GCA642 Virtual Cache Douglas #5 Fonder
Type: Virtual | Size: Virtual Virtual | Difficulty: 1 out of 5 | Terrain: 2 out of 5
By: Jim Reeb @ | Hide Date: 11/09/2002 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 27.003 W104° 45.538 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 43

This is number five in a series of historical points within Douglas County Colorado.

This cemetery is the Fonder Cemetery.

Pioneers Hubert and Miriam Fonder were married in 1862. He was a miner from Belgium and she was from Ohio. They met in Idaho Springs. Hubert joined the army shortly thereafter and Miriam traveled with his battery, acting as laundress for the soldiers. He was discharged in 1865 and they settled on 80 acres, called Shingle Ranch, just west of the current Ponderosa High School.

The main person in this tale is Miriam. She was born in 1835. At age two she suffered severe burns on her face from a fireplace accident. After marrying Hubert, she contracted mountain fever. Hubert went to Kansas for awhile and she supported herself and her children by washing clothes for the miners. In 1871, Hubert was killed while trying to break a horse. Hubert is buried in this cemetery. Miriam had four children and a fifth on the way. A blizzard killed most of her cattle and grasshoppers ate the crops. She eventually moved to Glenwood Springs and is buried in Rosebud Cemetery. She died at age 91. This was one tough lady.

She supposedly taught school but there is no record of this. However, there is a Fonder School still in existence near the cemetery.

To claim this geocache, email the age George died. This is the north-west marker. Photos are fine for verification.
JimReeb@ecentral.com

Thanks Geocaching Colorado for the Geocache of the Month Award, as the second series to win!

Additional Waypoints

PKA642 - GCA642 Parking
N 39° 27.076 W 104° 45.512
Parking and gate.
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 Additional Waypoints (1)

CodeNameTypeCommentsDateCoordinatesDistance
PKA642GCA642 Parking Parking Area Parking and gate. 09/03/2015 N 39° 27.076 W 104° 45.512 0.14 kms N 

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Driving Directions

 Logs

20 Logs: Found it 20  

Found it 06/04/2019 By shelleah
I came up with xia888, LilRyRy, and CDRSheppo for an event, and I put the oldest caches nearby on our list to find along the way. We initially passed this one by because I forgot to navigate to parking coordinates instead. We backtracked and found it though. CDRSheppo enjoyed watching the cars drive by with xia888 while LilRyRy and I pinpointed GZ. I sent answers on behalf of the group, thanks for the virtual!

Found it 06/04/2019 By xia888
TFTC! Answered by Shelleah above

Found it 06/01/2019 By JMKR
A lot of around and about to get to the marker, they sure don't line up the gates for us. Only a couple of Douglas historical virtuals to go, will try to finish this summer. TFTV

Found it 06/01/2019 By mm&mm
Another fun history lesson. TFTC BigSmile

Found it 04/29/2019 By -KROP-
(Individual log to follow)

This spring I've decided to do another epic geocaching trip to pick up some special caches in the United States.

Starting in London, I fly to Seattle, then Denver, then Atlanta, then New York before finally heading back to London.

After arriving from Seattle I drove east and stayed in a dodgy motel in Wray but it meant first thing I could grab a cache in Haigler NEBRASKA. From there I went into KANSAS for the two most important targets - Arikaree and MINGO! The rest of the day was spent targeting regular sized trads and virtuals in OKLAHOMA and NEW MEXICO.

The next morning was focussed in getting JASMER caches and a WEBCAM in COLORADO, with the rest of the day for virtuals and D5 challenge caches.

STATS FOR DENVER:
1x Webcams
27x Virtuals
7x D5 Challenge Caches (3x not qualified yet)
14x Other Caches
5x New States (Nebraska,Kansas,Oklahoma,Colorado,New Mexico)

TOTAL FINDS: 48
TOTAL DNF: 2

TFTC from London England

Next stop - Atlanta to complete my DOUBLE JASMER!

Found it 10/02/2018 By vorlon40
I love virtuals and cemeteries so this one was great. It is amazing where they find and preserve these pieces of history. TFTC.

Found it 09/23/2018 By Rock Chalk
Our Colorado vacation continued today with a beautiful day between Colorado Springs and Golden. Sunny skies and warm temperatures. Great way to spend a day.

Enjoyed checking out several of the 'Douglas' virtuals today. Answers are on the way. TFTC!

Found it 09/23/2018 By Trea
Nice to start my caching day with a virtual. Anytime I visit an old cemetery I wonder what the people who are buried there would think about the world today. Thanks so much for bringing me here.

Found it 09/04/2018 By Firemnky
On a Fall trip through Colorado doing some caching and seeing the sites. A beautiful scenic drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. Visiting the downtown areas of Boulder, Denver, Castle Rock and Colorado Springs to name a few. We enjoyed a beautiful hike on the Barr trail at the Summit of Pikes Peak. It was a wonderful trip with quite a bit of caching thrown in along the way. Another short morning hike. Answer sent.

Found it 09/02/2018 By Path_Lighter
Found it and emailed the appropriate information to the CO. I love going to these places and learning about this history. TFTC

Found it 08/19/2018 By tehjoester
TFTC! Found with LandD7475 and Doug&Cindy09. Emailed answer.

Found it 08/19/2018 By DOUG&CINDY09
Thanks for the cache

Found it 08/03/2018 By prerules
TFTC. Answers sent.

Found it 07/21/2018 By JSQuack
A fun find with CShare today as we spent some last minutes in the area rounding up the Douglas County Virtual Caches.

We made two approaches before parking on the hiway shoulder and walking up to GZ. it was a bit tough to answer the question, but we did out best.

What a remote old and forgotten cemetery! TFTC Smile

Found it 07/21/2018 By CShare
JSQuack and I are back doing more Douglas County caches today.

This was off a busy road and we climbed the embankment to get to the cemetary.

JSQuack is sending in the answers for both of us. TFTVC

Found it 07/21/2018 By AJperla
TFTC WITH TC

Found it 07/21/2018 By tc54915
Caching trip with AJ Perla out west in Colorado.. managed to.get my triple jasmer, hike up mountains that I never imagined I would do. I am truely a flatlander...Tftc. and
the adventures..

Found it 07/14/2018 By Memfis Mafia
Thanks Jim Reeb for this Cache. We always appreciate Cache owners for their contribution to the game.

We are on a crazy family mission to get into 5 digits for finds this year. This is find 6668 for us.

Memfis Mafia

We will add more details as we go and most likely talk about our experiences on our weekly podcast

www.geocachetalk.com

Found it 07/13/2018 By TheBrecks
Out geocaching on this beautiful Colorado day. We headed towards Parker to look for some multi caches, we are trying to bump up our numbers in that category. We got distracted and headed down other roads and found this cache. Thanks for placing this cache for us to find today. No problems here. # 3410

Found it 07/11/2018 By Colorado GeoDemon
Nice little walk to this one. TFTVC!