The Nevada Day Treasure Hunt Medallion has been found; clues explained for $1,000 prize

Hello seekers! Our medallion has been found, and a hearty congratulations to winners Penny, Kimberly and Melissa Russell! This team found the medallion at the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area just outside Yerington. Did you have a good time hunting? I was way off, but I always like the hunt itself! Here are the clue explanations:

A thank you as always to the team of the Nevada Day Treasure Hunt for offering us this fun game each year in the Silver State.

Clue #1
Enjoy the constant magic
When you turn it in
Of a squared 5 square
And where you have been

This clue tells hunters the medallion is hidden 65 miles from the Nevada Appeal, where the winner will turn it in. This year the medallion is hidden at Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area, 65 miles from the Nevada Appeal. 65 is the magic constant of a 5 by 5 normal magic square, an n x n square grid popular in historical and recreational mathematics.

Clue #2
As it is more respectable
The 87 introduction
Would have pleased Franklin
As Nevada’s first induction

This clue tells hunters that the medallion is hidden at the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area where the Rio Grande turkey was first introduced in 1987, marking the first attempt by the Nevada Department of Wildlife to establish this species within the state. Benjamin Franklin is rumored to have preferred the turkey be named as the national bird as he wrote in a letter to his daughter that it is “a much more respectable Bird” than the Bald Eagle.

Clue #3
Maintaining distance
They continue collaborating
These four should be the
Ones you find fascinating

This clue refers to the current pandemic and the shared resources of the Quad Counties (Carson City, Douglas, Lyon, and Storey). Specifically, this clue tells hunters that the medallion will be found in one of the four counties, which make up the Quad Counties for Covid reporting.

Clue #4
Built for a purpose
No longer there
Performing the same job
But with more fanfare

This clue tells hunters the medallion can be found near Wabuska. In the early 1900s, Wabuska boomed as a shipping and junction point for mining towns in the Mason Valley. A new railroad depot was built to connect the copper mines west of Yerington to the Southern Pacific and the smelter at Thompson. The depot was moved to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City in the 1980’s and refurbished. Today it is used for tourists and visitors to the Museum.

Clue #5
Charged with providing
Current security is ensured
Including that this year’s site
Is maintained and will endure

Fort Churchill Generating Station is a 226 megawatt plant located near Wabuska and on the northeastern edge of the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area, where the medallion is hidden. The Generating Station can produce enough electricity to serve approximately 135,000 Nevada households. Water from the plant’s cooling pond is used to help sustain wetlands in the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area.

Clue #6
A loving and joyful father
Was the focus of a president
His death led his son
To eventually become a resident

This clue once again tells hunters the medallion is hidden near Wabuska. The Wabuska Bar was built in 1881 by Edward Lovejoy. Edward was the son of Elijah Lovejoy, a famous abolitionist and newspaper editor, who was killed by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois in 1837. The unjust murder of Lovejoy seems to have been a seminal event in the formation of Abraham Lincoln’s political views. Lincoln wrote, “Lovejoy’s tragic death for freedom in every sense marked his sad ending as the most important single event that ever happened in the new world.” Edward was an infant at the time of Elijah’s death. The story goes his mother fled with him and took him by ship around Cape Horn, to San Francisco, to California mining towns, to Virginia City, and eventually Wabuska.

Clue #7
A surprisingly harmless balloon
Landed nearby
Serving up a failure
When it fell from the sky

During World War II the Japanese deployed Fu-Go balloon bombs against the U.S. These hydrogen balloons each carried a bomb and an incendiary device. They utilized the jet stream over the Pacific Ocean and were meant to drop bombs on American cities and forests to cause forest fires. They were generally unsuccessful. Only one bomb exploded, killing six people in Oregon. Six Fu-Go bombs landed in Nevada. One of those landed on a farm in Yerington and did not explode. This clue tells hunters the medallion is hidden near Yerington.

Clue #8
These concrete stanchions
Which three times stirred
Still stand at the north edge
Where history is interred

Mason Valley Mines Company began construction on a large smelting complex at the north end of the valley. The first smelter, which was served by the newly completed Nevada Copper Belt Railroad (of which Thompson was the northern terminus), went to work in 1912. In 1913 or 14, a second furnace was added to the smelter and Thompson grew to nearly 350 people. Its prosperity was short lived and the smelter closed in 1914. It reopened in 1917, lasting only until 1919, and then opened one final time from 1926 until 1928. This clue tells hunters to look for the medallion in Mason Valley.

Clue #9
Constantino must be proud
Of this modern king
And the value of his sweetie
With the very cool ring

Sweetie Sweet is a variety of sweet onion grown by Peri & Sons Farms. They are one of the nation’s largest producers of onions. David Peri, referred to as the Onion King by the Edible Reno-Tahoe publication is the grandson of Constantino Peri. Peri & Sons Farms were one of the first onion farmers to embrace the demand for organic produce. They also utilize a cooling facility that cools the onions in a faster, more efficient way resulting in fresher and longer lasting produce. This clue tells hunters the medallion is hidden near Yerington.

Clue #10
John may have known it best
Young Vandy’s love was true
Where the pretty lights shine
You’ll have a break through

The song Darcy Farrow was covered by more than 300 artists, most famously John Denver. The song is about a young maiden named Darcy Farrow who died before she was set to wed young Vandermeer. The song ends with the line “At dusty Sundown to her name they drink a round and to young Vandy whose love was true.” The song mentions numerous Northern Nevada locations, but provides that Darcy’s “eyes shone bright like the pretty lights that shine in the night out of Yerington town.” This clue tells hunters the medallion is hidden near Yerington.

Clue #11
More than twentyfold spotted
A dozen are raised
Don’t pin their tails in the north
As redheads may be unfazed

This clue indicates to hunters that the medallion is hidden at the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area where over 21 species of ducks have been recorded. The most common ducks are mallards, gadwalls, northern pintails, green-winged teal, redhead, ruddy ducks, ring-necked ducks, and canvasback. Twelve species of ducks breed and raise their young in the area.