SMITH HUBBARD & TICHENOR GOLDENGATE’S

for August 18, 2013

CYPHERS

Where Is UNK? Where’s his MUMMY ?

Kajtushka scouts out….

and this…..

WHO WAS C. A. STONESIFER, TOPOGRAPHER, WITHER DID HE VANISH into the U.S.G.S.

DATABASES, and WHAT’S UP [???] with HIS MYSTERIOUS 19-SHEET SERIES

of SHASTA VALLEY ADVANCE SHEETS? But First…..

From the desk of ….

OKAY... PLAYERS!!! BACK AGAIN! Time is SHORT!

It’s the WILD but in no way WEIRD TOTALLY STRAIGHTFOWARD

CYPHERS Issue !!! !!!!

Phew!!! WOWEEE!!!! HoW COOL is THAT?

But HERE -- @ S.Y.M.-Zonia™ !!! -- We’re ….. SOLVING the CYPHERS and CRACKING the CODES!!

And helping YOU, PLAYERS, do LIKEWISE !!

RIGHT, EVERYBODY: I’M PITCHING EVERYTHING…

STRAIGHT DOWN the MIDDLE - - - With No TRICKS!! No GAMES!!! No FUNNY-BUSINESS!! … just Full DISCLAIMERS!!!!

NO RISK! of exposure to THREATS of LEGAL ACTION! No CAUSE will LIE ! No POSSIBILITY!! …. NOT of allegations of FRAUD in the INDUCEMENT, or of RELIANCE on IMPLIED PROMISES

of FUTURE PERFORMANCE!! Or REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS FOSTERED … but FRUSTRATED in FACT!!!

INSTEAD … with an ALL-NEW, critical …

TO HELP YOU GET to the S.Y.M.-F.O.N.I.C. … in TIME!!

PLAYERS: Nobody EVER did so much, worked so hard, or provided so many valuable, important HINTS … NOT Elmendorf, NOT Dromgoole, NOT EVER !!!

Remember that … !!!

NO WARRANTIES – “BUT …” You may be saying under your Breath!!

Wait !!!”….. and then …

“WHERE’s the ISSUE WE WERE ALL LEAD [Based upon no express statements OF MINE, but only

upon a [mis!]perceived prior pattern of performance ONLY !! – Ed.] [You thought! – Ed.] to BELIEVE WE [You mean YOU !!– Ed.] WOULD BE RECEIVING – … and LONG BEFORE NOW …… ?” [Please fix –

Ed.][No: Fix this … -- Ed.]

[No Wait… nevermind … --Ed.]

YES!! You mean Last Week’s Issue – the one with the ANSWER to ASTRONOMICALLY INSOLUBLE

S.Y.M.-Zonia™ of the Now- Globally-Circulating

LICKED? Issue !! The FOLLOWUP!!!

Well, Let’s face facts, PLAYERS!!!

Probably you let your subscription LAPSE – didn’t you? And some of you were so advised, -- but most not so – that if you failed to PONY UP before the BIG EVENT you could miss out on the next, upcoming, mega-mega TAHOE Issue that I had originally planned for Last Week, and which was to include the SOLUTION to the STAR-STUDDED LICKED? Issue -- namely ….

WHAT WAS the ONLY ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION UNDERTAKEN by the J. LICK OBSERVATORY

while SITED near TAHOE CITY (California) on LAKE TAHOE in the HIGH SIERRAS ?

But also a new, related S.Y.M.-Zonia™ …. PRECISELY WHEN and WHERE DID ALBERT BIERSTADT

PAINT the HERETOFORE UNIDENTIFIED LANDSCAPE – “LAKE TAHOE in WINTERTIME” – and WHY?

And that Issue I had carefully slated to run Last Week WITH AN ADDITIONAL… SYMPHONIC HINT # 3 -- until I became seriously distracted [This sometimes happens!!! – Ed.] by the discovery of the surveying work of C.A. STONESIFER and in particular, of his TOPOGRAPHY on the mysterious Nineteen-Sheet series of ..

Shasta Valley Advance Sheets !!! wOwEEE !!! Seriously … See BELOW !!!

But first … It’s Time to Play ………

YES!! Where is … …? I know!!! I can hear the cries!!! “Uncle!!!!” Uncle!!!!” “Agggh!! “I can’t handle any more!” “STOP!”

YES! I know! Suzy Cue says that sometimes, too! And she says, “I’m walking!!” “I’m taking the baby…!!” Etc.!! RIGHT!! But you’re all NEW at this game!!! Believe me, it just takes a few more of these PRACTICE ROUNDS – and you’ll catch on, rightaway !! And I understand that some of you feel – mistakenly!! – that you are beginning to succumb to Fe Ni Mo Re Co O P Er-fatigue!!! And you’re trying to avoid distractions, and harness the entirety of your mental resources towards the objective of solving for the critical Question, which will reveal the location to this year’s “BIG DOINGS” Event Right: Our Upcoming First Biennial ….

[ MORE ON THAT … BELOW!! Wowee !!! – Ed.] I know: I JUST SAID!!! But PLAYERS!!!! Let’s press on!!! Shall we? Okay – Good!!! Because YOU NEVER KNOW when

HELP may arrive ALL UNANNOUNCED and QUITE UNEXPECTEDLY!! Hang in there!!!! The answer to the Relevant Question ....

[ If Fenimore Cooper Were Composed Entirely of Eight Elements, and Six of These Were Metals, Where Would he be Located? – Ed.]

… might be … JUST AROUND THE CORNER!!!

Indeed, it was just Last Month, that I had to bolster your spirits with the special LICKED? Issue !!, addressed to the crisis in confidence you were experiencing over getting to the S.Y.M.-F.O.N.IC.!! And UNK too!! He was facing serious setbacks, with the MUMMY breaking camp – after introducing new barko-glyphs into the accepted canon -- and striking out on his own, among the wilds of the Trinity Alps !!! But UNK’s not LICKED – even though the Ledger

ran a picture on its front page, showing he was getting LICKED !!! And by his own favorite palomino horse, Ol’ Hick!!! [ See, Langlois Ledger, July 14, 2013, p. 1 -- Ed] -- PLAYERS:

FACT IS: You don’t KNOW how good you’ve got it:

At left, an article from the Jacksonville (Oregon) Sentinel June 25, 1881, p. 2, captures the situation as it stood, in Southern Oregon, in the 19th century!! It exposes the sorry state of e-Puzzling at the time!! And additional limitations on science and journalism!!

NOTE, Players: that at the time not even the IDENTITY of the METEORITE was known – and an article reporting it’s observation leads off with the question “WHO IS HE?” And closes by asking the even more befuddled question “ Was he a comet or a meteor?” They didn’t even know WHO the meteors were!!! And were uncertain whether the meteors might be comets … or versa vice!!! On the other hand, JUST LOOK WHERE YOU ARE!!!! I’ve started you light-years ahead of that, by giving you the complete name of the mysterious bolide -- Fe Ni Mo Re Co O P Er !!

THAT’S how good YOU’VE got it !! Got it ? OKAY!!! PLUS!!! There could be HELP COMING!!

INDEED ... IT’S ALREADY HERE !!!!!

OKAY? YES IT IS !! AND IT HAS!!! YES!!! PLAYERS: In the Last Few Week’s INTERIM DOWNTIME, while I was busy with the Shasta Valley Advance Sheets, [See below – Ed. ] other members of OUR TEAM here at S.Y.M.-Zonia™ were – all unbeknownst to me – [ PLAYERS: “Unbeknownst” should probably be excised from the American vocabulary – don’t you think? It has already been removed from standard rhyming dictionaries– Ed.] namely

S.Y.M.-Zonia™’s expert field researcher Randy Kajtushka – still fresh off his

relative success of earlier this Spring [See the RESURRECTION Issue, for instance!! – Ed.]– in identifying the location of …..

PLAYERS!!! Randy’s a close reader!

RIGHT !!!

And, at his young age, he didn’t get on here at S.Y.M.-Zonia™ without showing a certain flair for fieldwork – even working with Dromgoole up on Josephine Creek, (Oregon) two years ago, and before that Battle Rock !!! Etc. etc. So, it’s no surprise to me that he took the few clues I dribbled along the HARD-SCRABBLE™ pathway and RAN AWAY WITH THEM!!!!! Clear up into the wilds of Northern California …

So, Kajtushka moved on my repeated references to Oliver C. Farrington’s book, The Catalogue of Meteorites of North America -- to January 1, 1909 – and coupled that with the little tip I provided a Few Weeks Back, in the LICKED? Issue … you may remember it!!!! Namely, PLAYERS, that any…. INCOMPLETELY ASSAYED METEORITE [!!! – Ed. Fix!! ] stood a pretty good chance of

being, in actual fact …

Fe Ni Mo Re Co O P Er ….

Such as, for instance, the so-called “Canyon City” Meteorite, described at Farrington, beginning at p. 95 …

PLAYERS: Farrington’s book, by the way, includes, by way of an APPENDIX, a series of meticulously executed maps!!! showing the strike locations of the meteorites discussed in Farrington’s text…. For instance, like the map of California, [ Pictured above – ed.] which shows with precision the locations of California meteorite strikes … like ….

… the Cañon City meteorite !! It was never completely assayed ! JUST the TWO PARTIALS!!!

So Kajtushka MOVED ON IT!!! What a leader !!!! And recently filed with us….

The following STUNNING, SURPRISE Report !!! Read on …. !!!!

Is the Cañon City Meteorite … ?

A Report by Randy Kajtushka

Dude!!!

Check out this MAP !!!

At first I thought this thing was a big raincloud !!! Hovering over the mountaintops!

Then I looked more closely …

There were TWO of them!! You know – and both of them hovering over the highest mountains …. of the Trinity range, in Northern California …

And on the Trinity River Watrershed-- Cool!!!

Like some masterpiece of early cartography, in which early, pioneering meteorological observations were already being portrayed side-by-side with standard topography and grid data. But who could do that …. ???

Or maybe some Indian like that weird guy you talk to – UNK- -- had struck up a rain dance on one mountaintop – and then another Indian, like maybe a HOOPA Indian, or a YUROK, or a KLAMATH Indian had seen the rainclouds gathering, and decided he wasn’t going to be outdone by some fancy-pants Anthropologist, and so he

started up on his OWN rain dance on another mountaintop to the south ….. And these two INDIANS had worked themselves up into a furious …

INDIAN RAIN DANCE COMPETITON !!!

Who would win ??

Michael .. .DUDE!! My money’s on this NEW GUY … He looks lean and determined

and he makes your man UNK look old and maybe even over-the-hill for RAINDANCING …

What’s your wager ….? YOUTH and ZEAL? Or WISDOM and EXPERIENCE?

Oh, Heck! RIGHT !!! I’m supposed to be finding …

Fe Ni Mo Re Co O P Er !!!

Trinity County (California) Township map (ca. 1853 ? )

SORRY DUDE!!! So Here’s my REPORT:

The Cañon City Meteorite!

IT’s NOT THERE!!!! I mean.. of course .. it’s not there … But I mean, it never was there!!!

The Cañon City Meteorite .. I mean: It was NOT ACTUALLY FOUND in Cañon City, or even up Cañon Creek1

LET ME EXPLAIN: Check out the map!!

in Trinity County, California!! In fact, it was not even found in the Cañon Creek Watershed !!! !! It’s referenced to it – but that’s all…

Yes: it looks like a big RAIN CLOUD!! But it’s just badly waterstained …

The map, with North to the top, illustrates the region at the headwaters of Cañon Creek (shown at right, to the left) running from the north, southerly to the Trinity River, in Junction City Township – which you can see at the bottom of the map.

Right: Township Names are written in Blue - on this map for instance, Cañon City Township

NOTE also that the perimeters of the watersheds, including the Cañon Creek watershed, are marked with a faint but clear orange crayon outline: CAN YOU SEE IT? MAN: If that cloud ever lets loose …. well…. Look out!! Gully-washer!!!

And that orange outline is handy, as it identifies the high points of the topography: the crests of ridges and mountain ranges, between valleys ….

Now note Stuart’s Fork of the Trinity River (shown at right, to the right) as running from the north, very close to headwaters of Cañon Creek, but in the next watershed to the east, and veering to the southeast [Off the map – but also draining into to the Trinity River – Ed.] Like I was saying, it appears as if the close proximity of the watersheds in this high terrain has been cleverly highlighted by the topographer, using these waterstains reflecting the formation of rainclouds over precisely this region … For real!!! A raincloud !! YES …

But I guess I was just imagining it …. !!! At any rate, any drop of rain which falls in this area, could BE SPLIT into three or even four droplets, landing upon these sharp peaks, and might end up ANYWHERE as far as anyone can tell!! So MICHAEL: This is the region within which the Cañon City meteorite struck Earth. See where I’ve been looking? DUDE: It’s NOWHERE-LAND!!! Follow my nose over Cañon Creek and the Stuart Fork and up Deer Creek – or Deep Creek -- into the neighboring township to the east … Well … my point being … NO MOTELS!!!

1MICHAEL: Dude – get this orthography right: It’s a point of pride to the residents of Cañon Creek, and especially to the last family residing now in Cañon City: these names have to be typeset, and spelled, as if they were in fact Spanish!! Right!!! It’s INCORRECT to write them or set them as “Canyon Creek” and “Canyon City” – common as this error may be!! The “n” with the little tilde over it – namely “~” is to be used whenever Cañon Creek and Cañon City, in Trinity County, California is being referenced or designated!!! Why is this so important? I DON’T KNOW … yet ….. But MICHAEL: BETTER MAKE A NOTE IF IT!!! – R.

SO -- immediately south of the abutment of watersheds, is the Cañon City Township – like I said -- and so marked ….

At any rate, ALL that was intended to be said, by calling the thing the “Cañon City Meteorite” is just that Cañon City (California) was the nearest CDP [Census Designated Place !! – Ed. ] which was a hard reference for the location of the meteorite -- which itself was – as I said -- found THREE MILES northeast of Cañon City, and actually not on Cañon Creek, but in a different watershed! TO THE EAST!!

Maybe Deer Creek, for example? Shown here feeding into the Stewart Fork of the Trinity River .... Having been up there, I’m sure that’s “Deep Creek.”

So, as I was saying, the guy who found it over in the NEXT WATERSHED, was a miner named John Driver, who brought it back to Cañon City, and gave it to Capt. Davis, who lived there, and kept it with him for a few years, there in Cañon City proper. Driver had to be working a claim, on a stream – like Deep Creek -- that was tributary to the Stuart Fork, or Stewart Fork, of the Trinity – or some other small stream in the neighboring watershed … Wow…. Sure looks like rain!!

But Michael: take a look at this. This is weird.

This map? I found it, tucked into the pages of a Gideon’s Bible, in my motel room in Weaverville!!!! LOOK !! .. or maybe I should say .. BEHOLD!!!! For, LO!! It hath all the townships of Trinity County marked well upon it – for instance Canon City Township, and Weaverville Township in the middle – and Junction City Township in the lower left. [ Preceding pages – Ed.] The one cropped at the bottom is Douglas City Township. [ Preceding pages!!! – Ed.] But ….

But – and I think this is WEIRD -- the topographer didn’t record any TOWNS themselves … not even an outline of a town, to confirm its location within the -- as you call it – eponymous township. This is quite weird – because the township is nothing without the town which it “features” . Can you find a single townsite? Weaverville Township is there, but no Weaverville!!! Same for Junction City Township: no Junction City !! Etc. etc. [ Preceding pages – Ed.]

I already hear you, saying, “Randy, you chuckle-headed impetuous youth!!! It’s a just that it’s a Township map with significant attention to topographical detail, and watershed differentiation!!!” MICHAEL -- RIGHT: but here’s the thing: because although he didn’t mark down a single town, it looks like he recorded the location of a single solitary isolated lone cabin up there at the headwaters of Cañon Creek!!!

Sorry – I think I was covering it up on the first page -- but SEE IT? Dude – I’m looking RIGHT AT IT!!!! Michael: I need an OKAY to go look further up Cañon Creek itself, to see what might be at that ONE CABIN -- the only man-made structure marked on the map !!!! Do you think this could be an accident????

Well, anyway … I don’t !! It’s a perfect square!! But I didn’t see it right off the bat, you know? I mean, there’s a lot to consider on this map!!! I had to spend some time with it on site, to interpret it correctly. It would have been more helpful if there were any towns marked on it, for reference!!!!! And then, it was kind of …. STRANGE the way it was inside that Gideon’s Bible at the ---- --- - _____ Motel in Weaverville, you know? I mean … how would that make YOU feel? Freaked out, I’ll bet!!!! I was!!

So, Michael, I took some pix of Cañon City on the way through. Like I said up above, you’ve got to spell this the Spanish way, or it’s just not right… DON’T ASK ME WHY!!!

Cañon City Hall, Cañon City (California)

You tell me.

Signing off. For now …

Kajtushka.

P.S. Michael - with gold prices fluctuating so much higher, there’s a lot of new and revived mining claims up here, and the locals – who don’t have much of an industrial base -- are VERY JEALOUS about who goes on their property!!! I’ve been carrying my shotgun … just to stay safe…. LISTEN: I’m dead serious. I’d advise you to THINK TWICE before you go and locate that S.Y.M.-F.O.N.I.C. thing .. anywhere near here!!!

GOOD WORK, RANDY!! Cañon City? The Trinity River ? Hey!! UNK is up that way …

Both of them!!! And they don’t even know it!!!

Neither knows the other is there!!! And NO cell reception!!

Better see what’s …. IN THE NEWS… !!!

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING

WHO WAS C. A. STONESIFER, TOPOGRAPHER, WITHER DID HE VANISH into the U.S.G.S. DATABASES, and WHAT’S UP [???]

with HIS MYSTERIOUS 19-SHEET SERIES of SHASTA VALLEY ADVANCE SHEETS?

PLAYERS: There are an amazing NINETEEN (19!!)

Shasta Valley Advance Sheets [SVAS – Ed.]

As you will see, the sheets have been – up until now!! -- a closely guarded SECRET within the United States Geographical Survey [U.S.G.S.-- Ed. ] and their significance enwrapped in a strange almost inexplicable mathematical …

CYPHER …. A numerical sequence identifies the 19 sheets – but there is no rationality to the sequencing of these numbers, vis-à-vis the various sheets .. none that is immediately apparent anyway !!!! The arrangement is thus quite strange – but is just ONE of the remarkable and anomalous aspects of these maps – as you will see, below .

PLAYERS: just what should be the numerical sequence of the 19-sheet series – laid out contiguously FOR THE FIRST TIME in public right here for you S.Y.M.-Zonians™ ??

NOTE: that there are 16 separate numbers. Three numbers appear TWICE: #1, #3, and #10 are used TWICE – once for the number itself, and then duplicated on Sheets # 1S, #3S, and #10E.

Should the sequence be …

“1, 1S, 2, 3, 3S, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10E, 11…” etc?

And if so, how does that make sense of the Composite?

How about top down, as in ….

15, 16, 14, 13, 3, 4, 5, 12, 3S, 2, 6, 11, 10E, 1, 7, etc.?

Or West to East, as in ….

3, 3S, 4, 2, 1, 1S, 15, 14, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, etc.?

What’s the meaning of this strange enciphered numeric ordering of these Shasta Valley Advance Sheets?

Maybe we should BACK UP a few steps … ?

WHAT’S A CYPHER?? ??

PLAYERS: Usually a cypher – or cipher, as they like to spell it now -- is like a “transliteration” of a regular text, into just this sort of series of incomprehensible letters or numbers – or both – by means of a one-on-one , or letter-by-letter replacement of the text you want to transmit – SECRETLY!!!

A good example is the secret cyphered text which JAKE and his pals found in the well-known story of …

The BOY VIGILANTES; or KING COLE and his BAND

By Major Henry B. Stoddard, Ex-Scout, who also wrote

GORDON LILLIE, the BOY INTERPRETTER

of the PAWNEES

NOT SHOWN! But a very cool read !! Stoddard is said -- by some to have been -- Col. Prentiss Ingraham !!! [A fake name ??! Well -- believe what you will !! – Ed.]

Another good example is the secret enciphered on the sheet of Foolscap paper found by Mr. Le Grande, the reclusive patrician denizen of Sullivan’s Island, S.C., in Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of The Gold Bug…. [See the ancient GOLD BUG Issue !! [ Fix – !!!! (July 12, 1998) – Ed.] and the more recent GROUNDED Issue [(March 17, 2013) -- Ed.]

But for our purposes, the cipher in BOY VIGILANTES is probably most useful, because it appears that the cypher is worked in with geographic or cartographic coordinates!!! WOWEE!! Refer to the story !!! And PLAYERS, it’s pretty much a SURE THING – in fact, it’s a DEAD GIVEAWAY -- that when you have an enciphered text, like Jake found in Boy Vigilantes, that you’ve got your hands one a certified, bona fide ….

TREASURE MAP ….

Right. I kid you not. Wowees fail me. And in fact, at 19 whopping sheets of high-grade USGS certified topography, PLAYERS … believe you me: we are looking at… what is probably the MOTHER LODE of Treasure mapping …

IT WAS IN THE SYSTEM… A CLOSELY GUARDED U.S. GOVERNMENT SECRET!!!

NOW WE HAVE RELEASED IT …. TO YOU !!!!

JUST IN TIME!! To HELP YOU USE IT to GET to the ….

LET’S TAKE A LOOT AT HOW IT FITS ONTO OUR PROGRAM

SO FAR …

PLAYERS !!! This composite of our composites gives you a pretty good idea of where these strange new Shasta Valley Advance Sheets fit into the overall picture of Herman Ehrenberg’s map of Terra Incognito vis-à-vis the Wackenreuder California Geological Survey’s four-sheet composite map of Central California and Nevada (1873) – a.k.a, your WACKENREUDER!!!

Here’s YREKA

It’s on Ehrenberg’s map, and on Advance Sheet 3

HEY!!! – Randy Kajtushka is over in this area too …

Cañon Creek is shown here !!!!

… Even Ehrenberg used the “ñ” ... ….

And UNK is somewhere very close by !!! Here …..?

No… farther downriver I think …. Maybe here?

And Ehrenberg ties in with Wackenreuder at Shasta City…… Just off the Advance Sheets!

REMEMBER? Shasta City here on Wackenreuder? GOT IT???

Got your ?

OKAY !!!

NOW YOU SHOULD BE FULLY ORIENTED !!!

PLAYERS ….

You just need ONE more thing!!!

Or, maybe I should say ….One thing with NINETEEN parts …..

HOW to GET YOUR OWN COPIES of the SHASTA VALLEY ADVANCE SHEETS:

You’ll be needing a COMPLETE SET of these!!!

PLAYERS: There’s no time to waste now!!!!

To get your copy/ies of all 19 of the unique and mysterious SHASTA VALLEY ADVANCE SHEETS go to the U.S.G.S. website at http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/ - shown here … and click on the link that says … Download historical topographic maps which takes you directly to this search page [Click below if you want !!.—Ed.]

Historical Topographic Map Collection search

Then, if you want to make it a little easier on the USGS search engine !!! type “California” into the “State” data field, -- or, if you’re feeling , since you’re a member of the American public, like you just own the place – then damn the torpedoes!!! Go ahead and just type the words “Shasta Valley” into the data field marked “Map Name” … then of course hit “Search” …. and … and …

And you should get… a list of ALL NINETEEN SHASTA VALLEY ADVANCE SHEETS … which you can then download, and assemble into a single Treasure Map!!!!!

Like I did!!!

It’s EASY!!

It’s FUN!!

It’s NEAT!!

It’s SLOW!!

It’s REALLY

.. REALLY

IMPORTANT !

PLAYERS: Remember how I told you…

-- Oh, Heck! It’s probably been almost two months ago !!

How I quickly interpreted the Wackenreuder Composite, vis-à-vis what it INDICATES to the INTELLECT … and not what it actually SHOWS to the EYES?? This is an ANCIENT practice, often associated with things

like “Art” and “Music” and other such threadbare and outmoded methods of seeking to communicate … as if from one MIND to another MIND !!!! As if!!! Quaint !!! Yes. Almost OUTMODED!!!

And I was so confident that I had successfully, actually read the Wackenreuder rightly, that I made bold to MARK the REGION I understood was INDICATED … with a honkin’ huge, highly conspicuous …

“X”

– right there on the MARGIN of the MAP in an “area” that was – quite literally -- OFF THE CHART !!!

! I’m reproducing that very graphic for you now!! It’s from the INJUN COUNTRY Issue (July 14, 2013)

OKAY – so what’s it all about?? -- Look …

Players: So I was only following my own advice, and investigating in the region high-lighted above, [As discussed in the INJUN COUNTY Issue -- Ed.] marked with that MONSTER “X”, when I uncovered, seemingly for the first time, the UNIQUE and ANOMALOUS series of NINETEEN (19) SHEETS comprising the heretofore lost series of uncharted SHASTA VALLEY ADVANCE SHEETS – with their one-of-a-kind scale, size, grid-reference and localized coverage … precisely here in the region indicated by Wackenreuder -- !!! See below !!!

And after considerable investigation on my own, and only after re-assembling the Advance Sheets into a single-shet NEW COMPOSITE MAP [Above!! But see the cover for a more complete map!! – Ed.] and further investigation the work of the chief topographer, with his suggestive name – to wit: C.A. STONESIFER -- did I come to the earth-rattling realization that what I had re-created -- maybe for the first time in a CENTURY!!! – was a TREASURE MAP !!

Hidden within the U.S.G.S. database … !!! I mean ……. Pheeeeeeeeeeeee.. !! [Lou Costello!– Ed.]

PLAYERS: Of course I immediately contacted the HELPLINE at the United States Geographical Survey(U.S.G.S.) and posed … a few questions!! [This was all about the time I should have been working on the TAHOE Issue – which I soon realized would have to be PULLED!!, etc. etc. – so that sets the record straight!! – Ed.]

PLAYERS: Omitting my original inquiry, here’s the text of that e-mail correspondence … !!!!

icrocwreiter@usgs.gov

Rocwreiter, I.C.

Aug 6 (12 days ago)

to GS-N-WGSC, Charlene, mgoldengate

Greetings Mr. Goldengate: Your recent e-mail was forwarded to my office. The series of Shasta Valley Advance Sheets – 19 in all -- are classified TOP SECRET for a number of reasons. This is mostly because, once recombined into a single sheet, it is believed they will recreate a high-powered Treasure Map which, when combined with other related cartography of the region, will lead to a fabulous treasure stashed somewhere in Northern California, probably. Mr. Goldengate: I must ask -- who sent you these? Clearly they have been leaked. The series is unusual in several respects. The maps cover 6 minutes of latitude & longitude, and as such, the only series we at U.S.G.S. are aware of that operate on this increment. The 5,000-yard grid is also something that has never – ever, ever -- been used elsewhere: not on any other known map in our system. Furthermore, the reference on the border of these maps, to "U.S. zone system G". And the logic of the panel's numbering scheme (see attached PDF) [It appears on This Week’s Cover! – Ed.] is a mystery to me. It is believed that “Zone System G” may refer to: “Gold… ” Mr. Goldengate – I need to speak with you at once. The series is only acknowledged in a single reference book we use: A Cartobibliography of Separately Published US Geological Survey Special Maps and River Surveys by Peter L. Stark – but it does not disclose the unique purpose of this very special map series – which has been disguised as a topographical survey of an Irrigation district . For instance, you can see in the margin of one map [ Sheets 3, 3S, etc. -- Ed.] it states, "Surveyed in 1922 in cooperation with the US Reclamation Service, State of California, and Klamath-Shasta Valley Irrigation District". This is to make the innocent American public think that the valley was only being reconnoitered for the purpose of building a reservoir !! What a perfect cover story!!! Damn!! The US Reclamation Service morphed into the US Bureau of Reclamation, an agency that is still heavily involved in treasure-hunting, under the guise of water management projects. But this too is secret ….

So, Here’s our cover story -- from our “historian”: The Shasta Valley sheets likely were part of Robert B. Marshall's plan for a Central Valleys project in California. Marshall's experience as a USGS topographer in that State began in 1891. By World War I, Marshall had developed a plan for storing the waters of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, and other rivers that would advance land reclamation, provide additional water supplies to major cities, control floods, and aid navigation. He resigned as USGS Chief Geographer in September 1919 to lobby for the project.

In 1921, the California's legislature and governor agreed to provide the State's engineer with $200,000 "to determine the maximum amount of water which can be delivered to the maximum area of land, the maximum control of flood waters, and the maximum storage of waters, as well as all possible and practical uses of water." After 1922, at the State's request, the portion of these funds allotted to the USGS Water Resources Branch supported only stream-gaging studies. Some of the Reclamation Service's (USBR in 1923) cooperative funds supplied to the USGS in the 1920s also may have been used for this purpose in California.

The 1:24,000-scale topographic mapping (16 sheets, with 5-foot contours) of the Shasta Valley completed by the USGS Topographic Branch in 1921-22 represented preliminary operations in support of initial planning for an irrigation system as part of Marshall's plan. Resurveys at a larger scale were projected if that part of the Central Valley project proved feasible.

The Shasta and other larger dams in the project seem to have been constructed more or less as Marshall planned.

Menlo: does your office have any insight on how this series got into the hands of Mr. Goldegate?

HE MUST BE STOPPED AT ONCE ….. We need to get these maps back from him ASAP -- AT ONCE – ! They are highly sensitive. We must also find the LEAK or the LEAKER before he/she/it can do any further damage to the bureau!!!

I.C. Rocwreiter USGS Office of Secret Treasure Mapping Mail Stop 1836 - Box 25046 Denver Federal Center, BLDG 810 Denver, CO 80225

Voice: 302-479-5238 Email: icrocwreiter@usgs.gov

mgoldengate@berkeley.ca.edu Aug. 7 (11 days ago)

Dear Mr. Rocwreiter –

Thanks for that information. I am little hard to get hold of at the present, as I am on the road with my family – but my G.P.S. broke down around Vallejo (California) and I am not exactly sure where I am… Although I – we -- were recently in Marsyville. So don’t bother trying to find us!! I am also planning for the upcoming First Biennial S.Y.M.-F.O.N.I.C. ™ -- but we don’t yet know where this will be, and so I don’t yet know where I will be!!! Probably NOWHERE NEAR SHASTA, I can tell you that!!!! So, don’t call me, I’ll call you !!!

I have another querry, however. Who is C.A. Stonesifer – the topographer credited on many of these maps?

I can’t find anything on this guy anywhere. I think it may have been a nom de stylus… Can you prove he was real ? Any data on him whatever? Please help….

It sounds like a fake name – you know?

Michael C. Goldengate, Editor

cfacaade@usgs.gov Aug. 8 (10 days ago)

Dear Mr. Goldengate:

Glad to know, via I.C. Rocwrieter, that my brief cover story on Robert Marshall's plan for an Irrigation District, proved useful. [See above – Ed.] Rocwreiter just forwarded me your request on the bio for the topographer on these Treasure maps - C. A. Stonesifer.

C. A. Stonesifer is credited as the (or one of the) USGS topographers on seven of the 19-sheet Shasta Valley series in 1921-22. These are ….

2, 6, 8, 10E, 11, 13, and 16.

They may be important in decoding the maps!! But did you hear: you NEED TO RETURN THESE!! Can’t stress this enough. I've not as yet been able to find Stonesifer's given names, but I will continue to search and write again if I locate them.

Cliff Facaade Geologist and Cartographical Specialist, U.S. G. S. 2350 National Center Reston, VA 20192

707-467-7999 (voice) cfacaade@usgs.gov

mgoldengate@berkeley.ca.edu Aug. 9 (9 days ago)

Dear Mr. Facaade --

I missed a few sheets -- I gues Stonesifer is idenitifed as, principal topographer on three or four? I missed the others. Stonesifer's biography is also a cipher as I cannot find his name anywhere online -- including the "depth of field" California Digital Newspaper Ccollection -- cdnc.ucr.edu -- so he almost certainly never existed – at least, not under that name….

However, running C.A. Stonesifer through the Author list on Worldcat, turns up scores of USGS quads, predominantly in California, to which Stonesifer contributed, at least .... E.g., see below.

I'd be interested in any further thoughts or impressions on the anomalies of the Shasta Valley Treasure Sheets...

Michael C. Goldengate, Editor

1.

Topographic map of the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1 : (Elk Hills Oil Field) Kern County, California / Corp Author: Geological Survey (U.S.) Publication: [Washington, D.C.] : Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 1930

2.

Plan and profile of middle fork Eel River, California : to mile 34 ; Black Butte River to mile 4 ; and tributaries / Corp Author: Geological Survey (U.S.) Publication: [Washington] : The Survey, 1926

3.

Topographic map of the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1 : (Elk Hills Oil Field) Kern County, California / Corp Author: Geological Survey (U.S.) Publication: [Washington, D.C.] : The Survey, 1952, 1930

4.

California (Kern County) Oildale quadrangle / Author: Stonesifer, C. A.; Searle, A. B. Publication: Washington, D.C. : Dept. of the Interior, U.S.G.S. 1935

5.

California Nipomo quadrangle. Author: Birdseye, C. H.; Davis, George R., and others Publication: Washington, D.C. U.S. Geological Survey, 1922

6.

California Reedley quadrangle Author: Stonesifer, C. A.; Gorman, E. J. Publication: Washington, D.C. : Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 1924

7.

California Turlock quadrangle. Author: Marshall, R. B.; Davis, George R., and others Publication: Washington, D.C. : Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 1917

8.

California Oxalis quadrangle. Author: Birdseye, C. H.; Davis, George R., and others Publication: Washington, D.C. : Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, 1922

P.S. Etc… there’s many more….

cfacaade@usgs.gov (Aug. 10, 8 days ago)

Michael,

Nice catch!!! Where can we meet you? LOOK: These maps need to remain in government custody. Stonesifer is the sole topographer credited on some of the Shasta Valley sheets and co-credited on others. I, too, have not as yet been able to find his given names – and I think you’ve seen through the façade .. I mean, charade: undoubtedly he never really lived under that name. I can’t even find a payroll record for this guy!! Most of the topographic-related journals do not print memorials or obituaries; I found Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing a useful exception. I have nothing else on hand about Marshall's plan and the mapping. If I do find additional information, I'll write again. Meanwhile – STAY IN TOUCH.. Tell me where we can rendezvous!!! Best wishes, Cliff Facaade Geologist and Cartographical Specialist, U.S. G. S. 2350 National Center Reston, VA 20192 707-467-7999 (voice) cfacaade@usgs.gov

mgoldengate@berkeley.ca.edu Aug. 11 (1 week ago)

Dear Cliff:

Probably the name should be read as "See a Stonesifer" -- as in "See a cipher in stone". Speaking of which, the name of your colleague is intriguing … .Who is Mr. Rocwreiter anyway? And have you ever met him? The so-called “Shasta Valley Advance Sheets” fit into the "hole" identified in the last few issues of our magazine – S.Y.M.-Zonia™ -- which has recently been considering a California Geological Survey composite performed under Josiah Whitney, and his unpredictable topographer, Vitus Wackenreuder. Are you acquainted with any works by Wackenreuder?

To get an image of Wackenreuder’s important precursor map to the Shasta Valley Advance Sheets, just Gargle –search "wackenreuder composite" and it should return a copy … somewhere .

Magazine treatment attached. Please consider subscribing!! Much valuable info – you know?

Find us online at http://www.sym-zonia.com

Michael Goldengate, Editor

2 attachments — Download all attachments

SYM-ZONIA -- INJUN COUNTRY.pdf 7277K View Download

SYM-ZONIA -- LICKED.pdf 5473K View Download

PLAYERS!!! That’s just a sample …

But – you can readily see thereby ..

I mean … you can readily “ See A. Stonesifer …”

Get it?

AND!! You can also readily see what happened about 2 weeks ago, when I found this MONSTER Treasure Map – this series of so-called Shasta Valley Advance Sheets – while boning up on the Shasta region, following all the material – including Wackenruder, and then Ehrenberg, etc. that so clearly tied in to SHASTA CITY, and the region north & west of there..

SHASTA VALLEY ADVANCE SHEETS

GET YOURS TODAY!!! Before the U.S.G.S. FIGURES OUT!! … where the LEAK is!!!!

PLAYERS: Here’s just one of these beauties … Sheet 10E — Topography by …… “C.A. Stonesifer” … !!! OF COURSE, it’s absolutely useless without the other eighteen sheets!!!!

The U.S.G.S. says it’s a complete ANOMALY!!! Our own EXPERTS are so far totally BEFUDDLED !!!

BUT THERE YOU HAVE IT !!!

Here’s that strange grid …

Dr. Juerglein Waters

Rupert Roget (Ret.)

Bunch of CAVES on this one … running deep under Mt. Shasta …. !!!!

So, PLAYERS !!

That’s what held everything up – especially the TAHOE Issue I told you I was trying to get out Last Week !!!! With the solution

to the Astronomical LICKED? Issue !!!!

And a NEW S.Y.M.-Zonia™ on an unidentified masterpiece by ALBERT BIERSTADT !!!

PAINTED at LAKE TAHOE – YES!! But WHERE???

AND a NEW S.Y.M.-F.O.N.I.C. HINT !!!

All delayed because I was SO RIVETED !! by the implications of THE DISCOVERY of this amazing

19-SHEET COMPOSITE TREASURE MAP, disguised as a SURVEY for an IRRIGATION PLAN

for the SHASTA VALLEY !!!

As you can completely understand !!!!

And …… LEGAL HAS ADVISED ME …

I’d better get this baby out to you SOON!!!! Real soon…

BEFORE …. The

I just hope “J.C.F.” can make it on time … !!!