Project Scroll

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    Highlights of the St. Joe River Valley This week everywhere in the valley The adventure begins here.✦ Current feature ✦Cassopolis, Michigan

    This weekSee what is on this seasonFairs, festivals and harvests across the valleySeasons & festivals →

    Front pageNews and articles

    Leading this weekfrom the valley

    Discovery

    White Pigeon, Mich.

    White Pigeon’s run

    3 new findings12 min read

    The famous run to save the settlers is missing from every account of White Pigeon’s grave before 1908.

    Discovery

    Howe, Ind.

    Who was John B. Howe?

    3 new findings17 min read

    The man behind Howe, Indiana, argued in 1850 that Black citizens could not be shut out of the state.

    Open case

    Case 1

    Who told Shepard?

    1 min read

    The only account of the 1846 lodge was written by a man who was a small child when it happened. Somebody told him. Who?

    Open case

    Case 2

    The hotel that walked away

    1 min read

    In 1867 the old hotel where the lodge held its ball was hauled across Cassopolis and turned into a mill. Where did it end up?

    More news

    See every story on the valley map › What’s on: the valley calendar › Lore and legends › Get the week’s stories by email › All the news ›

    The valley letter · Once a month

    New stories and findings, in your inbox

    One letter a month: the newest stories, the new findings, and the next clue in the hunt. No ads, and easy to stop.

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    A passage in the 1882 county history: the first secret society in Cassopolis was a lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Order of the Eclampsus Vitus, instituted in the spring of 1846New findings · From the original records183 new findings, not in any earlier history we could findFound in county histories, newspapers, maps and acts, and checked against every earlier history we could find.See them all ›

    Published research All research notes ›

    1. 2026-15The forgotten revival of E Clampus Vitus, 1915–1920: the Marysville boosters’ lodges, numbered one to eight, and how the war ended them
    2. 2026-13E Clampus Vitus before the California Legislature: the Senate debate at Benicia struck from its journal (March 1853), and the Assembly’s dollar-a-member resolution (April 1855)
    3. 2026-11Older than “about 1839”: the Treats, Henry Dewey and the red-chalk warning on the road to Dewey’s Lake, Silver Creek Township, Michigan
    4. 2026-09Three names at once: Crum’s Point, Crumtown and Crumstown, St. Joseph County, Indiana, 1875–1903

    Each with its record, its sources and a permanent identifier for citing it.

    The hunt · Free to play

    Every clue is true.

    Project Scroll now has a free online
    treasure hunt. Real mysteries, history and
    clues hide in pages, websites, county
    records, survey maps, certificates,
    newspapers, lore and local legends.
    Every one of them can be solved by you.

    Enter the hunt

    • Free to play
    • Solved with clues
    • Open to anyone, anywhere
    The valley map668 places on one map
    Museums & historic places
    A great blue heron wading in a misty lake at sunrise, autumn trees glowing red and gold on the far shore, mossy boulders in the foreground.

    Part I

    On the record, so far

    Laid out left to right, like a scroll. Each open date wears the mark that says how far to trust its source. The sealed years are real, and each one breaks open when the hunt gets there.

    26 dates on the scroll10 on the record16 still sealed

    1. c. 11,000 BC

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    2. c. 200 BC

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    3. c. 1500

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    4. 1695

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    5. 1740

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    6. 1741

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    7. 1759

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    8. 1775

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    9. 1781

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    10. 1821

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    11. 1828

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    12. 1830

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    13. 1831

      The village is laid out. Broadway and State are already on the plat.

      Document
    14. 1834

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    15. 1846

      In the spring, a joke secret society, all halters and blindfolds, is founded in a village hotel.

      County history Case 1
    16. 1849

      A small-town doctor sets out for the California gold fields, and writes it down.

      County history
    17. 1852

      12 June: the Masons hold their first meeting under the same hotel roof.

      County history
    18. 1860

      A Philadelphia wall map engraves one word on the hotel’s block: HOTEL.

      Document
    19. 1867

      The old hotel is hauled across the village and turned into a mill. A new hotel rises on its ground.

      County history Case 2
    20. 1869

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    21. 1870

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    22. 1872

      The record holds this year. The hunt hasn’t reached it yet.

      Sealed
    23. 1882

      The county history records that “many people” believe a lake is fed by a river from Lake Superior.

      County history Tradition
    24. 1906

      A county historian hears in the lakes “the distant echoes … of the glacial age.”

      County history
    25. 1912

      A pioneer dies. His death certificate gives no middle initial.

      Document Case 10
    26. 1935

      His son’s certificate gives the father an initial: the son’s own.

      Document
    27. Now

      The scroll is still unrolling. The next date on it may be one you find.

      The case board

    Behind the scroll: Bellin’s Carte des Lacs du Canada, 1744. Long before the first county was drawn, the lakes were already on the map. More old maps in the map room ›

    Part II

    The hunt

    It began in Cassopolis, the seat of one small Michigan county, with a joke secret society from 1846, a lake that has no stream in and no stream out, and a doctor who kept a bone. It is growing from there, one hall at a time.

    Open the first door

    How the hunt works: the steps, the levels and the rules ›

    Part III

    The case board

    Every mystery the hunt has posted, where each one stands, and who has cracked it. Ten cases are open, and nobody is ahead of you yet.

    Open the case board Try the practice case

    Part IV

    How we work

    Scrollsigns™

    Five promises we keep on every case, and the nine marks we put on every statement, strongest first, so you can see what the record says and what we argue from it. Weigh the evidence yourself, and try marking a few.

    Marks, strongest first: Document Period print County history Compiled Tradition Field Inference Reading Hypothesis

    How we mark the evidence Five promises

    Part V

    Questions people ask

    Does the hunt cost anything?

    No. The hunt is free to follow and free to play. All you need is curiosity and, now and then, a library card.

    Can you help with my own family’s mystery?

    Yes. Write to research@projectscroll.com, or send Project Scroll a message on Facebook, with what you know. We’ll tell you honestly what the records are likely to show before you commit to anything.

    How do I get in touch?

    Email research@projectscroll.com, or message the page on Facebook. Both reach the same desk. The form below lays out what to include. Expect a first reply within a few days; a full read of your records takes longer, and we say how long before we start.

    All 15 questions

    Start with a question

    For research, tell us the name, the place and the rough dates, and whatever the family says. For imaging, design, photography, 3D or video, tell us what you have and what you would like made. A photo of any paper you already have helps. We’ll write back by email or on Facebook with an honest first read: what the records are likely to show, or what can be done with what you have.

    Email research@projectscroll.comMessage us on FacebookLay it out on the contact page