At night, Indian Mounds Park offers a stunningly picturesque view of downtown St. Paul. From high above the city, it is a romantic banquet of lights, garnished by the ice-free, coal-black Mississippi River flowing silently under the Lafayette bridge. Sleak airplanes fly overhead.
Just after one o'clock Friday morning, the postcard provided an eerie frame from a slight fog, a flashing airport beacon and a couple hundred people armed with shovels and flashlights. Some harvested the snowbanks in groups of two or three. Some dug alone. All cut the same grave digger-like silhouette against the downtown lights.
At this point, the hunt for the medallion is very much like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Some believe it awaits in Prospect, Phalen, or Como parks. But the consensus from the grave diggers is that the medallion is buried somewhere along the mile-long stretch of Mounds Boulevard.
"Every year, it's a combination of knowing where to stand and dumb luck," said Mike Everson, who was hunting into the wee hours with his friend, Pam Niemczycki. "Right now, we're just hoping dumb luck sees us through."
Everson and Niemczycki are a different breed of treasure hunter. By Monday, there will be thousands at a park somewhere, frantically digging for glory. But at the moment, the grave diggers search in solitude. There are no gratis thermoses, parties or camaraderie. Just them, and a shovel, and a dream.
"There's people flying over me in Lear jets who make more in an hour than I'd make if I found this thing," said David Hennen, who dug alone by a street sign. "But it gets addictive. It's like pulling slots, only healthier."
Copyright 1998 Pioneer Press.
