Stories To Tell - A Personal Glimpse

June 24, 2013 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.

Tom Kollenborn going home to Reavis Ranch.

My first recollections of the Superstition Mountains relates back to my Uncle Abe Brunson. On a trip from Mesa to Tonto Basin along the Apache Trail in 1944 we stopped near Government Well to cool down his old Model "A" Ford.

As we set in the shade of a Palo Verde (not much shade) he told me the story of the Dutchman’s Lost Mine.

In the early spring of 1948, I was introduced to the Superstition Mountains at First Water by my father. We hiked into East Boulder Canyon then over into Needle Canyon near John Pearce’s old camp. We spent the night and hiked out the next day. I was ten years old and this was my first real introduction to the mountains. The story, the rugged mountain and the serenity of region captured my imagination for the rest of my life.

I started photographing the mountains in the mid 1950’s when I worked for the Barkley Cattle Company for the first time (1955-1965). I spent numerous weekends in the Superstition Mountains visiting as many places as I could. I met many interesting people during these years. I was a frequent visitor to Al Morrow’s camp and I often stopped by Ed Piper’s Camp. I even talked to Celeste Jones on the trail a couple of times when I was in the mountains.

From 1973-2005 I continued being involved with the Superstition Wilderness Area in some way. I have served as a guide, written columns on the area since 1976, published books and continued to visit this rugged mountain wilderness area with my camera.

My mother was born in Mesa, Arizona, and her folks were raised in Tonto Basin. I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. However, I was back in Arizona before I was a year old and have always claimed Arizona as my native state. I attended public school in Tonto Basin, Globe, Hayden, Winkelman and Phoenix.

My father was employed by the Christmas Copper Company from 1932-1952. We moved to Phoenix in 1952 and I graduated from Phoenix Union High School in 1956. I attended Arizona State Teacher’s College in the fall of 1956. I also served and was honorably discharged from the United States Air Force. I received my Master’s Degree in 1977 from Arizona State University. I was an U.S. Department of State Fulbright Scholar to Israel in 1986.

I started my teaching career with the Apache Junction Unified School District in 1973. I taught classes for Central Arizona College from 1973-1990 on the history and lore of the Superstition Wilderness Area.

During the past thirty-five years I have developed a large database based on the periodical history Superstition Wilderness Area. I have collected more than 2000 names of people interested in the area, more than 18,000 periodicals, and more three hundred books and publications.

All of this information is easily accessible with the database we have developed. Eventually this database will be available to the public at an on-line site along with a virtual cyberspace museum on the area with rare photographs taken by my father never published or used before. At least this is my dream.

The mountains always have a story to tell, and I enjoy sharing these stories with you, the readers. It’s a constant reminder that the adventures of our youth serve as our memories as we grow older.

Little People's Gold

June 17, 2013 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.

There are many tall tales about the Superstition Mountains and it environs. The story about a colony of little people (Dwarfs) living in the mountains at the turn of the 20th Century continues to be told occasionally around campfires. A young cowboy in his teens who worked on the Bark-Criswell Ranch told the following story.

Jose Varela was a young Mexican vaquero who would go up to the Bark Ranch and work for his board and a few dollars when school was out each year.

Elmer Booty, who was the Bark and Criswell foreman, let young Varela work several summers for them. Jose learned to handle cattle in a rough mountain environment, and one hot summer day he was riding alone on a high mountain ridge and looking down into the canyon below. He was looking for signs of wormy cattle. Jose was told the cliffs and peaks of the main range to the west of him possessed the finger-like rock formations that Native American superstition said represented the spirits of long-dead warriors. I have also heard this story on several occasions over the years from members of the Pima and Apache tribes.

Jose decided to shade up in some laurels to rest and maybe take a nap. He unsaddled his horse and used his saddle for a pillow, a common practice among cowboys and vaqueros. Jose laid down to rest. A cool breeze blew through the laurels providing a cooling effect for the tired vaquero.

All of a sudden five or six little men appeared, not more than three feet tall, dressed in brown with white beards and shiny bright bands around their heads. They just popped out of a crevice in a cliff above where Jose was laying. They walked along a ledge near the crevice. The leader appeared to harangue the others. Jose could not hear the words, but the leaders voice was clean. After the discussion, the group vanished into a crevice on the cliff ending the encounter. They then appeared at the base of the cliff and walked over to where Jose was laying. The leader of the group placed a piece of quartz in Jose’s hand.

Jose was totally dumbfounded and could not believe what had happened. He thought about climbing up on the cliff and finding the crevice. However with cowboy boots on that would have been difficult if not impossible. Jose saddled up his horse and rode back to the Bark Ranch arriving at suppertime.

When Jose sat down to the supper table he showed Elmer Booty the quartz that had been placed in his hand by the leader of the little people. Jose asked Booty what was the yellow stuff in the quartz. Booty responded with, "That is gold, my friend."
Jose Varela guided Elmer Booty back to the site in West Boulder Canyon. Once they arrived at the site Jose placed his foot near one of the little people’s footprints. The footprint was much smaller than Jose’s.

"Well, I’ll be damned, looks like either some little men or some kids have been here," remarked Booty.

Jose’s father looked at Jose and told him to tell the truth. He insisted he was telling the truth. Jose’s only other explanation was maybe I fell asleep and had a dream. Then where did the rich specimen of gold ore come from?

All summer long Jose, his father and Elmer Booth searched for the little people when they had a chance. They never found another trace of the little people or high-grade gold ore.

Frank Criswell, part owner of the Bark Ranch at the time, tells another story. He believed the kid found a high-grade piece of float and went to sleep. He woke up after a dream of seeing little people and their leader placing a gold nugget in his hand. He sincerely believed a prospector made the hole in the cliff and the footprints were from some kid in a nearby camp.

Criswell was always known as the practical person, however Jim Bark was a great storyteller. 

The Treasure of Rattlesnake Cave

June 10, 2013 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.

The rock wall in Music Canyon that old man Simmons was making reference to.

Bill Finch was an Arizona State Brand Inspector, and he told this story many years ago when I worked at the Quarter Circle U Ranch. He and Buck Wallace and others would gather on the porch of the old ranch and play their guitars occasionally when they were working in the area. Between the songs there were often great stories told about the Superstition Mountains and its environs. One evening after a few verses of the "Strawberry Roan" Bill Finch started a tale about a man named Ed Simmons. The story went something like this.

Ed Simmons prospected the Superstition Mountains each year for about fifteen days then returned to his home in Kansas City. Simmons had been prospecting the mountains this way since 1939. Finch said Simmons told him about a very special place in the mountains which was located near a canyon that had a rock wall across most of it.

Finch said the wall served as a drift fence, but Simmons believed it served another purpose. He told Finch it was used for defense purposes, but he didn’t know by whom. Simmons said if you hiked over the divide into the next canyon to the south you would find a trail up to a place called Sheep Mountain Springs. It was here Simmons always made his camp because there was adequate water and shelter from the elements.

Simmons made his trips into the mountains in early March of each year and sometimes the weather could be quite severe. Somewhere in the area of Sheep Mountain Springs Simmons made an interesting discovery. He said he found three old rifles stacked military style and what appeared to be an old abandoned camp.

The rifles were so rusted it was difficult to tell what kind they were. Simmons thought they were Springfield Trapdoor 45-70’s similar to what the Army had used. He remembered the Soldier’s Lost Mine story and thought maybe there were three soldiers instead of two. With this reasoning, Simmons believed he was near a rich gold deposit or cache.

Simmons started prospecting the area carefully, but found nothing in the immediate area. He tried to remember the details of the story. Ed Simmons searched the entire area for a crude mine dump, but didn’t find anything of interest. He hiked over a large, flat mesa and found several burn pits. At first he thought these pits were Mexican or Spanish smelters, but was later told they were depressions where the Native Americans cooked Agave hearts. The large mesa was covered with Agave. This explanation made sense to him.

Simmons soon returned to the Sheep Springs Mountain area and it was somewhere in this area that he discovered a small cave. The entrance was about thirty-six inches high, but once inside, the cave opened up. His flashlight batteries were very weak, but he could hear rattlesnakes rattling to the rear of the cave. In one corner he spotted four or five wooden cases. It was the type case that could easily be packed on a horse or mule. Simmons was convinced he had found a treasure hidden by soldiers or thieves.

While in the cave Simmons flashlight’s batteries failed and he sure wasn’t comfortable with the rattlesnakes in the back of the cave. According to Bill Finch he packed up his gear and returned to civilization never returning to the Superstition Mountains again.

Bill Finch told us Simmons had made twenty trips into the Superstition Mountains between 1939-1959. Upon returning home from his last trip his health failed and he passed away around 1963. Bill Finch’s story certainly peaked my imagination and I always wanted to go to the area and search for that cave. I made a couple of trips into the area, but I didn’t find anything but the old stonewall mentioned in the story and a camp near Sheep Mountain Springs that could have belonged to anyone.

The Superstition Wilderness Area is filled with stories that will continue to be told around campfires and listened to by dreamers of lost gold and treasure.

The treasure of Rattlesnake Cave will probably prove to be another tall tale with a small following. 

Tom Kollenborn heading for Sheep Mountain Springs with a pack string to search for Simmon’s Rattlesnake Cave.