This geocache is one of twenty Historical Geo-Passport geocaches within the South Nation Jurisdiction. For more information on this series of geocaches, please visit South_Nation.
At the posted coordinates you will find two plaques. Start with the older greenish-black one.
How many rods away from the monument was the original McIntosh apple tree located?
What year was the tree transplanted?
What year was the plaque erected (by popular subscription)?
Now move on to Ontario Historical Plaque:
What year Was John McIntosh born?
What year was the McIntosh Apple introduced into British Columbia?
Add your five answers together, and divide the sum by 1000 (or place a decimal after the first digit). Add the resulting four digit number to the North and West coordinates of the below false coordinates to determine the final location of the geocache, hidden nearby in Dundela.
False coordinates: N 44 48.966 W 075 11.038
Histoire / History:
Beaucoup de visiteurs et de résidents sont surpris d’apprendre que les pommes McIntosh, délicieuses et acidulées, furent créées à Dundela. Après son arrivée au Haut-Canada en provenance de l’état de New York, John McIntosh (né en 1777- mort vers 1845-46) et Hannah Doran se marièrent en 1801 et s’adonnèrent à l’agriculture le long du fleuve Saint-Laurent. En 1811, ils échangèrent leur terre avec un membre de la belle famille pour un lopin de terre à Dundela. Alors qu’il défrichait ce lopin, John découvrit quelques jeunes plants de pommiers sauvages qu’il transplanta à côté de sa maison. Ceci donna un arbre au fruit étonnamment bon. Leurs petits-enfants l'appellèrent Granny’s Apple (« la pomme de grand-maman »).
En 1820, les graines provenant de l’arbre étaient vendues, mais ne produisaient pas la même qualité de fruit. Ce fut Allan (1815-1899), le fils de M. McIntosh, qui apprit l’art du greffage et avec l'aide de son frère, commença à cloner l’arbre, augmentant ainsi la production du fruit. La première vente commença en 1835 et en 1836, on donna au fruit le nom de McIntosh Rouge. Commençant sa production commerciale en 1870, la pomme devint populaire après 1900. L’arbre initial fut endommagé par un incendie en 1908 et produisit son dernier fruit. Des horticulteurs du Village Upper Canada sauvèrent des boutures du dernier arbre produit des greffes remontant à la première génération du pommier McIntosh avant sa mort en 2011.
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Many visitors (and residents too) of the South Nation watershed, are surprised to learn that a familiar taste we all enjoy, found it’s beginnings in Dundela in 1811 That surprise is that this is the location where the world’s very first McIntosh apple was discovered. And it is from this source that the 30,000,000 kg (66,000,000 lbs) of McIntosh apples were grown and harvested in Ontario in 2010. (source: Wikipedia)
The McIntosh's discoverer, John McIntosh (1777 – c. 1845–46), left his native Mohawk Valley home in New York State in 1796 to follow his love and he settled as a farmer in Upper Canada. He married Hannah Doran in 1801, and they farmed along the Saint Lawrence River until 1811, when McIntosh exchanged the land he had with his brother-in-law Edward Doran for a plot in Dundela. While clearing the overgrown plot, McIntosh discovered some wild apple seedlings on his farm. He transplanted the seedlings next to his house. One of the seedlings bore particularly good fruit. The McIntosh grandchildren dubbed the fruit it produced "Granny's apple", as they often saw their grandmother taking care of the tree in the orchard. McIntosh was selling seedlings from the tree by 1820, but they did not produce fruit of the quality of the original.
John McIntosh's son Allan (1815–1899) learned grafting around 1835; and with this cloning the McIntoshes could maintain the distinctive properties of the fruit of the original tree. Allan and his brother Sandy (1825–1906), nicknamed "Sandy the Grafter", increased production and promotion of the cultivar. Earliest sales were in 1835, and in 1836 the cultivar was renamed the "McIntosh Red”. It entered commercial production in 1870. The apple became popular after 1900, when the first sprays for apple scab were developed. A house fire damaged the original McIntosh tree in 1894; it last produced fruit in 1908, and died and fell over in 1910. The original tree discovered by John McIntosh bore fruit for more than ninety years. Horticulturalists from the Upper Canada Village heritage park saved cuttings from the last known first-generation McIntosh graft before it died in 2011 for producing clones.
Another interesting tidbit: Apple employee Jef Raskin named the Macintosh line of personal computers after the McIntosh. He deliberately misspelled the name to avoid conflict with the hi-fi equipment manufacturer McIntosh Laboratory. Apple licensed the rights to the name in 1983, and bought the trademark in 1986.