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GRANITE FALLS - The people living in Yellow Medicine County120 years ago decided their courthouse in Granite Falls was past its prime after the ceiling came crashing down and nearly killed a farmer.

So they built a new one on July 4, 1889, and decided to bury a piece of history inside the walls so future citizens would never forget what life was like back then.

The only problem was as time passed, the secret treasure was forgotten and lost.

That is until Yellow Medicine County veteran services officer Michelle Gatz put on her sleuth shoes and solved the mystery of the missing time capsule.

"There was a rumor that the time capsule existed somewhere," said Gatz, "but no one had a clue where it was."

Like searching for a needle in a haystack, Gatz was stumped. But she didn't give up and somehow came across an old Granite Falls newspaper that was printed a week before the new courthouse was established.

"All the stars in the universe finally came together for me." said Gatz, who noticed the newspaper listed the whereabouts of the time capsule.

"(Michelle) was so excited," said Jan Peterson, president of the Yellow Medicine County Historical Society. "She wanted so bad to hurry and use the chisel to dig it up."

Instead of risking damage to the courthouse, Gatz used a metal detector and found the capsule, which was placed in one of the bricks on the outside of the courthouse walls.

"I couldn't believe that they found it," said Eldoris Hustad, who was happy and anxious to see the contents inside.

Thanks to Gatz and a handful of committee members, Hustad and others finally got to take a glimpse back in time on Saturday in Granite Falls as the 120-year-old capsule was ceremonially opened for public viewing.

What they found inside were numerous items of memorabilia, including old newspaper editions, pictures of Yellow Medicine County towns, Dacotah native languages and even letters addressed to those who discovered the capsule.

"And everything is in such beautiful condition," Peterson said. "They did a wonderful job of preserving it."

"It's incredible to see this," said Juliet Mortenson, who has lived in Granite Falls all of her life and admitted to not knowing about the capsule. "What a great piece of history."

Encouraged by the thoughtfulness of leaving behind such treasures, the Yellow Medicine County committee found it fitting to create and leave behind its own era and soon-to- be memories.

So in a brand new capsule, they placed pictures of what towns in Yellow Medicine County look like today, a Minnesota state quarter, local newspapers items from nearly every business in the county and even a small plastic bag filled with corn and wheat.

"Now in 2089, people can enjoy the same thing we're doing today," said Jane Remiger, Yellow Medicine County commissioner.

The only thing Gatz hopes is that locating the capsule 80 years from now won't be as much of a challenge as she had.

"I just hope people remember to look for it," said Gatz with a smile.