Okay, I am almost 100 percent positive on my findings, and know where the St Louis Treasure WAS. Using Image 3, and Verse 7. Use google Earth and go to the NORTH WEST corner of Forest Park in St Louis, at the intersection of Skinker and Lindell. Turn google earth so E is pointing North, and adjust the size so that the image is showing that intersection and going to the LEFT to the main entrance to Washington University. You should now see the EXACT image that is portrayed in the stomach and breast area on the Armor. NOW, this is the Area map that is included on thei Image. Using VERSE &. Start at the STONE WALL'S DOOR of Washington Unoversity, go out to the intersection of Sjkinker and Lindell and go real SOUTH on Skinker. Tthis will cover the first 6 lines of the verse. SOUNDS FROM THE SKY WHERE ACE IS HIGH. this had me puzzled, because I kept going into the park, BUT the author didn't, he came down this way, ALONG the side of the park, whicvh had a GOLF COURSE along this side, and across Skinker, a couple of 15 story or so apartment buildings. Look up ACE in the dictionary, and it even mentions that ACE also means A LOW SCORE SHOT, on smoething like a GOLF course, where A LOWER SCORE IS HIGHER.... and the Apartment complex is obvious. NOW, the RUNNING NORTH, BUT FIRST ACROSS down to OF TWAINS ATTENTION had me stumped again, so I did some more digging and this is what I found. An Article from the New York Times on March 21, 1922 where a man named Gabriel WELLS, a rare book dealer, bought a new definitive collection of Mark Twains Works, paying a record amount. I am sure there might be others, but it was good enough for me to link that to WELLS ROAD, that goes ACROSS the park, towards, but south of the JEWEL BOX, and then continues on NORTH, or at least it used to. There has been a lot of reconstruction of the park since 1981, including the routing of our Metro Link through the norther section of the North Western section of the park, RIGHT WHERE WELLS RD used to go. I am going to try to contact someone there to see if anyone remembers a GIANT POLE being in that area, OR if possibly they know where a GIANT POLE might have been, if it was removed, and that area not disturbed, but I am afraid that this one is probably history, and after I confirm that it is no longer there, will move on to another one. Is there another one in specifioc that anyone would like me to take up as my next challenge......

I just re-read this and realized I made a mistake, the Google earth image will be going UP and DOWN on your screen, if I am remembering correctly. From that you can adjust any of the other accordingly, but BASICALLY, starting at the college entrance go to Lindell and Skinker, South on Skinker to Wells, then East on WELLS to wherever the GIANT pipe was.

I think I found the pole!!!!!!!!!!

The area around the lamp post in the 'middle' of the Vandeventor gates has been searched, although obviously not excavated 100%. One of the fun things about the area is that about 6" down there is a hard surface, almost like an old gravel roadbed.  Because of this, probing is a lot of fun, because you hit something almost everywhere.  In fact, after a while i was probing to see where the hard surface did not exist, meaning maybe someone had dug in that spot before. I thought I read that metal detectors don't work for these objects, so some online research would be prudent prior to investing too much time into that activity. Each logical side of the lamp post was dug next to the pad, but not your 'one step' away from the pad, so that could be possible. We got to that spot using a different verse and picture entirely, so its funny that you end up at the same spot,.  That could be a viable solve from that direction if we could find the legeater in stl... Good luck!  Try not to get caught diggin.

I was trying to figure out the digging issue. I work for the county, and am only5 months away from being eligible for retirement, so I am not chancing that on this, BUT while talking to my boss, someone else came in and asked if I had found the GIANT POLE in the park yet, and when I said YES, my boss asked what was going on, and I explained the whole thing to him, and it turns out that he is friends with the Parks Director for St Louis, and he is going to contact him, tell him the story, and ask him to contact me. I will hopefully get a 15 minute window to talk to him, and try to convince him to allow me to legally retrieve the casque. I went to the location today, and the ground appears undisturbed, so I am hoping it is still there, and I get a chance. I am like 99.99 percent certain of the location, but of course until I get a chance to dig it up, there is always that .01 percent uncertainty. My wife is also involved with the St Louis Police, and so I won't risk causing any problems there either. I want everything to be above board. I thought of all different kinds of ways to go there and dig, at night, and some other ways, that I PROBABLY would have gotten away with it, BUT this way, if it is there, and I do get to retrieve it, the Parks Department,and perhaps the city of St Louis might get some nice press out of it also. That would be nice, to see something good in the paper for once, instead of all the bad stuff. I pulled copies of ALL info I could, including info on the Cleveland and Chicago, and a couple of nice clippings about Byron Preiss to show them that this is a legitimate hunt, and the author was fairly well known, and the press release info from Chicago looks good, along with ALL my backup material including the image and verse, and maps I used, etc. EVERYTHING I can think of to show that it is legit. I figure at best that the casque would be a nice keepsake, and then I can move on to the remaining ones to hopefully help someone in one of the other towns locate one near them that they can retrieve. I am enjoying the research as much as finding one, and am learning a lot of history about the area that I never knew, which in itself has been fun.

Good luck, but don't count your chickens before they're hatched. If you find one, the strength of this entire board will be behind your findings for other ones. If you don't--you'll be no worse off than the rest of us.

HI shecrab. I made it to the big times...... I hope I am correct. I collected all the info I could on this one, and the location, and what the thought processes were when studying everything, then collected photos, and the news clipping on the Chicago and Cleveland Casques, information about Byron Preiss, and got it all together in one place in anticipation on getting an opportunity to present my case. At this point, all I can do is wait and hope.

In SF, I made two phone calls and got a hold of the superintendant of  GGpark, gave him a quick summary of the book and the casques, and he had no problem of me digging as long as I put everything back the way it was. That meant removing the sod as a single piece. laying out a tarp to hold the dirt. then putting it all back. Be sure you emphasize you will clean up your mess totally.

Long ago I did some digging at the Vandeventer Gate location in Forest Park, but alas, of course, I came up with nothing.  I have not participated in the hunt for some time now.

I checked these Vandeventer Gates in Forest Park since St Louis is one the locations listed in the new Google 45 degree view. It looks amazingly like the original Masquerade with the shadow of the pole pointing to the location of the treasure. I think the missing clue is the time of the day and season.