Skeleton Canyon

[jds1978]

I've read some old posts from this site regarding different opinions about the Skeleton Canyon/ Zwing Hunt story. Can anybody tell me what some books are that refer to it? It seems like everybody uses that same language to describe the story, and I'm wondering if there is some "mother story" that people are drawing from. Any thoughts/ input is greatly appreciated. Some of the burning questions I have are:

1) Which Monterrey was supposedly robbed? (I have found 8 different Monterreys in Mexico).
2) Are there any copies of the letter Zwing wrote to his family about his having "come into some money"? Possibly in a museum? A family trust?
3) What is the best way to get to Skeleton Canyon now that the Forest Service Road 540 from Apache has been closed?

Again, any info would be helpful.

 

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[Ecominer]

The best way to go into Skeleton Canyon now is going down to Animas, NM, use a map, and there is a ranch road that will take you to walking distance of the entrance to the canyon. The advantage is that you are on the high side walking down.

Most peope have explored the west end of the canyon because it is the easiest to get to. The thing people forget about treasure hunting is that if you do everything the easy way why aren't all treasure hunters rich?

 

[jds1978]

Thanks for the advice. If nothing else, it would be great to hike around an area that played such a bit part in adding to the mystique of the Old West.

 

[GaBnn3]

The most authoritative account I can find is in the book, Lost Treasures and How to Find Them, by Emile Schurmacher. Hunt had been locked up following a shoot-out with sheriff's deputies, who were investigating the Skeleton Canlyon massacre. He was sprung from jail by an associate, who had wanted to share in the treasure, only to be never heard from again. Another deputy was killed in the jail break. Hunt fled to Mexico, and did not reappear in the U.S. until about 1903. He was arrested on the old charges, and held in a prison hospital ward, in ill health. He told a nephew, who visited him, the story of the treasure, indicating that it was still there. Why hadn't he recovered it by then? The treasure was purportedly the accumulated wealth of a Mexican bandit, who's mule train they robbed, while he was transferring his hoard from Sonora to Tucson, due to increased pressure from Sonora police. The skeletons of those Mexicans and their burros led to the name Skeleton Canyon.

 

[jds1978]

GaBnn3,

Thank you for the info. I really appreciate it. This definitely sounds like the book I need to read. Do you know if Schrumaker references any newspaper acticles, police reports, etc. from the time of the story's occurrence? Again, thank you for the lead, I'll check it out as soon as I can.

 

[carajou]

Several things:

First, Zwing Hunt and Billy Grounds were hunted for the murder of a clerk in a mining office in Shakespeare (possibly New Mexico), cornered in a house south of Tombstone where a gunfight took place. Grounds and Cochise County deputy sheriff John Gillespie were killed; Hunt was wounded. Hunt escaped from custody with the help of a relative, but died before he could reach the treasure. Hunt may be buried in the grave at the head of Hunt Canyon on the west side of the Chircahua Mountains. Grounds and Gillespie are buried at Boot Hill cemetery, Tombstone AZ. Ground's grave marker bears a death date of March 1882. The ambush alledgedly took place between August and October 1881. This means that the part about Hunt and Grounds double-crossing their companions could be fiction; how could these two individuals have remained alive in the same area as those whom they crossed for half a year, only to be contained and gunned down by the law?

Second, the burial description given in the stories (Davis Mountain, the canyon 1-1/2 miles west, waterfall, etc) matches the area north of Portal, Arizona. It does not match the Skeleton Canyon area in the Pelloncillo Mountains. The main story I got this from was a November 1953 article in Desert Magazine by Weldon Heald, since reprinted in a book titled Lost Desert Bonanzas, or more recently Lost Treasures of the Southwest. The part describing the burial site is more or less the same in many other books.

Third, city of Monterrey was never robbed during this point in time. Just keep in mind that the stories all insinuate that there is one Monterrey, which is the city in Nuevo Leon state to the south of Texas, and about 1,500 miles southeast of where the ambush alledgedly took place in Arizona. It was on that point that I determined some years ago that this treasure tale had never taken place.

However, I still have an open mind about it. There were a few such ambushes on Mexican smugglers which have taken place between 1879-1881, and it is possible that, 1) a small amount was netted and shared by all; 2) a larger amount was netted and buried; 3) and this larger amount, if it existed, was the result of a robbery in a Mexican city much closer to Arizona.

So, my question is, are there any documented robberies in any city or town in northern Mexico in 1881? If there was, then you possibly have a treasure to find.

 

[Albert Osborn]

We are not talking about 1 treasure, there
are 2 treasures, buried in 2 different spots.
Maybe you could call the Skeleton Canyon
treasure to be buried in the general area
of Skeleton Canyon.

Howso