William H. Smith August 15, 1998
1204 Christmas Tree
Lane about 1130 words
Pearce, Az. 85625
303-36-7671
(520) 826-1029
The Cracked Mesa
By
William H. Smith
The descendants of Alfredo passed
down this story; he was a poor Hispanic man who
lived in South Tucson. The story takes place south of Tucson on
what is now I- 1 9, and east of Tubac on a mesa with large cracks. The two men referred to as Alfredo and Jose
are factious, but the story is based on actuality as it was related from the
lucky treasure finder through his descendants.
The two "amigos"
often got crossways with the law. They
dressed poorly, often in
need of a bath. They both carried .45 caliber revolvers
which they used in their plundering, the revolvers although not well cared for
were still deadly.
One day, in 1918, Alfredo
and Jose were in Tubac, where they attempted to rob a local
merchant, but to their
dismay the sheriff walked in on them.
Having picketed their horses in a grassy spot outside of town they were
forced to flee on foot. The sheriff and
posse were soon on horseback, and were in pursuit of the two thieves.
While running through the
rocks, bushes, and cacti Alfredo and Jose received many
bumps, bruises, and
scratches in their attempt to escape.
While trying to escape they ran up a wash with the sheriff and posse in
hot pursuit, Alfredo and Jose climbed out of the wash onto a mesa. The Mesa had several large cracks, one of
them was several feet long and very deep.
They lowered themselves into the end of the first big crack, hoping the
sheriff and posse would pass them by.
Hearing their pursuers outside they remained very quite until they were
sure they had been successful in their escape.
Being curious of what they
had climbed into they built a small fire from a packrat's nest. The fire licked the wood, and the chasm grew
brighter from the firelight. There
Alfredo and Jose stood stunned, before them were gold bars neatly stacked.
Jose couldn’t contain
himself and began dancing around and shouting, he had "Gold
Fever". Alfredo was sure Jose must
have went completely loco, and he realized the discovery must be kept very
quite, even their families could never know of the gold. Alfredo without hesitating drew his rusty
.45 caliber Colt revolver and shot Jose through the head. He buried him in a grave inside the treasure
crack. In the past they had made several
trips into Mexico, so when Jose didn't return Alfredo would announce that he
had remained in Mexico.
Alfredo returned to Tubac
and recovered their horses, and then returned to the treasure site, using
Jose's horse as a pack animal he loaded several gold bars and made his way into
Mexico where he exchanged it for American dollars. He then returned to South Tucson where he settled down living
well but not a rich life. He told the
story of finding a man gold deposit to explain his sudden income.
Over the years he made several trips by himself to the
treasure site, camping by the wash, below and near the treasure crack on the
mesa. Early in the morning before
light, he would walk to the treasure crack take out more gold, and then proceed
on into Mexico where he would exchange the gold for dollars. He raised his family in South Tucson, never
raising any suspicion concerning his modest income, he claimed came from a
small gold mine.
He continued this deception until 1963. He was getting on in years, and decided to
make one more trip to the "Cracked Mesa" treasure site taking his
daughter with him.
According to the daughter's
recollection she and her father drove from South Tucson toward Tubac, turned
east on a dirt road before reaching Tubac, they crossed some railroad tracks
and the Santa Cruz River, driving for about two miles they stopped at a spot
just above a water tank to make camp.
The next morning Alfredo went alone walking up the wash carrying a pack,
after about forty-five minutes had elapsed she heard an explosion, and in about
fifteen minutes her father returned to the car, and they returned to South
Tucson.
During their return trip
Alfredo related his story of finding the gold bars and killing Jose to his
daughter, swearing her to secretly while he still lived. After a few years he passed on and the
daughter married, she told the treasure story to her husband, and it aroused
him to go treasure hunting. They made
several trips looking for the treasure, they found the old campsite and the
cracks were there, but finding the gold bars wasn't to be. They finally gave up looking for the
treasure after several attempts. They
believed that Alfredo may have taken all the gold out, but he had said, “I left
Jose's share and blasted the treasure crack shut, burying the gold and Jose
under a land slide of rocks and dirt.”
The daughter gave up on
finding the gold bars for their selves, and told Alfredo's story to her
relatives.
In 1982 Vince Shields and I
listened as Don Kinman a shirttail relative of Alfredo's told
us the story. The three of us went to Tubac to see if lady
luck might smile on us. We drove from
Amado to Tubac on a frontage road (the old highway), we turned east on a dirt
road north of Tubac crossing railroad tracks and the Santa Cruz River. We drove for about two miles, and found the
water tank where Alfredo camped, and the wash he walked up. We walked up the wash going about one
quarter of a mile, there we climbed a tall cliff and found the cracks on the
mesa. After exploring the cracks we
found an easier way to reach the mesa.
Sadly we returned to Arivaca without finding the treasure crack.
A few weeks later Vince and I
took another trip to the "Cracked Mesa". We stopped
where the road crosses the
wash just above the water tank, walking up the wash. we discovered a large rock
with a Matate (a hole worn by grinding grain or ore) worn into it.. The ground
above the Matate was sloped and a easy way to the top of the cracked mesa. The dirt doesn't look natural and seems to
have been disturbed in earlier years. if a person was to excavate this area,
the gold bars and possibly Jose's grave might be revealed (we didn’t dig).
The distance from the water
tank to the Matate is about right for Alfredo to have
walked in fifteen minutes.
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