Out West - Page 269
by Archaeological Institute of America Southwest Society - 1905
Spook Prospecting
HooDoo Irons/Stick - used by Jesuit priests.
A paisano of his down in Guadalajara had a pair of hoodoo
irons stolen out of the Mission where the priests had had them
prospecting for buried treasure. There was an old Mission in
ruins near his home in California, with a lost-mine story going
with it — a mine the fathers had worked a hundred years ago. It
was rich ; the Indians had been seen dog-trotting the ore to the
Mission, several miles away. The padres had guarded the mine,
and, when they went away, had hid it for keeps. No one had
ever found it, although it was no secret there was a mine; every
man in the country, sometime or other, had made a try for it. "
In Tonto Basin, when I was a boy," says Scotty, ''there was
a man could locate silver nuggets with the hoodoo-stick, every
time. There's something in it; there's something inside of a
man that gets the hunch, and works the stick for him. These
old priests in Guadalajara had the same notion — and they're
dead onto their job, pardner. "
It was toward the full of the moon, and in order to be secret
and mysterious about it, we did our spook prospecting at night.
Don Tomas was the spook professor. He produced the irons,
and we sneaked off into the hills to make a try. Don Tomas unrolled
the irons from a frazzled, gold-embroidered buckskin.
Kneeling down he went through a hocus-pocus to get on the
blind side of the saints — a prayer his compadre learned from the
priests before he stole the irons.
The irons were S-shaped, brass
concerns, so battered you couldn't make out the lettering on
them. At one end of each S was a handle, at the other a crow's-
foot, where they dovetailed together. A silver arrow, dropped
through the crow's feet, was supposed to point straight down to
the "oro fino." Scotty and Don Tomas fitted the rig together,
and gripped the handles tight to keep the arrow pointing up,
joined hands in front, and went off over the hills, walking sideways.
Their interest took fire again and we went back that very evening
to try the irons. After Don Tomas got through his medicine-
performance, I took hold with him and we started through
the trees. The irons began to turn slowly, like the spoke of a
wheel, from the moment we started. I gripped the handle until
me hand blistered, but couldn't hold it. It continued to turn
until it pointed straight down, and after we passed the point,
turned slowly to point back to the same spot. "
Now she's throwing her mud," whispered Scotty, marking the
ground with his heel. "Take her crossways to get it exact, and
we'll fly at It."
-----------------------
What they found was a blue clay deposit that was mined for diamonds? The waste material was used to make fired clay pots. I was wondering about the description of the rods. Does anyone know what they looked like? Sounds like two sections that were put together to form something that looked like an S shape. The crows feet with the hanging bob I am having trouble picturing., John
by Archaeological Institute of America Southwest Society - 1905
Spook Prospecting
HooDoo Irons/Stick - used by Jesuit priests.
A paisano of his down in Guadalajara had a pair of hoodoo
irons stolen out of the Mission where the priests had had them
prospecting for buried treasure. There was an old Mission in
ruins near his home in California, with a lost-mine story going
with it — a mine the fathers had worked a hundred years ago. It
was rich ; the Indians had been seen dog-trotting the ore to the
Mission, several miles away. The padres had guarded the mine,
and, when they went away, had hid it for keeps. No one had
ever found it, although it was no secret there was a mine; every
man in the country, sometime or other, had made a try for it. "
In Tonto Basin, when I was a boy," says Scotty, ''there was
a man could locate silver nuggets with the hoodoo-stick, every
time. There's something in it; there's something inside of a
man that gets the hunch, and works the stick for him. These
old priests in Guadalajara had the same notion — and they're
dead onto their job, pardner. "
It was toward the full of the moon, and in order to be secret
and mysterious about it, we did our spook prospecting at night.
Don Tomas was the spook professor. He produced the irons,
and we sneaked off into the hills to make a try. Don Tomas unrolled
the irons from a frazzled, gold-embroidered buckskin.
Kneeling down he went through a hocus-pocus to get on the
blind side of the saints — a prayer his compadre learned from the
priests before he stole the irons.
The irons were S-shaped, brass
concerns, so battered you couldn't make out the lettering on
them. At one end of each S was a handle, at the other a crow's-
foot, where they dovetailed together. A silver arrow, dropped
through the crow's feet, was supposed to point straight down to
the "oro fino." Scotty and Don Tomas fitted the rig together,
and gripped the handles tight to keep the arrow pointing up,
joined hands in front, and went off over the hills, walking sideways.
Their interest took fire again and we went back that very evening
to try the irons. After Don Tomas got through his medicine-
performance, I took hold with him and we started through
the trees. The irons began to turn slowly, like the spoke of a
wheel, from the moment we started. I gripped the handle until
me hand blistered, but couldn't hold it. It continued to turn
until it pointed straight down, and after we passed the point,
turned slowly to point back to the same spot. "
Now she's throwing her mud," whispered Scotty, marking the
ground with his heel. "Take her crossways to get it exact, and
we'll fly at It."
-----------------------
What they found was a blue clay deposit that was mined for diamonds? The waste material was used to make fired clay pots. I was wondering about the description of the rods. Does anyone know what they looked like? Sounds like two sections that were put together to form something that looked like an S shape. The crows feet with the hanging bob I am having trouble picturing., John
