Located within what was once one of the most important iron mining districts, the Copperas Mine was worked for its namesake, copperas, or ferrous sulfate. During the Revolutionary War, the notable iron master Job Allen manufactured copperas on the site. Later during the War of 1812, the mine was under the direction of Dr. Charles Graham for the purpose of producing copperas and red paint for the war. After the war ended, the mine was therefore abandoned.
In February of 1880, Cooper and Hewitt acquired the mineral rights as well as those of nearby mines in the vicinity for a sum of $50,000. With a spur of the Charlotteburg and Green Lake Railroad now leading directly to the Copperas Mine, Cooper and Hewitt began shipping its product by rail.
By March of 1880, 40 carloads per day were being shipped via railroad from the Copperas, Charlotteburg, and Davenport mines collectively. However, the shipments soon decreased and the mine was permanently abandoned.
Although magnetite was present at the mine, it was mixed with pyrite and not known to have been worked. Perhaps it was either not feasible or uneconomical to roast the iron ore of its sulfur content. The mine consisted of short adits driven into the hillside, shafts, as well as open cut workings. The mine has been reclaimed to a small extent in recent years, but it is otherwise relatively preserved. In particular, one feature consisting of an adit leading to a stope open to the surface has been entirely backfilled.
The cache can be found at
N 41° XX.ABC W 074° YY.DEF
The missing numbers for the final coordinates can be found on the inside cover of the log books of the other caches I have placed within Copperas tract. "Kids Cache" contains the XX and YY coordinates, but they can probably be determined without finding the cache. the other 6 caches each have one of the missing digits needed.
GC60YTX kids-cache
GC60YZ3 railroad-overlook
GC60Z0H fireplace-logs
GC60Z25 trailside
GC60Z4J the-0-tree
GC60Z5G rock-shelter
GC60Z5W triple-trunk-tree
You are looking for an ammo can hidden near a side trail. No bushwacking is needed to find the cache except for possibly the final 15-20 feet. The difficulty and terrain are based on the most difficult of the caches needed to obtain the final coordinates.
Round trip from the parking area to obtain all the needed caches and the final is 3.5-4 miles depending on your choice of trails.
Congratulations to olijosh on the FTF of all the caches in this series.