as, at one time in the past, our correspondent Ass. Dr. STEPHANIE BECKON did before him! [Frag, but OK – Ed.] Moving UP THE PROFESSIONAL LADDER, to eventually occupy [Split infin: … “eventually to occupy” – Ed.] the high office of Titular Leader of “her own” organization…. YES!!! That’s YOU!! The aka …

POETRY, it has oft been said, lies [WAIT: I don’t mean it that way – Please read on !!!- Ed.] in the creation of AMBIGUITIES in the multiple signification of many words !!

HOWEVER, the fact is, Players, that real poetry does not lie in the juxtapoisition of the suppoed meanings of mere words, nay. NAY!! But rather in the creation of actual irreconciliable parallax of intellectual perspective(s), occurring from within the MIND itself !!! When a suffficient number of these parallaxes (paralaxi) have been created in short order, the HUMAN MIND is thus eventually forced away from all literal significations of conventional meanings -- including ambiguous ones -- and back on its own resources where alone it is finally enabled to discern meaning out of a sort of chaos. In other words … you may have to just THINK !!!![ A very bad time for this – Ed.]

Poetry is thus little more than an intellectual REFLEX ACTION AGAINST ABSURDITY .. .. that is, against the absurdity of literal conventional significations or “meanings” – meanings which were themselves once really original metaphors [The only new language that ever “catches on” are original metaphorical “coinages” by clever minds – Ed.] which have sithen sadly been been ossified or fossilized by academicians into supposed word “definitions” !!! [I’m trying to get a message out here – Ed.] which are compiled in the form of verbo-mausoleums often called “dictionaries”. [Oh, God, now I’ve lost my thought !!… -- Ed.] These, so the story goes, including supposedly “juxtaposed” “ambiguous” meanings … which eventually themselves grow thick as theives!!! EGAD!!! Like the forest eneveloping Hansel and Gretel! You sometimes have to see the FOREST from within the TREES!!! That’s IT !

With this in mind, and for your most S.Y.M.-ERGISTIC SUMMER READING we are

presenting here for the first time a new work of true POETIC PARALLAX entitled, simply ….

LOST ENTDIP (above) …which in the judgment of your Editor(s) truly metes and bounds the ideal of standards for poetry …

While you’re doing that, I need to take care of some business… I must here correct

a small …. ERROR !!!! O! Hateful word!!

Indeed, the error – one of omission, or incomplete inclusion, maybe brought on by inadequate, over-hasty or insufficient research…. is … undeniable. I am SO SORRY!!! Sorry, Players, to dampen your ebullient MOOD !!! and hope not to drain any of the S.Y.M.-ERGY from the SUMMER !!! Or turn SUMMER into a BUMMER!! But it must be said: There was a problem with Dromgoole’s work on the memorable HIDDEN PICTURES Puzzler!!!! YES !!!!!! [Sh#t!! Fix please!! December 11, 2011 –Ed.]

Indeed, an entirely NEW and FORMERLY UNKNOWN engraving, of the critical Wm. Quiller Orchardson painting has been discovered ! The original painting -- commonly known as ….

“Napoleon Onboard the Bellerophon” --

Was indeed engraved by Armytage, as Dromgoole discussed in HIDDEN PICTURES !! YES!!! Q.V. !! BUT …… but ….

PLAYERS!!!! “MYSTIC KNIGHT” !! [ See our “SUBMISSIONS Dept., above —Ed.] -- being a very ATTENTIVE Player, has found ANOTHER ALTERNATE OR ADDITIONAL ENGRAVING which he… yes !!! SUBMITTED TO ME !!!! … And he did so without unnecessary comment -- thereby revealing [Interim Editor – Ed.] Dromgoole’s error, but in the most delicate and humane manner possible.

While NOT affecting the viability of the said P.Y.M. TM Puzzler itself, of course.. the new engraving should have been presented along with the Armytage rendering of “Napoleon on the Bellerophon” nevertheless: because – as you might expect – this alternate engraving adds a certain TWIST to the sudy of these artworks…

This newly discovered and submitted engraving was executed after Orchardson by British master William Steele – and YES!!! , I GUESS!!! There is a certain IRONY in a STEELE engraving !!!! [Get it…? --Ed.] [Look again …! – Ed.] But the real irony is in…… the TWIST!! Because the title which Steele gave his engraving of “Napoleon Onboard the Bellerophon” was….

“NAPOLEON ONBOARD …

MYSTIC KNIGHT.

… the NORTHUMBERLAND “ !! [ Fix apostrophe– Ed.] Correct. I mean, right !!! Other references and presumed authorities which would identify the picture as representing the aftdeck of the H.M.S. Bellerophon -- or “Billy Ruffian” to adopt the terminology of the enemy British tars -- are NOT simply in error. Dromgoole did not totally screw up at this point, in following convention. He only erred in not adequately checking his facts to guarantee their complete and universal accuracy!!

No harm done, You say? No harm no foul??? Well, “No fact, no science,” I say !!! For no fact, no matter how little, is too insignificant to overlook, and – once observed – must be duly & correctly represented. Yes: that’s science for you. Players – there’s a MORAL here too , MARK MY WORDS: For we all know what happened to Asaph P. Dromgoole!! Indeed -- the slightest intellectual compromise -- like his-- can lead on to another, and then another… REMEMBER? Pretty soon the wayward Puzzler will find himself leaving the narrow road of facts – leaving out facts!!! or worse – fudging statistical derivations, and eventually moving on to wholesale fabrications!! THINK BACK: Dromgoole had said he had only “borrowed” these so-called “HIDDEN PICTURES” from P’s desk: Remember? Then he spilled water on them, while trying to hide this unauthorized access [The door on P’s office had forbid [ Forbade ? Forboded ? Forbood ? ALL of the above!! – Ed.] unauthorized entry!!! – Ed.] claimed a copyright in the waterstain !!! [..one more time … -- Ed.] accused P. of being a closet Imperialist – and next thing you know, P. had vanished, Dromgoole drank his Mocha, kept his change, and P. soon washed up in various places around the San Franicisco Bay, in multiple puzzling pieces – all of them dead !!! Dromgoole then insinuated that RAMSEY the Mad Map Collector of San Francisco was at fault!!! Then he tried ACTIVELY to … frame Ramsey!!! Publicly he mocked Ramsey’s [Questionable -- Ed.] copyright claims on public doman documents!! [RAMSEY eventually reformed by shrinking the fonts on his copyright notices until they were barely illegible!!! – Ed.] And Dromgoole was ….. yes… convicted of MURDER and imprisoned for life. And if he hasn’t been parolled he’s still there. REMEMBER??

It’s simple, then, Players:

RAMSEY was not half so bad as Dromgoole made him out to be. And … the hangings occurred onboard the H.M.S. Northumberland, and Napoleon’s entourage naturally “uncovered” in compliance with the Articles of War – although, I thought these were not French but British Articles … ??? Hmmmm. Which further indicates that the Little Dictator is NOT complying, while his seven officers are – indeed, complying, that is – as they witness a miltary execution of a sentence of death by hanging at the yardarm, following Court Martial under the Articles of War…. On the Bellerophon OR the Northumberland !!! There’s some confusion… Right? BUT … NOT VERY MUCH !!! !!!

!!!!! [That’s it !! – Ed.]

SO PLAYERS: As I said, I am reduced to a state of almost perpetual ANGST manifesting as extended self-interested APOLOGY BUT occasionally as a DEFENSIVE RELFEX REACTION -- yes: it’s the “Figth or Flight” mechanism again … for our having been UNABLE to fully and finally EXECUTE as PROPOSED on the 1ST BI-ENNIAL S.Y.M.-F.O.N.I.C. – BUT NEVER ACTUALLY PROMISED --which SADLY had to be called -- CANCELLED!! on account of RAIN! Last year… largely because of You-Know-Who!!!! And to Whom … Thanks a BUNCH !!!!!!

SO… the SOLUTION SUPPLEMENT is under preparation -- but of course !!! And yet, the fact that we didn't actually get to FULLY convene the S.Y.M.-

F.O.N.I.C. was a catastrophic disaapointment to us, as well as to you all, Players, in that it lead to a number of cancellations, and almost as many lawsuits… none so far against us … All of the “inter-necene” or intramural variety. that;s slowing things down a little….

BUT OF COURSE, life goes on !!! And one of the most greivous disappointments was in our egregious failure to be able to deliver on the promised FUN FEATURES of the S.Y.M.-F.O.N.I.C. – especially by providing you all the chance to meet your favorite SPECIAL GUEST EXPERTS, in the flesh !!!

And then there were the S’MORES!!! Yes!!! God I hate those things !!!

And the mess!! WHOSE IDEA!!???

Nevertheless, a promise being a promise, we have to do our diligence to fulfill here as well. HENCE, since we cannot fill the bill completely, we can at least

held you find a HERSHEY BAR !!! [Please….. – Ed.]

This is NOT about Milton Hershey, the founder of the great American Chocolate Bar, but about a distant cousin of his, Oscar H. Hershey, a highly gifted and industrious geologist, who worked mostly in the west., and the tales of his lost placer GOLD BAR !!! Oscar H. Hershey is well known in the area in and around Wardner, Idaho, and Kellogg, Idaho, as having served a term as mine manager for the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mines, immediately after the famed Victor M. Clements – he [V.M.C. – Ed.] formerly of Grass Valley and Nevada City, California – had most ably fulfilled his term of service there, to the great satisfaction of the mine owner Simeon G. Reed. The whole story of how V.M. Clements’ expertise enabled Simeon Reed to “prove out” the full potential of the BH&S has been expertly researched and masterfully retold in my own ….

WATCH FOR EXCERPTS IN OUR UPCOMING ISSUES !!!

It’s not known why O.H. Hershey sought out his fortune among the very highest peaks of the Sierra Costa mountain range: there along the jagged and precipitous rigdeline which divides Trinity County (California) from Siskiyou County (California) and also divides the Trinity River watershed, from the Salmon River watershed, there high up in the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area. Old-timer locals in Junction City and Weaverville, Cal., report that Hershey could often be found whittling a stick, near the saloon in downtown Weaverville, and wsa often overheard reciting certain verses of poetry—of all things! One of these, for instance, was a piece by the “Poet of the Sierras” Joaquin Miller… the verse, one of them said, was from Miller’s “The Days of ‘49” -- and goes – well -- something like this:

We have worked our claims, We have spent our gold, Our barks are astrand on the bars; We are battered and old, Yet at night we behold, Outcroppings of gold in the stars……

Why Hershey – a man of advanced practical scientific aptitude -- coupled with a certain inexplicable, almost unprecedented gift for interpreting complex geological anomalies -- so persistenly dedicated his summers over the course of a dozen or more years, to an area of less than a single square-mile upon a MOUNTAIN TOP [!!! – Ed.] was little understood by the practical miners of the lowlands, such as the placer-miners along Caňon Creek … YES!!! Up there along the ridgeline dividing the Trinity River watershed,from the Salmon River Watershed, in the SIERRA COSTAS ! COINCIDENTALLY dividing Trinity County from Siskiyou County! Right… familiar terrain to our “PROVEN” FIELD RESEARCH TEAM !

PLAYERS: It’s clear that HERSHEY must have had “something going” on the side !! Every mine manager, every mine engineer, longs to have “his own place” – to make his own strike !!!! Then as now, it seems HIGHY UNLIKELY that Oscar H. Hershey was examining the area’s geology for the sake of some “pure knowledge” -- if such a thing ever existed !!! The Miners in Weaverville always suspected that Hershey had found a secret auriferous [That’s fancy-talk for “GOLD-BEARING” – Ed.] stream-bed somewhere up there… a GOLD PLACER BAR that he was working … Every spring in the early 1900’s, you might find him at the store, acquiring his grubstake, packing his mule, and heading off over Oregon Mountain, and therafter running up Caňon Creek, past Caňon City and then up, up, upward toward the summits!!! SOME-WHERE ……. Then, he disguised his mining efforts at his SECRET GOLD PLACER, by writing articles for geological journals !! Check it out !!! http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/klamath/specialplaces/?cid=stelprdb5116578 A transparent feint !! NO-ONE could write this many articles, on an area of just a couple, or few hundred acres …. It’s UNDENIABLE !!!!

But … WHERE??? PLAYERS …..

WHERE is the TRUE KEY

of the TRUCKEE AND IS IT YOUR KEY to a SUMMER of

BUT IN TERRITORY !!!

Little SURPRISE there!!! Ha-HA!!! And Leave these old fogie landlubberers in CAMP!!!!

Wait: we may need Rupert’s help!!! Right!! Well, after all it’s his PUZZLE!! He Get’s the LEAD CA-N.O.E.!! He is afer all a trained surveyor ….

JUST give me just a second to shake the lawsuits out of my shoes !! MAN … What a Winter… What a year… !!! OKAY ! WOW!! Well… I think I’m ready. God how I hate attorneys !!! Yes… yes… kayaks would probably be better, yes, - but we’ll give this a try .. .. Navigating down the TRUCKEE in UTAH TERRITORY!! Right! Rupert’s our guide, he get’s the lead CA-N.O.E. – he’ll take us down the TRUCKEE since he knows the area, and because he KNOWS the CARTOGRAPHY!!! We’re NOT in CALIFORNIA!! NO way, San Jose !!! We’re NOT in NEVADA!!!

NO JOKE !

Take a look at Mitchell’s old 1850 Map of the California, Oregon & Utah Territories !!! YES… it shows the Truckee River in UTAH Territory !!! With the CAVEAT , Players, that, that the Truckee was then called the Salmon-Trout River … and it drained Lake Bonpland – [Although this hydrological fact was not quite yet fully understood!! Indeed, PLAYERS!!! Mitchell here follows those cartographers that had “Bonpland” (TAHOE) feeding the South fork of the Middle fork of the American River!! He held to that error for some time! Cf. “What is the Source of the South Fork of the Middle Fork of the American River?” P.Y.M. Golden Summer Puzzler No. 12, for Sept.12, 2011-- Ed.] – which was an early name, for Lake Bigler – aka Lake TAHOE… !!! GOT IT???

Players, I kid you not !!

There are a number of such maps from this era, showing the Truckee River laying within UTAH TERRITORY! Go get ‘em ! Players!! Yes ……

We’re now in UTAH Territory ! And isn’t that keen? [Uh-Oh, Players— I may lapse into carefree camp lingo that now and then !! – Ed.]

Here’s another one …. A nice Bartholomew rendition of the Western United States, showing UTAH TERRITORY stretching all the way from the Spouth Rockies to the Sierra Nevadas and the boundary of California !!! This one is dated 1856. The Bartholomews are very fine generous & hospitable folk … nice home, in Edinburgh….!!!!

Despite the great distance between Edinburgh and California, the Bartholomew map is fairly accurate, owing perhaps to the great number of Englishmen who joined the Gold Rush. This map is dated 1856!!

NOTE [ INSET – Ed.] : for instance that the TRUCKEE, or “Salmon Trout’ River, now actually drains Lake TAHOE, (which is still, in 1856, officially Lake BIGLER) and that the California border now runs through the middle of the lake !!! Excellent: this reflects the 1855 survey projections of Sur. Gen’l William M. Eddy – formerly San Francisco City Surveyor. See, e.g., “Secrets of the San Francisco Survey Map,” in the DETOUR S.Y.M.-Zonia, for May 6, 2012 – Ed.] However, the latitude of the junction with the oblique border with UTAH TERRITORY is incorrect . …. Hey!! Watch your CA.-N.O.E. !!!! It’s TIPPY!! And it gets pretty rougth through this stretch !!!

BUT WAIT ..PLAYERS – there’s a PROBLEM here, because “MOUNTAIN LAKE” to the west, was actually Col. Fremont’s name for TAHOE – which means …. YES!!! Right: that Lake TAHOE is here represented TWICE!!! Once “incorrectly” as “Mountain Lake,” the reputed source of the South fork of the Middle fork of the American river, and then again as “Lake Bigler” – correctly shown as the source of the TRUCKEE!!!! So… YES: It’s very, very easy for us all to GET LOST in this challenging Sierra terrain – so …. EVERYBODY …. STICK TOGETHER !!!

It started out as a very significant territory, stretching from about Bridger’s Passs and the South Range of the Rockies -- at about 106 W. of Greenwich, and well beyond its present day eastern border(s), near the 111° and 109° W. lines – but EXACLY on 34° and 32° W of the Washington Meridian ! -- and stretching to the summit of the Sierra Nevada, where it shared its western border with the new (1850) State of California !!! President (sometimes “Uncle”) Abe Lincoln -- in order to limit the potential strategic American territory that might become subject to falling under the eventual governance of the Mormons led by Brigham Young -- on March 2, 1861, after the Rebs left Congress -- carved out a region from the western half of Utah Territory, which he named NEVADA Teritory! Wowee!!!

Once the territory was recognized, Uncle Abe – being a rather foresighted and strategically thinking sort -- appointed a certain gentleman by name of ORION CLEMENS to be the First Governor of the new NEVADA Territory !! Yes he did!! Orion, upon accepting the position, decided at that point to bring along with him, his kid brother, SAM CLEMENS, as his personal secretary ..... And this is how young SAM CLEMENS arrived in NEVADA!!

But I digress ... we were going to take a look at one particular map of the Territory of UTAH:

Look familiar? Well I HOPE SO !!!! It certainly should ….

Many of you will very likely remember, with minimal coaching or promtping, a particular P.Y.M. TM Puzzler of … gosh OVER THREE YEARS AGO !!! It was during the [soon to be revealed as – Ed.] tragical Elmendorf –Dromgoole transition , which was soon to be revealed as tragic (-- Ed.), and it apeared as Rupert’s CORRECT AND TIMELY SOLUTION to Another New P.Y.M. TM Puzzler for May 8, 2011, namely,

Can YOU Identify the Pillars of Atlas? Which solution , thanks to his timeliness [ Another great benefit to Puzzle Eds !!! – Ed. ] ran the very following week, in the P.Y.M. TM Puzzler ESCAPADE for May 13, 2011 !! !! ??? [ HA!! See, Just What was BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER Really Working on, Anyway? Cover NOT SHOWN !! – Ed.]

PLAYERS!!! RUPERT ROGET was RIGHT THERE with the answer !!!! I know for a FACT that the Editors only had the “Pillars of Atlas” only on Goddard’s 1857 Map of California, where it is very difficult to perceive, having been written.. upside-down!! Q.v. [That map is also one of the very few showing Klamath County, California – Ed] !!!

But MR. RUPERT FOUND AN ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY -- plain as day -- on the 1857 Alexander Keith Johnston map of the Territory of Utah. WoWEE!

That takes serious diligent and long-term study !!

LIKE THIS!!

And lots of FIELDWORK!!!

That’s why he, MR. RUPERT, is your guide TODAY!!! For this very special TRUCKEE

SUMMER S.Y.M.-ERGY Expedition !! Please address him as “MR. RUPERT!”

Let’s all say that !!!! okAY?

A little louder please ….

OKAY: So, the inset on this page shows the “Pillars of Atlas” wherer Mr. Rupert found them – the low range now sometimes referred to as the Calico Mountains, located west of the Mud Lakes and the Smoke Creek Desert, in extreme NW Nevada, at about 40° 30´! What COUNTY ? NO: ROOP COUNTY was in Nevada, after LAKE COUNTY, which was original, dummy! Same region however, yes. What?? NATAQUA? YES!! NATAQUA, TECHNICALLY was an UNDEFINED TERRITORY of patriot Americans within UTAH!!! Very good!! Have a HERSHEY Bar !!! Note also the pioneer wagon-road on Johnson’s map, wending through a pass in the Pillars of Atlas and thence into the Sierra Nevada, via “Fredonyer’s Pass” seeming to terminate there? Both these features were named for none other than Dr. Atlas Fredonyer !! Refer back to the ARCHIVAL P.Y.M. TM Puzzler – above -somewhere among your back issues!! [Hope you saved those ! – Ed.] NOW: follow the arrows down the A.K. Johnston map, moving south from the Pillars of Atlas and continuing OVER and beyond PYRAMID LAKE, [ Note ODD mineral formations! – Ed.]

…. Finally arriving at our destination …

LAKE BIGLER !

That’s where we are! It’s TAHOE now !!

Very cool !!

Here you can see the California border well before the A. Von Schmidt Survey, [For details on Von Schmidt, Players, please refer back to last year’s penultimate TAHOE Issue – and the critical pre-antepenultimate LICKED! Issue !! – Ed.] Here it is clear that Lake Bigler – now TAHOE - was literally “all over the map!!” A.K. Johnston took no advantage of the Bartholomew map of the precedeing year, in representing the California-Utah border! Therefore, he has shown Lake Bigler lying entirely w/in UTAH TERRITORY!!! WRONG!!! He does, however, correctly show the crictical Truckee Outlet draining TAHOE, and properly labelled as the “Truckee or SalmonTrout River” -- now more correctly drawn as issuing from the western flank of Lake Bonpland or Bigler or Tahoe… !

Got it? GOOD!

Here it is again… UP CLOSE !!!! Shhhhh !!! Careful not to startle it !! Quiet!! Now …. Do you see it? WAIT !!! There’s TWO of them!!! SEE THEM? Now I KNOW we’re on the right track!! … YES!!!

Mr. Rupert saw them FIRST!!! SEE??? YES: Alexander K. Johnston TWICE SPELLED …

PLAYER(S): WHAT WAS THAT? Did I detect a subtle expression of disrespect infused with skepticism, from someone among our number? Please show our guide MR. RUPERT a little more resepct !!!! [R-E-S-P-E-C-T- -- Ed.] Aren’t you NOT fully content with the GUIDANCE he has offered to get us down the TRUCKEE so far .. ??? ?? And from a map presented & authenticated over three years ago, in A P.Y.M. TM Puzzler ESCAPADE for May 13, 2011, being [in part …] the Solution to Another New P.Y.M. TM Puzzler for May 6, 2011, namely, Can You Locate the Pillars of Atlas? That being thereby solved AT ONCE FOR ALL TIME within the week, by HE HIMSELF -- one of our own foremost cartographical analysts? As noted before, I remind you once again, he is now and hereby a regular and fully certified S.Y.M.-Zonia EXPERT? YES HE IS!!! Mr. Rupert KNOWS what he’s doing !! [Egad ….] HE DOES TOO!!!

No ? NO?? !! You don’t believe us? HEY WAIT !! PLAYERS!!! Look what I found!! Over here!!!!!

Hey !! FURTHER SIGHTINGS … from Bancroft’s New Map of Central California (1871) by William Henry Knight? This map also proves that MR. RUPERT’S ON TRACK !!! He’s a VERY GOOD GUIDE ! [Fix – Ed.!!] I can verifty that there IS in fact a TRUE KEY to the Truckee!!! It’s RIGHT THERE !!!! PLAYERS!! I CAN CONFIRM : MR. RUPERT IS FULLY QUALIFIED AND IS GUIDING US ALL PROPERLY AND SAFELY !!! !

o

IN FACT, there’s even two of them!! Yes, that’s the female. A little shorter…

PLAYERS!! It’s a BREEDING PAIR !! You KNOW what that means, right?? Check it out for yourself!! Find a copy of Alexander Keith Johnson’s TERRITORY OF UTAH map online ANYWHERE by Gargling it !

Try this one .. .. http://www.raremaps.com/gallery/enlarge/31254

Or maybe … MAYBE you can ZOOM IN on Ramsey’s Copy !!!!! http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~261~30117:Territory-Of-Utah--By-Prof--H-D--Ro HEY! While you’re there, see if you can find his miniscule COPYRIGHT notice on this 1857 Public Domain

map!!!! NOW AVAILABLE in full high-res download WITHOUT that ANNOYING REGISTRATION !!!!

This is very, very important …. Work fast!!! No time to lose!!!

O.K. Look we have to get out here. This water is a little TOO rough !!!

And look! We’re in TRUCKEE !!

Right: The City of Truckee, Cal., and the hotel where Albert Bierstadt

stayed while he was painting landscapes up here … “Donner Pass,” and lovely “Lake Outlet,” [Featured on our cover This Week – Ed.] and “Lake Tahoe in Wintertime” – now known as “Von Schmidt’s Camp at Tahoe.” Yeah: the one with the ugly BURNT SNAG!!! So, he

was TRIANGULATING ….

Right: He may have acquired this useful scientific method while

working with Col. A. W. Von Schmidt .... as Von Schmidt was endeavoring to float his new surveyor’s CA-N.O.E. right across tranquil LAKE TAHOE, trying to anchor it there on SUGAR PINE POINT ... Indeed, it’s certain that Bierstadt, then joined & accompanied Von Schmidt’s surveying party as far south as Aurora [ California – then Nevada – Ed.] portaging this new CA-N.O.E. !! Bierstadt made numerous sketches for his own use... A U.S.G.S. party was said to have been with them ... What??

Yeah… I wish UNK could have come too!! He seemed pretty handy with a CANOE… REAL CANOES too !! [Viz., the CANOE CANOE issue … September 8, 2013 – Ed.] Not just this imaginary kind … He was going to give everyone CANOE lessons at the S.Y.M.-F.O.N.I.C. !! Hope he gets out

of PRISON soon ... Yep: Multiple federal charges! HEY !! I wonder... Maybe...

maybe we could find ... a REAL KEY !! One for springing UNK!!! ?? !!

A REAL KEY? Good grief … Let’s not be RAISING OVER-EXPECTATIONS UP !!!! NOT AGAIN !!! NOT THIS TIME!!! It’s just a PUZZLE!!! For FUN !

OKAY: Stay focused now! You know how this works right? YES: At this point, you’re going to need to refer to a couple of VERY QUIRKY OLD MAPS !!! You know the kind!! Then you’ll have to start carefully studying them ....

Maybe a rare MS map from the NARA SECRET Archives, or an old U.S.G.S. ADVANCE SHEET – preferably one with a never-before-seen map SCALE and GRID SYSTEM !! One that will totally SPOOK those fusty old U.S.G.S.

historians in Reston (VA—Ed.) again !! [ I love that too !! – Ed.] Like the Shasta Valley Advance Sheets!!! Or … something ELSE !!!!!!

El Dorado County…? Placer County …? Nevada County… California? Or Washoe County … or maybe Storey County… Roop County, Nevada? Or just maybe

another one of UTAH TERRITORY or Nataqua; or Truckee National Forest? Or a USGS Grid Zone “G”?

[ For “Gold” !! – Ed.]

?

Waggoner’s Map of Truckee (City) 1901

Or maybe something ENTIRELY NEW – say, from the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers !! ??? BEST GET ON IT!!! Trust Mr. RUPERT !!! He’s been over this terrain now for QUITE SOME TIME!

SO PLAYERS, I ask you:

WHERE is the TRUE KEY of the TRUCKEE BECAUSE IT’S YOUR KEY to a SUMMER of

ADVERTISEMENT