Thread: The Solution to the Golden Apple City

Below I will detail how I came to what I believe to be the correct city location of the golden apple. I have been sitting on some of this information for about five years and thought it was about time I share with the group to see if we can pinpoint the exact location within this small city.

I got my first idea from the names of the states surrounding the pages, and how Ohio was written differently than the other states. After playing around with a few ideas (one of which I will explain in a bit), I thought maybe it was written differently because it wasn't meant to represent a state, but a city. After my mapquest search of cities named Ohio, one of them stuck out from the rest. This was the Ohio that was located in Missouri. The
reason it jumped out at me was because Missouri is identified as one of the states that is surrounded by 8 other states (the "8 states" clue from the map). It seemed convenient, so I mapped out Ohio, Missouri on mapquest (you can also find it on a road atlas).

I had "Chose a City", and now I was proceeding to the rhyme. Traveling the 3 and 2/3's leagues west from Ohio takes you to Appleton City, Missouri. What a name! This seemed way too convenient to just be false hope. I mapquested the driving directions from Ohio, Mo to Appleton City, MO. The distance of 11 to 12 miles proved to be true. I was certain that I was on to something here.

There are also other clues that seem to conveniently add up to some key roads in this location:

On page 6 with the picture of the clock and the road atlas, there are a few items that seem to add up to roads located in the area.

The clock has been said to point to 11:52 or 12:52. Route 52 runs right through the middle of Appleton City (the 11 or 12 might be a backup clue for the miles traveled from Ohio to Appleton City).

The "A" is for Apple sign on the wall has two interesting features. The road that leads from Ohio to Appleton City starts out as Highway A before it meets up with Route 52 (many Missouri highways have letter names). "A" is for Apple...Highway A.

It has also been noted that there is an odd dot located in the "o" in the word "for" on that same picture. If we were to interpret that "for" as the number 4, as Route 52 passes through Appleton City, the road is also known as 4th Street in Appleton City (I think the "for" clue might be a stretch, but it seems to conveniently fit).

Next, lets visit some of the mispelled words. The first grouping of mispelled words are the words that are missing a letter: chose, thougt, louisana, and to. The letters that are missing are "O, H, I, O", which conveniently spells out the word "Ohio". This could either be another clue towards the city Ohio, or it could be a reference to the first street you cross as you enter Appleton City, "Ohio Ave".

The second grouping of misspelled words are the words that have an incorrect letter: laddar, Dakoda (from ND), Dakoda (from SD), MacIntbsh, and Kaskgn. Before I proceed, allow me to explain the last two words, as these may confuse some people and just be a stretch on my part.

"MacIntbsh" comes from the picture of MacIntosh farms on page 20. Because the pictures are so crude, it might be an error on my part, or it might be a clue. Where the word MacIntosh is spelled out in the picture, the "O" looks like a "B". On the pdf version of the book, you can zoom in and see up close that it appears to look like a "B". It could also just look like that because of the random lines that are drawn into the sign, but for my purposes I'm taking it as a subtle clue because it looks like a "B" to me.

The second word, Kaskgn, is from the author's name. The reason the name Cam Kaskgn seems so fake is because of the "g" in the last name. You would think that a vowel should be in place of the "g" and a google search of Kaskgn doesn't lead to anyone with a name like that. Because "g" seems like the obvious incorrect letter there, I am taking it as such.

Now back to the words with an incorrect letter: laddar, Dakoda (from ND), Dakoda (from SD), MacIntbsh, and Kaskgn.

The incorrect letters here are "A, D, D, B, G". Doesn't seem like much of anything until you do a simple Caesar shift to one letter over "B, E, E, C, H". Beech Avenue happens to be the second street you cross as you travel through Appleton City on Route 52/4th Street.

The other two remaining misspelled words are "Graviety" and "dimist". Graviety has an extra letter,"E", and dimist has an incorrect letter and a missing letter (should be spelled dimmest). I have not found anything to do with these two words, just wanted to point out the ones remaining.

Another interesting note is that in the poem "some trees have leaves and some have needles, at this point in time they all look like haystacks". Most of the cross streets as you drive through Appleton City are named after trees.

There is also a Sunset Drive in Appleton City, which may or may not pertain to "Some stars at night rest on the horizon".

I have a number of other unused clues and guesses on my part as to interpreting those clues, but I will not state them in this post as I don't feel as confident in them. I may leave them for another post.

About a year and a half ago, I travelled from NJ to CA to get to my new job and passed through Appleton City along the way. The city is small and seems to be dying. I did take pictures, explore a few areas I thought might help inspire a "eureka" moment, and had lunch in the only tiny restaurant in town. It was there that I found out they refer to the older folk in town as "Golden Apples". I only spent a few hours there as I had nothing to pinpoint an exact location other than a few hunches on my part. Obviously none of them led to any further inspiration.

I'm hoping my sharing my findings with the forum might bring about a more exact location in this hunt. I often find myself getting lost in online searches looking for something that might tie it all together, and then I have to remind myself that the only sure things I found in this hunt came from clues that were plain as day and didn't require technology that was not available in 1982. I really hope some of you might be able to help me find my next "eureka" moment in this hunt.

Awesome... I love it. I am going to explore more and post again later.

It is my belief in this hunt that the poem is the guide to find the apple. However, you need the random clues...the misspelled words, cassiopeia, pinetrees, the S. In South Dakoda, etc...to fill in the blanks in the poem to give you the exact location.

I like your logic and thought but what still bothers me is the location. To say Appleton City is dying is almost an understatement and I just sort of believe that Cam would have picked a place with more happening, like a major festival, or some history or even a World's Fair (I did pursue this for a while). I mean, he's going to meet you there and continue on. Like you, I have examined the roads (none led me to your location), and I think that this is a great approach, but Google Street View and even historical searches paint a pretty sparse picture of this particular location. I only hope someone can find the meaning of Cassiopoeia. Best of luck and thanks for sharing!

I recently re-read some of these older posts and became interested in megisto387's post. It made a lot of sense, so I decided to do some more online investigating. I found some more interesting things that may support his post. There is a specific location I found that validates a lot of his premises.

Using the logic of the poem quatrain that reads:
"From the remainder
Locate the Omphalos.
Man has two feet.
So look that far down."

I discounted the streets with tree names and looked at the remainder of the streets. I found an interesting intersection. There appears to be an Omphalos, a "W" structure across the street, and a road that one can leave the town, all in this one location.

I just offer these finding as more food for thought. If anyone does physically pursue this, I wish them luck. I myself seriously doubt I will travel to this location.