Project + Indians + GOLD!!!

[DigEmAll]

So, while out taking care of business today, I ran into a rancher who owns a spot that I had a hunch about due to some research last week.?

I read that a cargo train route (wagon train for cargo, not passengers) ran through a gap and by a spring where there was a watering hole and a station by 1880.? I also read that it ran from a certain canyon to another canyon that is about fifty miles away.? Well, after some deductive reasoning, I figured that it must be this certain spot.? So today, I asked the rancher if he happened to know where the route ran.? He turns and points to a falling in shack about thirty yards from where we were standing.? "That's the station right there and you're standing in the old road." he says.? I was dumbfounded!? So I start stammering and stuttering and finally ask if he'd mind if I came and hunted around the station.? He said that he didn't mind and then tells me where the old school was back then and the church cemetary and then gives me free range of his ranch.?

We start chatting about his ranch and I find out the vastness of the project.? About 25 sections of prime, history laden land!? For you city folk, there are 640 acres in a section.? That's 16,000 acres!!!!!!!!!!!? This land has been ridden through and ranched by the likes of: John Slaughter, Geronimo, the Earps, Ringo, Doc holiday, the Clanton gang, Curly Bill, and probably Pancho Villa!? Not to mention the Spanards in the 1540's!? I think I have just found one of the "Lost Gold Mines" of Arizona!? Wish me luck!

 

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[DigEmAll]

Hey Jose... good to hear from ya... it's been a while.

As for them being a natural occurance, unless the water table was about 200 feet higher, it's not possible. ?These are mostly found just under the cliff faces, out of the summer sun. ?Although some have been found in the very bottom of the wash. ?But, like I told someone else, where the wash is now might have very little to do with where it was then. ?I'll have to go back and check the filled holes with the machine. ?I don't think that there will be much in mine though. ?This ranch has been in the same family for a hundred years or better.

Anyway, I'll get back out there and check them anyhow! ?I'll try to get pictures posted of my latest finds tomorrow.

Later guys!

 

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[DigEmAll]

"The .44 Mag was introduced in 1956, so it's not early turn of the century."

I said .44 Mag. This was a mistake on my part. They both were .44 REM casings.
And while I haven't researched them, they look early turn of the century.

Thanks for pointing that out.
Sorry for the mix-up.

 

[AzSports]

Before Remington was the original UMC, that's the 1800's ones. Remington later (1910ish) took over when UMC went belly up. Rem brought back UMC ammo in the seventies/eighties as a low cost line, I believe.

I've been out of town, will get those dang maps together soon!

Congrats on finding a mother loade!

 

[DigEmAll]

Thanks Jonster. You know, now that you mentioned it, I think one of them might have been a .44 UMC-REM. I find sooooo many shell casings that I just leave them there for someone to find a couple hundred years from now. Once they are on top of the ground, I don't have to worry with digging them again! LOL I have a whole quart jar full of old casings. Most are from the Pancho Villa days; 1903's, 30-40's, 45ACP, ect ect. I also find a lot of 1901 LEADER 12GA brass. I think that was the only brand they sold out here! I find those everywhere.

 

[Gork]

I would really appreciate the maps!!!! The place with the stage coach station really has everything. Old cottonwoods... that are dead. I guess the water that remains there isn't enough to keep them alive, but they are old and have been dead a long time also. I guess I should focus my efforts in this area.

This is a picture of the old station. It is abobe and the walls are in poor shape and the roof is gone. It is about ten foot square with the "Shoot through windows." The ones that are about eight inches tall and about two and a half feet wide. This picture was taken from the area with the modern graffiti and a few of the matates. Luckily the rancher has put up gates on this road and the general public can not get into this area from the back of the property any longer. To come in from the front you have to drive right beside his house so maybe this will be here for the next generation.

What stage line do you attribute the stage station to? Butterfield came through that area from 1858 to 1861. After that stage lines didn't start again until early 1867. Was it Butterfield or later?