Why the Puck Won't Be Found at the Fairgrounds

"Read the daily clues to search for the Pioneer Press medallion hidden on public land in Ramsey County." Its been apart of the treasure hunt rules in one way shape or form for as long as I can remember. Granted I've only been paying attention to the hunt since about 1990 or so, and has really been active in it since Conway in 1999. But in all those years, the puck has been on public land in Ramsey County. In 1979, in fact, the medallion made its one and only venture out of the county, placed in Marthaler Park in West Saint Paul. One can only assume that Ramsey County was not a part of the rules in those days, since the throngs of irate hunters descending on the Pioneer Press building would have made the Vulcan's overthrow of Boreas look like a flick of a Bic. Sure, every year some clown posits that its in Powderhorn or Theo Wirth Parks. We can only assume that these posts are in jest, with those two being in Minneapolis, a distinctly un-Ramsey County location.

Then there's the Fairgrounds. In recent years they've been off limits, at least in name, but that wasn't always the case, with Ma Press even hiding the puck there in both 1953 for the second hunt of the year and again in 1967. Trying to dig there today though will get you a stern talking to by the State Fair Police, followed by an escort off the grounds. But yet they're the "State" Fairgrounds. Aren't they public land in Ramsey County? According to legend the grounds are currently private property. This discussion came up this evening in the Cooler Crew Discussion Boards, and prompted me to do some digging around.

The first place I looked was Ramsey County's online GIS system for property records. According to the County, in whose boundaries the Fairgrounds lie, the grounds themselves are owned by the Minnesota State Agricultural Society. That doesn't really sound like the sort of private enterprise that would make the grounds private property, so I did some to'ing and fro'ing to find out exactly what the State Ag. Society was. My best friend for this sort of task, Google, referred me to Chapter 37 of the Minnesota State Statutes. In section 13, subdivision 1, We find that "The state owns all money and other property of the society in the name of the society and there may be no division of its assets among society members." Presumably this property would include the society's real estate, i.e., the Farigrounds. Arguably, according to state law anyway, the Fairgrounds are public land.

Let's go back and read section 1: "The State Agricultural Society is a public corporation." Yes, this lends more credence to the grounds being public land. Later on in that section we find this sentence: "Any part of the State Fairgrounds which is within the boundaries of a city or other political subdivision of the state is detached from the city or political subdivision". The fairgrounds are most definitely within the boundaries of Ramsey County, the city of Falcon Heights, and potentially, depending on how you look at the boundaries, the city of Saint Paul. However, the legal impact of that sentence within the statute has the effect of creating a political subdivision, containing the State Fairgrounds, on the same level as a County, but one that is completely surrounded by Ramsey County, an enclave. It is very similar to how Vatican City is a separate "nation" completely surrounded by the city of Rome.

By that one small sentence, which was put in place in 1982 and amended to its current state in 1985, the state Legislature placed the Fairgrounds off-limits to the hunt. Why is that? Because although they are public land (remember, the state owns the land, through the quasi-agency known as the Minnesota State Agricultural Society), that land is surrounded by Ramsey County, but not within Ramsey County.

So, as they say on Mythbusters, the myth that the Fairgrounds are off limits to hunters because they are private land is busted. They're off limits becasue they're not in Ramsey County. Which of course explains why you can see police officers from various municipalities within the Twin Cities roaming around the fairgrounds, and not just those of Police Departments within Ramsey County.