Listen to “You Asked For Nothing More Here”
Hey all! Ali here!
When we started thinking about this year’s Horseshoe Hunt I got very excited about the place that we chose. I just felt like there were so many clues we could use to lead hunters to the place this year. I’ll go step by step or day by day in my explanations but also just wanted to start with a general overview here.
We knew we wanted to highlight Joseph Lee Heywood on this special 150th Anniversary year and as you might know, Tim is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to anything Northfield raid history. I always learn so much from him. What most of you don’t know until now is that Tim has written, produced and released a complete song dedicated to Heywood and I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek of it earlier this year. Tim asked me to disclose the following about this song. The lyrics, melody, etc are all him but the vocals, etc are through Suno, which is Ai.
One day when reading the lyrics to Tim’s song it all just clicked…this was how we were supposed to deliver the clues this year and debut Tim’s song…through the Horseshoe Hunt! It’s available now and you can listen to it on your favorite streaming platforms, and there are links to the song via various platforms, like Spotify and Apple Music below.
Now I obviously changed some of the words to make them fit specific clues, but I tried to keep much of Tim’s song in tack. And there were a couple times we couldn’t believe how well it actually worked. Like the fact that the Timberfield Apartments are gray and blue!
Another clue I was so excited to use and I hope you caught on to it was how to get you over to Char Carlson Park, which is over by the YMCA. So without spelling out YMCA I tried to start the clues off with the sounds of each letter so that is why (and I really wanted to use “Why” as my first word of the first clue but we thought that might be too obvious) we used the words While (Y), Ember (M), See (C ), A. And we wanted to also honor Char Carlson a bit in the clues, as our research showed, she has given back a lot to our community and has a benevolent spirit…so much so they named a park after her, in true Heywood spirit.
I hope you have a chance to listen to “He Asked For Nothing More” (links below) to learn a little more about Joseph Lee Heywood and the sacrifice he really did make to keep his employers and his fellow townspeople’s money safe. And while you’re at it search him up and read about his story, how a boy from New Hampshire got all the way to a bank in Northfield, MN.
There are not too many people in history that people are still talking about today. We feel it’s important to learn why we still celebrate his bravery here in Northfield every year in September.
Day One:
As I said in the beginning we wanted to focus on Joseph Lee this year and really what a sacrifice he made for his employer and his fellow townspeople. But he wasn’t one of those loud and out there people. He was a bookkeeper, doing his job, being put in a place of leadership because his employer at the bank asked him to be acting cashier while he went to check out the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. It was a big year for the United States of America celebrating 100 years, so when his boss got back then Joseph was going to be able to go and take his family on the train and go out there and experience the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition himself. So there was nothing that indicated to him that being the active cashier was going to be a danger to his life…he was just doing his duty while his boss was away. He was known for being quiet and a little timid. Again…he didn’t live a loud out there kind of life. He did his job and loved his family and was said to have a faith in God. But before he came to Northfield, he was born on a farm in New Hampshire. And when the Union called he joined and went to battle. Again, selfless sacrifice. As far as clues go for day one there were a couple here:
While has the Y sound to it to start my YMCA clue. Quiet was another clue as it is a very quiet park and I’m not sure too many know about it back there or how big it actually is! Local was a clue to tell you that it was going to be in Northfield this year and not Dundas. And Men was a clue to go along with YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association).
Day Two:
We got to learn a little more about Joseph’s service. He joined Company B, aka the Woodworth Rifles, and was first located in Chicago before moving down to Memphis. He was part of the Vicksburg Campaign, the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, the Arkansas Post, and a couple more. It was disease not bullets that ended his time fighting. It was after that that he moved up to Northfield and first worked as a bookkeeper for a lumbermill and then went to work at First National Bank. He also became the treasurer for Carleton College and the City of Northfield. Some clues that we worked in on this day were:
Ember has the M sound and also Honeylocust Dr is the street and honey can be ember and amber in color. In a field because it will be hidden in the field and the other field reference is that they are the Timberfield Apartments right there which are gray and blue so they should be on that side/path and not on the YMCA side. Point of view because if you look at an aerial photo like on Google maps (or with Tim’s drone 🙂) it looks like a point between the two ponds. Two paths because there are two paths that you can take for the park, and rightly because if you are starting at the YMCA you would take the one to the right. Also if you are coming from between Elysian Senior Homes of Northfield and the Timberfield Apartments you’d also go to the right. And in the end I took 8 steps in line with the small trees which came to about the first tree and then went to the right 6 steps so I tried to keep everything going to the right to help you find it. I felt like this day had a lot of clues that you could come back to on Day 4 or 5 to help you figure out where it would be.
Day Three:
When Joseph moved to Northfield he met and then married Martha Buffum and together they had a daughter named Lizzie May. Martha fell sick and died and her wish for him was to marry her friend, Lizzie Adams so that her daughter would have a mother. We worked in quite a few clues into this day.
See – C in YMCA. I’m hoping that this one makes you realize the sounds of the letters are leading you over to the YMCA. No time for play is a clue to stay away from the playground part of the park. Also I added the line about his life being cut short to mean he would never grow old or be a senior man. The Elysian Senior Homes are right by the field where the horseshoe was hidden and I took the path that goes in between that and the Timberfield Apartments. Sweet is a clue because the address for Char Carlson Park is Honeylocust Drive. Targeted is a clue because Target is right over there and it’s off the path closest to Target and actually First National Bank also has a branch over there as well. Floor was a clue because it was hidden on the ground
Day Four:
A plaque really does hang at Carleton College and this is what it says:
A man modest, true, gentle; diligent in business; conscientious in duty; a citizen benevolent and honorable; towards God reverent and loyal; who, while defending his trust as a bank officer, fearlessly met death at the hands of armed robbers, in Northfield, Sept. 7, 1876. This tablet is inscribed by his friends as a tribute to heroic fidelity. ESTO FIDELIS USQUE AD MORTEM. (Be Faithful unto Death.)
This is also the day we wanted to give a nod to Char Carlson herself because from the research I did it sounds like she has done so much for our community, not only monetarily but in time as well.
As for the clues this day:
A – for A in YMCA the last one, Carlson College instead of Carleton College…at first I just thought about misspelling Carlton like this and you would need to figure out that that if you changed the t to an s it would spell Carlson but in the end we decided to go with Carlson College and lead you to Char Carlson park that way. There is in fact a plaque at Carleton College for Joseph. The benevolent protector clue was for Joseph and because Char Carlson was well known for helping financially and with time and just looking out to do good in the community and with different organizations in the community. Joseph was also a benevolent protector because he gave his life to protect his fellow townspeople’s funds at the bank. Prairie because that’s one area in the park that could look like a prairie and it was hidden in one of the more open spaces over there besides the big grassy area over by the playground, but day 3 already told you to stay away from the playground. And we threw in inner to tell you to go into the grassy area and not just stay on the edges by the trail. E, S, and H are capitalized because I wanted to get you over closer to Elysian Senior Home. The park is pretty big so I wanted to narrow it down for you a little bit.
Day 5:
I’m really excited for you all to hear Tim’s new song, “He Asked For Nothing More”. Remember, it’s available now for you to listen to on your favorite streaming platform. And here is how I arrived at the exact spot where I put the shoe down from the path:
I first went in on the path between Elysian Senior Homes and Timberfield Apartments and took a right (which if you started at the YMCA you would also take the trail to the right)…I added rightly in this clue and in clue 2 I had said rightly and hoped you all would remember that when you got to Char Carlson Park and would take the trail that went to the right. I knew there was this piece of prairie land in between the two ponds that would be a great place to place the shoe and I knew there was a line of many small trees that are planted there so I thought that would be a good thing to reference in the end. I started at the trail and took 8 steps to the east into the tall grass and that got me to about the first tree and then I took a right (south) and took 6 more steps and put the horseshoe on the ground. Pointed was a clue because if you look at it from the aerial view it looks like a point. Down again means to look on the ground. Between the two because it’s the land in between the two ponds. I added the part about where the tall weeds grew because the shoe was in some tall weeds this year. Actually when I went to hide it I panicked a little because they were so tall and in the dark they seemed extra tall to me! Scary! ha! As we got closer to the Day 5 clue we realized we might need to give some really specific clues because the park is so big so we added off the beaten path to make sure you went in and not stayed on the edge of it and told you to stay away from a bunch of yellow flowers because the part where I hid it had a few yellow flowers but on the other side of the line of trees there were a bunch. And then down the trail to the second to last garage stall towers meant to go down the path and that piece of land is right in front of the second to last of the garage buildings at the Timberfield Apartments. I didn’t want you guys to look all over the park on the last day so I hope that narrowed it down for you.
This year’s hunt has been so fun to create and I hope you all have enjoyed learning and discovering more of Northfield! Can’t wait to see you all next year!
Enjoy your time at the Defeat of Jesse James Days and congrats to the Schwab family for winning the $2150 and putting in 15 years of searching together as a family.
-Ali
