Looking back: 2009 Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt medallion was found by father-daughter team

The Pioneer Press medallion is fished from the waters of Swede Hollow, netting father-and-daughter finders $10,000.By John Brewer
jbrewer@pioneerpress.com

With luck, she plucked the puck from its watery perch.

Jessica Horwath, along with her father, Joe Horwath, found the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt medallion at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Swede Hollow Park on St. Paul's East Side.

The luck comes in because the medallion was found several feet from where it was originally hidden, and it was at risk of being swept down Phalen Creek to points beyond.

The Maplewood residents' find earned them the full $10,000 in prize money, along with $1,200 in gift certificates from Cub Foods.

There's a bit more luck involved, too: Although Joe had been reading this year's clues, this was their first day out looking with tools (they didn't have their shovel and pitchfork Tuesday night when they scoped out the park) and they had been poking around for only an hour when the prize unearthed itself.

Actually, it floated to the surface of a little stream that runs in the park as Jessica, a 21-year-old junior at the University of St. Thomas, stirred the waters with a pitchfork.

"I saw this little pair of lips pop up," she said, referring to a laminated picture of the Pioneer Press bulldog mascot — prettied with a pair of bright red lips (that relates to one of the clues) — taped to the medallion.

Jessica at first thought the metallic disk was a makeup compact. "I was going to keep on going," she said.

Luckily, she was curious.

"I read the back," she said. "It said, 'You've found it.' I whispered, 'Dad.

...' "

"You're s——-n' me!" he said.

Joe, 45, has hunted since he was a little kid but has never before found the prize.

"He goes, 'Shhh,' " Jessica said.

She took the palm-sized disc and zipped it into her coat pocket.

Another hunter, about 10 feet away, didn't notice what had happened.

But the gaggles of hunters in the park who saw the father and daughter speed-walking back to their car — with giant smiles on their faces — started asking

Father Daughter 2009 Treasure Hunt Medallion Winners Joe and Jessica Horwath, of South Maplewood, smile after confirming thier win at the Pioneer Press building in St. Paul on January 28, 2009. (Pioneer Press:Sherri laRose-Chiglo) (Sherri LaRose-Chiglo)

Copyright 2010 Pioneer Press.