Skeleton Canyon Treasure

  I studied the legend, the facts and the lore,

I did my research, there had to be more.

I bought a map from an old miner’s daughter,

  She said, “Look here.” Thought maybe I oughter.

Combed the records at the Tombstone Courthouse,

  Found a claim that was gnawed by a mouse.

That Skeleton Canyon was an old treasure route,

  Where bandit gold was hidden no doubt.

Where the mule trains plodded to prosperous mines,

  With dry goods, and tools, and Castillion wines.

Where the ambushers waited to prey upon them,

  ‘cuz there weren’t no law to catch or condemn.

For one hundred years it was always the same,

  After the Spanish, the Mexicans came.

Then greedy Gringos began to arrive,

  Up in the canyon, they couldn’t survive.

Some say the treasure was taken away,

  Some say it’s there to this very day.

I thought I knew where it might be,

  Stashed in a cave waitin’ for me.

I had to try and I wanted to go,

  Got me a burro named Mexican Joe.

Asked a banker for a grubstake,

  He told me to jump in a lake.

Hocked my watch and my old wedding band,

  That woman was gone from this barren land.

Packed what I had on my burro’s back,

  Couldn’t think of what I might lack.

Headed on out one bright summer day,

  Nothin’ but sand could get in my way.

The Peloncillo Mountains loomed up ahead,

   Many who passed through them are now dead.

I searched in the washes and up on the hills,

  Enough treasure awaited to pay all my bills.

I poked with my pick and started to shovel,

  Put up a shack that was more of a hovel.

Dawn found me workin’ with never a rest,

  Assuring myself that I’d find my quest.

Thirty-three years of toil and of sweat,

  I doubled down on my get-rich bet.

If only I’d found it, I’d really be set.

  If I weren’t so old I’d be out there yet,

Then I concluded that I was deluded,

  I sat and I brooded over riches eluded.

Those who hanker to head for them hills,

  Better work on their bequeaths and wills.

Most of the gold is already found,

  There ain’t nuthin’ left a-lyin’ around.

LDT September 7, ‘24

            Skeleton Canyon (also called Guadalupe Canyon) is in the southeastern corner of Arizona. It is a pass through the Piloncillo Mountains that long served as a trade rout between Mexico and Arizona. Both legal and illicit goods moved both ways through the canyon from the Spanish Colonial Era to the days of the Arizona frontier. It was also a frequent place for ambushes by the Apache, Mexican bandits, and American outlaws. The Tombstone Cowboy Gang of OK Corral notoriety preyed upon Mexican smugglers there. Old Man Clanton was killed after he camped too close to the border with stolen Mexican cattle. Geronimo surrendered at Skeleton Canyon in 1886, ending the Indian Wars.

Main Menu- http://www.azrockdodger.com