deducer
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- Jan 7, 2014
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deducer,
That was not the first or last time that Tom would describe Purnell and Keenan as "cowboy-prospectors". Someone considered them prospectors. I know I have read or heard that the two had not worked for Tex. Not sure how accurate that is.
Good luck,
Joe
Garry looked into the Arizona census and found that Keenan had listed his occupation first as a laborer and mechanic in Mesa (which would fit with his allegedly having worked at the Morse gas station) and then as farm laborer. He apparently never stayed at one job too long.
Purnell is more difficult to track down. Apparently he was in and out of prison (Salt Lake City, possibly Arizona prison at Florence). He was also an on and off prospector but the closest he came to staking a claim in the Superstitions was the Mountain View Claim on March 2, 1931 near the Superstitions, according to Kollenborn.
If either of them were very familiar with the Superstitions, why are there no claims in their names, in the mountains?