Clue #1
You want it safe? We’ll play it safe,
though winning’s still a long shot.
Refine your skills and do your best
to be first to the right spot.
Hopefully this spot is far enough away from traffic. Have fun with it!
Clue #2
When it comes to ranking sizes,
one’s number is twice as big.
You should go with the smaller one
to have a successful gig.
Washington is the 18th largest state in area, and Oregon is the 9th largest. Going with the smaller number will give you the larger state, which means Clark County is out of the running.
Clue #3
It has more than
the other thirty.
But don’t look there.
Keep your search sturdy.
Another county elimination. There are 31 states that contain a Washington County, but ours is the most populous.
Clue #4
Is the treasure on your radar?
What will help you muse and think?
A great aid in acquisition
would be Walter’s favorite drink.
On the TV show M*A*S*H, Walter “Radar” O’Reilly’s favorite drink was a Grape Nehi. This tells you the treasure is hidden at a knee-high level.
Clue #5
North and south, east and west,
they’re all in play, which way is best?
Add one, two, three or four?
Harry’s lonely word helps you score.
Harry Nilsson wrote the song “One”, a hit by the group Three Dog Night in 1969. It contains a line repeated several times which says “One is the loneliest number”. If you add one to each of the directions, it narrows the search area to four combinations of townships and ranges: T1N R1E, T1N R1W, T1S R1E, and T1S R1W. The medallion was hidden very close to the northeast corner of T1N R1W.
Clue #6
Emanuel and two brothers:
If it were not for them,
We’d have less space to run and chase
or hide the prize within.
The Olmsted Brothers, a landscape architecture firm, developed a plan for Portland parks in 1903. The Portland Parks Board adopted the plan in 1904, and in 1908 hired an Olmsted employee named Emanuel Tillman Mische as the first Portland Parks Superintendent. He carried out much of the Olmsted Plan over the next six years, including the Park Blocks and Washington, Mt. Tabor, Laurelhurst, Sellwood, and Peninsula Parks, among others. This tells you that the treasure is hidden in a Portland park.
Clue #7
You should avoid the county that
was twice linked to a Harding scandal.
Once it was where a mistress died,
the other had a skater’s handle.
President Warren G. Harding had a mistress named Nan Britton, with whom he had a daughter the year before he became President. She died in 1991 in Sandy, Oregon. The other Harding scandal involved the skater Tonya Harding, who lived, went to school, and trained in Clackamas County. This eliminates a small portion on the southern edge of the remaining search area.
Clue #8
Within less than eight thousand feet
there’s a river in two directions.
These directions are like a bird
that seven states use with affection.
Seven U.S. states have the cardinal as their state bird. Cardinal directions refer to the four main compass points: North, south, east and west. The Willamette River is less than 8000 feet directly west and south of the treasure’s location.
Clue #9
You’re getting close if this you know,
that news and facts from it do flow.
But one thing it is not, you know,
is National Public Radio.
National Public Radio has the acronym NPR. Another news source with that acronym is the community newspaper North Peninsula Review, which covers the area where the medallion was hidden.
Clue #10
Get up and get out,
get busy today.
You might find a clue
at 12th and Broadway.
At 12th and Broadway you will see a Jimmy Johns sandwich shop. Jimmy Johns was the affectionate name for the founder of the city of St. Johns.
Clue #11
It stood alone for years,
Engelbert’s dozen,
but acquiesced and joined
its larger cousin.
The second line refers to Engelbert Franz who, with his two brothers in1906, started what became Franz Bakery. Thus we have a baker’s dozen. The city of Saint Johns was incorporated in 1902, but thirteen years later in 1915 voted to give up their charter and merge with Portland.
Clue #12
He was born a wolverine,
and Trueblood was his true love.
The whole place was named for him.
This should give your search a shove.
Stanhope S. Pier was born in Michigan in 1882. His family moved to Portland in 1891. In 1904 he married Elizabeth Olive Trueblood, and in 1922 he was elected city commissioner of finance, being reelected in 1926. In 1930 he proposed the development of the park later named in his honor.
Clue #13
Stand tall with the Rose City’s bird
and eye the icicles.
Walk that line for sixty-eight steps.
Watch out for bicycles.
In 1986 during Mayor Bud Clark’s tenure, the Great Blue Heron was adopted as Portland’s official city bird. In Pier Park there is a water feature near the playground with various plaques set in the concrete in a circle. Each plaque has a poem, and if you stand at the one that includes a heron and look at the one that starts with icicles, approximately 68 steps along that line of sight brings you to the treasure.
Clue #14
If you’re at the spot
where they search for sprites,
just look for a stump.
It is in your sights.
There is a play area for children that has a small sign encouraging them to search for fairies. The medallion was hidden on top of a stump close to the play area.