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A lesson in US Colonial history. ( A stretched version)

After the thirteen colonies declared independence they needed resources badly. So the enterprising brave pioneers of those times set out to find wealth in the whole US territory. Especially precious materials.

They found lead in Colorado.

They found zinc in Massachusetts.

Which colony did they find Gold in?

And Aluminium?

And what did they find in Pennsylvania?

Logical Explanation please.

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    $\begingroup$ Was gold found in a colony or simply a state? I ask because Colorado is not one of the original 13 colonies. $\endgroup$
    – Brandon_J
    Feb 12, 2019 at 15:35
  • $\begingroup$ Yes. Colorado was just a land then. The puzzle logic is very different than your thinking. $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Feb 12, 2019 at 15:48
  • $\begingroup$ -1 You ask for a logical deduction, but the answer you accepted is a non-sequitur. There's no rational reason that wordplay based on the initials of the colonies' names would cause different metals to be present in them. xkcd.com/1562 $\endgroup$
    – Kevin
    Feb 13, 2019 at 16:10
  • $\begingroup$ Maybe add a [cipher] tag? $\endgroup$
    – Barker
    Feb 15, 2019 at 20:54

3 Answers 3

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It looks like the thirteen colonies

used rot13, translating letters 13 places, to find their resource as,
rot13 (CO) → Pb (lead)
rot13 (MA) → Zn (zinc)

For Gold, Aluminium, and what did they find in Pennsylvania?

rot13 (Au) → NH / New Hampshire
rot13 (Al) → NY / New York
rot13 (PA) → Cn which may represent numbers of carbon, such as diamond, graphite or especially in Pennsylvania, carbon based coal. Thanks to SteveV.
Original try for Cn: it is the symbol for chemical element Copernicium with atomic number 112. A single atom of it was first created in 1996, and a further atom in 2000. It has an extremely short half-life and isn't a viable answer.

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  • $\begingroup$ please think about Cn more. Can you logically find it? $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Feb 12, 2019 at 16:11
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    $\begingroup$ rot13(Creuncf gurl sbhaq P, juvpu ner qvnzbaqf be v fhccbfr, pbny) $\endgroup$
    – SteveV
    Feb 12, 2019 at 18:10
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks @SteveV - your suggestion makes the most sense I can think of. $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Feb 13, 2019 at 11:33
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    $\begingroup$ They found New Mexico and Arizona inside eachother... $\endgroup$
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Feb 13, 2019 at 15:53
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    $\begingroup$ AND Georgia and Tennesse $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Feb 13, 2019 at 19:47
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Partial answer: They found lead in Colorado.

Lead is PB, Colorado is CO. Reverse PB to get BP, add one to the first letter and take one from the second.

They found zinc in Massachusetts.

ZN, reversed is NZ, take one from the first letter and add one to the second to get MA

So by similar rules: Gold was found in

AU, reversed is UA, becomes TB or VZ - Veracruz?

Aluminium in

AL -> LA -> MZ or KB .... nope

In Pennsylvania they found:

Boron: BO -> OB -> PA

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  • $\begingroup$ Although this is not my answer, you are kind of on the right track $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Feb 12, 2019 at 15:55
  • $\begingroup$ Element #65 is Terbium. $\endgroup$
    – Acccumulation
    Feb 12, 2019 at 20:58
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Credits to @Tom for the logic and solutions until New York

“It looks like the thirteen colonies

used rot13, translating letters 13 places, to find their resource as,
rot13 (Co) → Pb (lead)
rot13 (Ma) → Zn (zinc)

For Gold, Aluminium, and what did they find in Pennsylvania?

rot13 (Au) → NH / New Hampshire rot13 (Al) → NY / New York”

Pennsylvania:

Following @Tom’s rot13 logic, they found CN, which is cyanide.

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    $\begingroup$ That's a compound. $\endgroup$
    – wizzwizz4
    Feb 12, 2019 at 19:59
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    $\begingroup$ @wizzwizz4: Yes it is. But the question only says "resources" not "elements". $\endgroup$
    – Ben Voigt
    Feb 13, 2019 at 6:41

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