The Curious & the Old

December 14, 2015 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.

Old cowboys on several occasions have mentioned some odd things that occurred on Superstition Mountain’s eastern slope.

Aerial view of the Dacite Cliffs, SSE of portion of Superstition Mountain. The crevice, according to the stories, is located NNE of the cliffs near Don’s Camp.

An old Barkley cowboy, named Joe Bailey, who had basically retired from the cattle business after some fifty to sixty years in the saddle, lived near the Apache Trail. He and his wife had an old Airstream trailer parked near what is the Mining Camp Road in the late 1950s. This was long before the Mining Camp Restaurant or any other houses were in the area—except for Barney Barnard’s place and a couple other old stone houses.

I was visiting Joe and his wife one afternoon after working on the well motor at the old Palmer Mine and checking the concrete tank below.

I told Joe in our conversation that Superstition Mountain was nothing but a large old extinct volcano. Just that comment started Joe talking about how active of a volcano Superstition Mountain is.

I told him the mountain was at least seventeen million years old and no longer active. He then said, “listen here Slim, I have witnessed this old mountain blowing smoke over on the east slope.”

I didn’t really consider Joe Bailey a man of untruths. He went on to say, “I was working some of Barkley’s cattle up and out of West Boulder Canyon on the eastern slope of the mountain early one morning when I notice vapor or smoke coming out of a crack in the rock just above me. I decided to go take a look. I step off of my horse and put on the hobbles. I walked toward the site about two hundred yards away. From the spot I was standing I could almost see Fremont Saddle. I could see the tip of Weaver’s Needle through the saddle in Burbridge Ridge. Arriving at the site of the crack (crevice) I could see vapor rising. The smoke or vapor smelled a bit like rotten eggs and I could feel heat rising. I found a clear spot and looked down into the crevice and some two hundred or so feet below I could see molten rock flowing.

“Now Slim, I know what I saw whether you believe me or not. After this incident I had an entirely different respect for the huge mountain east of Apache Junction, Arizona,” said Joe Bailey.

Joe told me he felt he was living on a slope of an active volcano, like the one that covered the Roman city of Pompeii in ancient time. I ask him if he was afraid of it erupting. He always replied “No” because he was eighty-three at the time and really didn’t matter whether the mountain exploded or not.

This was really an interesting story about Superstition Mountain. Over the years I have had others tell me about this mysterious crack in the Earth. I have ridden and hiked the area, but I have never witness anything described by Joe Bailey or anyone else. I can assure you Superstition Mountain is not an active volcano or caldera.

Yes, there was a lot of eruptive activity in this area 17-25 million years ago during the Tertiary Period of Geologic Time. Yes, Superstition Mountain was born of fire and has played a role in many legends, myths and tall tales.

Ironically, Joe is not the only person that has suggested volcanic activity of this nature associated with Superstition Mountain and the area on the eastern slope of the mountain. Over the years a variety of prospectors have mentioned this crevice, the rotten-egg gas smell, smoke and even liquid magma flowing hundreds of feet below the surface. I suppose it is remotely possible the magma from the core has found a conduit to the surface in the Earth. If so, I am certain satellite imaging would have detected it by now.

Again I have been told many stories. Many years ago a lady told me she was hiking in the area and also witnessed the activity around this crevice. She vividly remembered the flowing magma a couple hundred feet below the surface and the amount of heat it reflected upward.

She was one of the many students in my Central Arizona College class titled “Prospecting the Superstitions.” She offered to guide me to the site and I refused the opportunity because of other commitments.

She still lives in the community and I really regretted not accepting her offer. My doubt overwhelmed my curiosity for this mountain wilderness.

The possibility of an exposed magmatic flow on Superstition Mountain is highly unlikely. However, when it comes to geological phenomenon anything can happen. Superstition Mountain suffers numerous tremors each day, but they are so minute only a sensitive seismograph can register them.

Tremors of this nature signal magma flow, but not too likely in our area. The volcanic action in this area has been silent for more than seventeen million years. The only action we witness today is erosion and mass wasting.

Mt. Vesuvius, near Naples, Italy, known for its eruption in AD 79. 

When I think back to Joe Bailey, the various prospectors and the lady in my college class, I have to be curious and just wonder about the possibility this phenomenon in our area, even though we know Superstition Mountain is not an active volcanic area.

Caption: Aerial view of the Dacite Cliffs, SSE of portion of Superstition Mountain. The crevice, according to the stories, is located NNE of the cliffs near Don’s Camp. Below, Mt. Vesuvius, near Naples, Italy, known for its eruption in AD 79.

A Blue Cow Dog

November 30, 2015 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.

The first time Rob met Hope he knew he had one of the best damn cow dogs in all of Arizona. Hope had a personality somewhere between a critter full of hate and a love for life. This was sometimes typical of a “blue” dog; it was hard to explain. He would guard Rob’s truck and possessions with his life, but at the same time become a friend to a dying child. Actually that is how Hope really became known.

You see, one day Hope and Rob were working cattle along the old Big Sandy trail when they met this young lady and her son out walking. The lady admired Rob’s horse and her son kept his eyes fixed on Hope. After a few moments conversation with a handsome cowboy the young boy’s mother told Rob how much her son wanted to have a dog, but couldn’t because he was going on a long journey to heaven.

Hope was a great cow dog. He knew how to handle cattle and horses, but more important, he brought smiles to a little boy’s face.

The boy said to Rob, “Mister you sure are lucky to have a Blue dog, I would do anything for a dog like that.”

His mother walked a little closer toward Rob’s horse. Rob then stepped down and began to talk with her. She told Rob about the brain tumor that was eating away at Kevin’s life. It was difficult for Rob to believe this strong blue- eyed, blond headed child was near death. She apologized for bothering Rob on a working day, but said Kevin had begged so hard just to say hello. As Rob stood talking, Hope quickly made friends with Kevin. The dog nuzzled him acknowledging an immediate friendship. It was as if Blue knew the young boy was special.

You see Rob always knew Hope was special. He had been the runt of the litter and nobody wanted him. Yes, and Rob had a soft spot in his heart for those who were special.

Rob invited Kevin and his mother to visit the ranch. It certainly was a wonderful day for Kevin when he extended that invitation. The cows could wait for another day, he thought. The smiles that dog brought to that boy’s face still flash across Rob’s mind.

The other day when I visited with Kevin’s mom and Rob they both talked about her son and Blue. Now you know why Rob thought so much of that dog and why he was so special. Rob would never forget Kevin, his mother, or Hope. Two of them are gone now, but there are two people who are still together forever.

Hope was a great cow dog. He knew how to handle cattle and horses, but most important of all he brought smiles to a little boy’s face before he made that long trip to heaven and changed Rob’s life forever.

Rob now sits on the veranda of his ranch talking to Kevin’s mother about what could have been, but didn’t happen. Kevin’s mother looks Rob in the eyes and says, “Kevin has Hope now and I have you. Rob, you have eased my pain and Blue eased Kevin’s pain. My friend it was met to be.”

I believe this story should be told. It’s a short story based on fact and occurred more than forty years ago. I knew all of the participants including Blue, and young Kevin was one of my students many years ago. The names and places have been changed to protect to true identity of those mentioned in this story. The family did not want their names revealed to the public.

Lost Spanish Missions

November 23, 2015 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.

There are many stories among storytellers about lost Spanish Jesuit Missions in the Apacheria.  The Apacheria included lands above and below the Gila River. The Jesuits establish many missions and vistas in the Pimeria Alta. The church missions were permanent settlement sites and were assigned a padre or priest. The vistas were temporary sites where priest could conduct marriages, baptisms and other religious ceremonies among their congregants.

Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino arrived on the “Rim of Christendom” on March 13, 1687 when he entered Cucurpe in the San Miguel Valley of Sonora. He established his first mission at Cosari northeast of Arizpe, Sonora. The Jesuits are credited with the mission building in northern Sonora and in the lands south of the Gila River.

San Xavier del Bac (9 miles south of Tucson) is the oldest Catholic church in the United States still serving the community for which it was built, San Xavier was founded in 1692 by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, who established 22 missions in northern Mexico and southern Arizona. But, contrary to some legends, they never built a mission north of the Gila River.

 The Pimeria Alta included the northern portion of the Mexican state of Sonora and the lands south of the Gila River that later became part of the Gadsden Purchase after the Mexican-American War of 1848. The Jesuits had no missions or visitas north of the Gila River.

Many Mexican and Pima families lived along the San Pedro and Santa Cruz in the early 1800s and  there were several small farming communities along the San Pedro, Santa Cruz, and Gila Rivers by 1825. Mexican families did some prospecting and limited mining in the mountains and valleys north of the Gila River, but historical records indicate no missions were created or established north of the Gila River until after 1853 and those were not Spanish in origin.

Since childhood I have heard stories about an old Spanish mission near Superstition Mountain. The storytellers claim the mission was located near the old Burns Ranch just off Peralta Road seven miles east of Highway 60. Some claimed old Henry Burns found the mission treasure and buried it near his place. He and his wife, Helen, had squatted on this land just off Peralta Road for many years.

Old Henry claimed the mission existed and the priest had a very rich gold mine in the Superstition Mountains. Henry and his wife were also friends of UFO aliens that often visited them and offered to take them to another world anytime they were willing to go. Henry eventually died, however Helen remained on the property.

Sometime in the late 1960s Robert “Crazy Jake” Jacobs showed up on the scene claiming there was a church mission located near the Burns Ranch property. Crazy Jake drove out to the property to visit Helen and to pick up some of his stuff. While there, Helen decided to commit suicide. She shot herself in the head. Ironic as it may seem, my wife’s uncle was the medical examiner that did the autopsy on Helen Burns and cleared Jake of any wrong-doing.

Robert L. “Bob” Ward was a friend of the Burns. He told the story of how he examined much of Henry Burns’ Jesuit church treasure. He said all the gold was authentic and he estimated Henry had about ninety pounds of gold bullion, crosses and artifacts all stamped with the Jesuit cross. Ward often talked about the nearby Jesuit church and the site where the church bell was found on Queen Creek. He said the bell was marked with the name of the church, but could never recall what it was. Ironically old Bob Garman took me out to the old church site about a mile southwest of the Burns Ranch and also over to Queen Creek to see the site where the church bell was found. Bob had an old yellowish Jeep Station Wagon and had transported Bob Ward on many excursions into the area.

The church bell was found about one thousand yards from where the so-called stone maps where dug up around 1949.

The next occupant of the Burns Ranch was Charles M. Crawford. He was convinced the old church was a large gold mining operation and he knew exactly where the Spaniards dug their gold. He said he had staked out claims on the spot and his mine would soon be paying big dividends for his investors. He and Bob Ward both pointed out the gold molds near Borrego Mountain (Black Mountain) south of the mission site about four miles along the West Fence Line road.

Ward took me down to examine the grind holes. They were nothing but grind holes used by the early Native Americans to crush beans and seeds from the desert for food. These holes were far too big to cast gold ingots in. The holes were ten inches in diameter and twelve inches deep. An ingot from one of these holes would weight between 600 – 1000 lbs. I have seen these grind holes all over the Southwest. Gold is usually cast in sand molds, not molds out of solid rock. These men linked together many sites that fit the stories they told. There are few treasure hunters who believed the Jesuits had a mission and a gold mine in the Superstition Mountains.

All of these sites are used to promote belief in the Jesuit treasure story in this area. There is the mission church site, gold ingot casting site, the bell site on Queen Creek, and nearby the site where the Peralta Stone Maps were. The “Believers” point to these sites claiming they prove the Jesuits priest where here mining gold and processing gold and silver for the church. Their imagination has run off with their minds and common sense no longer prevails.

I have here presented the very subjective evidence storytellers use to support the story of a Jesuit mission located near Superstition Mountain were the priests had Native Americans working eight gold mines in the area. The alleged gold was buried near the mission when the Jesuit priests were expulsed from the new world in 1757.

Many people believe this story and totally ignore the history and the facts associated the Jesuits in the Southwest. Several years ago I took a photo of two Jesuit priests at First Water. I asked them what they were doing and they said they took a group of young people from their church on a hike into Brush Corral. The hard-core church treasure believing crew immediately started a story that claimed the Jesuits were using the children to pack out the church treasure buried in the Superstition Mountains.

Well readers, this story goes on and on. Don’t invest your hard earned dollars in Jesuit treasures in the Superstition Mountains because you have lost them if you do.