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Houston Hot Well Sanitarium Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

West Texas Reviewer: As there's been no cache to find for months, I'm archiving it to keep it from continually showing up in search lists, and to prevent it from blocking other cache placements.If the owner wishes to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future (not to exceed 15 days from the date of this entry), just contact me (by e-mail), and assuming it still meets the current Guidelines, I will consider unarchiving this cache.

Please be advised this is not a guarantee that this geocache will be unarchived. Many factors will go into my decision. The most important of which is how you responded to geocachers who tried to communicate with you regarding the problem(s) with this geocache hide and how you communicated with me, the West Texas Reviewer.

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Hidden : 9/4/2011
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Not your average micro, this cache was placed in order to highlight a nearly-forgotten bit of local history.

In 1904, wildcatters giddy after oil was found in the Humble area tried drilling at a spot near the Southern Pacific Railroad Line in the area now known as Cypress, Texas. They lost their drill bit, and spent two weeks searching for it. What they found was an artesian spring. Mineral-water sanitariums at the time were a popular medical treatment (and probably more effective than the contemporary medical establishment, which was just beginning to discover sanitation and had few effective medications), and it wasn't long before Houston Hot Well Sanitarium was born, featuring mineral baths and a hotel that housed the patrons.

The hotel burned down in 1955, but entrepreneurs Bud and Dallas Lamar purchased the property in the 1960s and turned it into Hot Wells, entertainment and social center of Cypress, with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a huge dance hall and pavilion. As the culture changed, Hot Wells started to flounder, and the Lamars changed it into a shooting range in the 1980s after the artesian well dried up.

Don't worry about all that shooting, by the way. It's loud, but there is a huge earthen berm between the cache and the range. Approach from the 290 eastbound service road, please! Just on the other side is Hempstead Road, which is a dirt road that dead-ends in both directions.

The cache is hidden in a way that pays homage to the site's earlier life as an artesian well, with a non-conventional camoflage pattern that is far, far older and more tested than any military camoflage. Please put the cache back in its hiding place, and seal it the same way you opened it.

The cache container itself can be traced to GC184PD, The Breeding Ground, of which this is an offspring. Many thanks!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ghea vg ba, bs pbhefr!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)