At stone wall’s door = The flood walls door(its stone)
The air smells sweet = cafe du monde And praline shops
Not far away High posts are three Education and Justice For all to see
=
St.Louis cathedral
The Cabildo
Presbytere
Sounds from the sky =
Sounds describes the ambient sound in the area river boats, people, ect. Always a lot of sounds here.
Near ace is high =
Ace is high is single cannon in Washington artillery
Running north, but first across In jewel’s direction Is an object Of Twain’s attention
=
The Mississippi river runs north in this spot but first it goes east across the state. Its also Twains attention.
Giant pole Giant step To the place The casque is kept.
=
The strange tall light poles next to cannon and the immediate giant step down to a 2 foot strip of grass in the parking lot behind Washington artillery
the light pole is a giant compared to other poles it’s at least twice the height. The pole marks the spot to dig literally you could dig under it.

catherwood

It’s “Twain’s attention” in the poem/verse. (I’ve made that mistake myself several times over these many years)

Ha, me too.
I’ve all but taken a marker and crossed the couplet out of the book. It’s just a tool for tunneling, as one could stand anywhere in America and connect something in sight to Twain. The only thing that makes me hesitate is that Preiss was extremely well-read, and had to know that everything under the sun could be related to Twain, so he might have been more obvious, like an actual statue of Twain.
But what if it turns out that the object of Twain’s attention is some special MARK that Preiss made which has long since been lost.

Sorry for the typo…it’s an excellent point. The Mark Twain reference could refer for to so many different things. I have always put the “running north but first across” as a description of the “object of his attention.” Jackson Square seems to have all the elements that would fit the verses but it is a very public place. The logistics of burying something there would seem very difficult.

I have always favored Jackson square. Consider also the Natchez steamboat (which runs along the Mississippi) as the object of Twain’s affection. It is docked close by and visible from Jackson Square. One giant step from a pole in the direction of the steamboat and you have your spot. The image confirmer here could be the horse’s head which is the correct orientation viewing it from the southeast end of the square. “ Near Ace is high” how about the Crescent City House which was a casino that sat behind the Saint Louis Cathedral near Bourbon and Orleans.

While I do not believe that Verse 7 is connected to New Orleans, I think if you did a giant poll (pun intended) of 1000 people and asked the first thing that popped into their head when you say Mark Twain, odds are some like this:
50% – Tom Sawyer
25% – Huck Finn
22% – Mississippi
2% – Writer
1% – Who is Mark Twain?
So what’s the best bet? The only objects here are books and the Mississippi River. Only the Mississippi has a direction. This can be taken as where is it geographically located relative to your current position, or that it runs South.

MrSeabass

Careful – he never wrote ‘Mark Twain’, just ‘Twain’. Maybe that’s implied, but I’ve always wondered if Twain represented the dictionary translation or another reference, and not specifically *Mark* Twain.

I think it would be horrible for BP to use a proper noun possessive and not be referring to Mark Twain.

gManTexas

While I do not believe that Verse 7 is connected to New Orleans, I think if you did a giant poll (pun intended) of 1000 people and asked the first thing that popped into their head when you say Mark Twain, odds are some like this:
50% – Tom Sawyer
25% – Huck Finn
22% – Mississippi
2% – Writer
1% – Who is Mark Twain?
So what’s the best bet? The only objects here are books and the Mississippi River. Only the Mississippi has a direction. This can be taken as where is it geographically located relative to your current position, or that it runs South.

The “object” that ‘runs north but first across’ could be the Natchez Steamboat located closeby in Jackson Square. The idea being that the casque is buried ‘one giant step’ in that direction from the base of the pole. …Just curious, I posted recently about pairing verses. If verse 7 is not NO, where do you think it belongs?

davinci4

The “object” that ‘runs north but first across’ could be the Natchez Steamboat located closeby in Jackson Square. The idea being that the casque is buried ‘one giant step’ in that direction from the base of the pole. …Just curious, I posted recently about pairing verses. If verse 7 is not NO, where do you think it belongs?

I feel strongly that Verse 7 is GGP in SF. While not out of the realm of possibility that the verses are not paired correctly by now, I feel that people have at least got that nailed down pretty well. If you visit the Wiki page, for what it’s worth, I have to agree with Image and Verse pairings.

Light pole Washington artillery
https://imgur.com/gallery/mjqov
To me this is a match for the second hand. A sight marker from dig spot like the fence in Chicago and columns in Cleveland.
So we have a tie in with verse 7 pole and second hand in I7 a pole. This is one of the few spot in the Jackson sq area that is a likely casque bury spot it’s acessable not a garden or other eliminated location and near a man-made wall.

Below pole and step down
https://imgur.com/gallery/ERjJe
This is the best match for giant pole and step down I have seen with obvious dig spot.

Howardjthomas

Light pole Washington artillery
https://imgur.com/gallery/mjqov
To me this is a match for the second hand. A sight marker from dig spot like the fence in Chicago and columns in Cleveland.
So we have a tie in with verse 7 pole and second hand in I7 a pole. This is one of the few spot in the Jackson sq area that is a likely casque bury spot it’s acessable not a garden or other eliminated location and near a man-made wall.

I get it. In fact, we could make any of the Verses go with any of the Images if we try hard enough. The verses are mostly so ambiguous that anything could fit. Like drunknerds said, “Twain was everywhere”. I could probably make the argument that the casque is in Hartford, CT or Hannibal, MO just based on the Twain reference.

That’s a good image match, Howard!
Cleveland had the columns, which are poles. Chicago had the fixture, which was a pole. Based on that I don’t think a pole really brings any evidence of a verse connections.
Plus, I’ll say it again and I’ll say it until I’m blue: No one would include that obscure quote about the St. Charles hotel and not have it refer to New Orleans. It’s not a coincidence and it lacks the “red” element of a red herring.
It’s my legeater

drunknerds

I’ll say it again and I’ll say it until I’m blue: No one would include that obscure quote about the St. Charles hotel and not have it refer to New Orleans. It’s not a coincidence and it lacks the “red” element of a red herring.
It’s my legeater

The two quotes from
Abroad In America
are very compelling. All the same, I’ll say this (again), I still think it’s odd to get two verse/image confirmers from the same obscure source. I think it’s also worth remembering that Thucydides and Xenophon appear on the same wall in the Greek Cultural Garden that has Socrates and Pindar, and that there’s a statue of Sarmiento in Boston. I sometimes wonder if BP took delight in finding obscure connections between the cities, and tried to make some of the image/verse connections as difficult as possible. Perhaps we shouldn’t rule out that Xenophon is a New York clue from the Walpole quote.
There’s a danger of looking for increasingly implausible clues when the likeliest ones don’t deliver results 35 years on. But I really don’t think we can take
Abroad In America
as gospel given the likelihood of some red herrings in the book. An open-minded approach to everything is best.
I think it ought to be possible to get image/verse matches for places like New Orleans, San Francisco and Montreal that are as good as the ones we have for Houston, Milwaukee and Roanoke, but I don’t feel we’re there yet.

MrSeabass

Careful – he never wrote ‘Mark Twain’, just ‘Twain’. Maybe that’s implied, but I’ve always wondered if Twain represented the dictionary translation or another reference, and not specifically *Mark* Twain.

Object of two’s attention. Good to keep in mind.

Wow! Great find!!! Do you have any pics of the surrounding grass area where it might be buried? What direction are they relative to the pole (South, Southeast etc). I never liked the flag pole (too public). This has huge potential. Love the match to the clock hand.

davinci4

… as the object of Twain’s affection.

It’s “Twain’s attention” in the poem/verse. (I’ve made that mistake myself several times over these many years)

drunknerds

That’s a good image match, Howard!
Cleveland had the columns, which are poles. Chicago had the fixture, which was a pole. Based on that I don’t think a pole really brings any evidence of a verse connections.
Plus, I’ll say it again and I’ll say it until I’m blue: No one would include that obscure quote about the St. Charles hotel and not have it refer to New Orleans. It’s not a coincidence and it lacks the “red” element of a red herring.
It’s my legeater

The quote about st. Charles hotel could have been BP way of saying Hotel. There is a monument to Sarminento in Boston.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMKY … _Boston_MA

Correct me if I am wrong, it appears that the steamboat would be visible from this pole as well. Just to the left of the image you posted.

davinci4

Wow! Great find!!! Do you have any pics of the surrounding grass area where it might be buried? What direction are they relative to the pole (South, Southeast etc). I never liked the flag pole (too public). This has huge potential. Love the match to the clock hand.

When I showed up to dig.
It was all being dug out by construction of new moon walk. On Google street view you can see the before.
Below pole and step down
https://imgur.com/gallery/ERjJe
Former grassy spot behind Washington artillery
https://imgur.com/gallery/NtAXY
Google shot before demo
https://imgur.com/gallery/ibqPa

davinci4

Correct me if I am wrong, it appears that the steamboat would be visible from this pole as well. Just to the left of the image you posted.

Absolutely and other visual markers.
The door in wall ,Jackson sq ,education and justice ,smell sweet, sounds from the sky. Arrows on clock by preservation.
Arrows by preservation
https://imgur.com/gallery/MFFu6

This is standing on spot of possible casque site.

Standing on possible casque spot.
https://imgur.com/gallery/4amPE

Fantastic images. You get such a better feel for these things when you are actually on the ground. Only so much you can capture from google street views. ..Howard, just curious, are there any other poles on the artillery or in Jackson Square that look like this one?

Howardjthomas

This is standing on spot of possible casque site.

Standing on possible casque spot.
https://imgur.com/gallery/4amPE

Dig it up then!