Whatever

I reported you.

 

I'm all in for a good scar, especially if it has a story behind it.

 

Ask and you shall receive...this eventually will be a personal family story but first I need to share some historical background.

Down here in Southeastern New Mexico and stretching south into Texas, rising majestically out of the Chihuahuan Desert, are the Guadalupe Mountains. Home of the world famous Carlsbad Caverns and the last stronghold of the Mescalero Apache tribe. The thing about the Guadalupes is, geologically, there are no minerals to be found anywhere in them. So it was very mysterious when, in the 1800s, Governor Lew Wallace found documents at the state capitol detailing Spanish explorers in the 1600s being led to gold by the Apaches. Fortune hunters flocked in by the droves but no trace of it was found.

Then, in the 1870's, a man named Ben Sublett walked into the saloon in Monahans, Texas with a large sack of gold nuggets. He declared he had found the biggest gold strike in history and was going to buy drinks until nobody could drink anymore. Then he was going to buy the state of Texas for his children to play in. He said he had found it in the Guadalupes but, of course, didn't give many exact details. He never did buy any land, or even a house. He was never known to work but he and his children lived in a tent outside of town. Every so often he would disappear for awhile and come back with about $1000 worth of gold. Which was a lot of money in those days. Many tried to follow him but he was too smart for them. As far as anyone knows, nobody had ever seen the mine except Ben and his young son Ross.

Then one day a man named Lucius "Frenchy" Arthur stopped at a ranch for water near Van Horn, Texas. He told the rancher he knew of a cache of gold in the Guadalupes and was headed there. The rancher warned him that the Apaches were on the warpath and refusing to be driven to the reservation. Frenchy went anyway and was never seen again. Ben Sublett finally died without revealing his secret to anyone. His son Ross searched for it all his life but could never find his way back.

Now, my family enters the story. In the 1950's my dad's uncle, Joel. Was hunting deer in the Guadalupes and saw something across a canyon that didn't look right to hm. He went over and found a knoll covered in lava rocks, iron and copper ore and a large indentation in the earth that was obviously loose fill dirt. The canyon wall above had been purposely knocked down to cover something up. Uncle Joe had never heard of Sublett but knew minerals were non existent in those mountains. He surmised that a volcanic action had pushed it there from deep in the earth and nobody would go to that much trouble unless there was something to hide. He went home and did some research and found the story of Ben Sublett...He got a little excited. He even found Ross Sublett and took him there but he couldn't remember if it was familiar or not.

He recruited his favorite nephew, my dad, to go in partners with him and dig up the mystery. Well, it became my dad's dream. He believed it was Sublett's lost mine as sure as he believed the sky was blue. Every weekend he and Joe would load up the families and head for the mountains. By the time I was old enough to remember anything they had gotten it so deep they had to buy an old, rusted out crane with a bucket on it to lift out the dirt. It wasn't far from a forest service fire road so they just used the crane to bulldoze a new road down to the diggings. The rangers were a lot more tolerant in those days. For many years they kept at it and were on the verge of giving up when they discovered something. A human skeleton. They were sure it was Frenchy and the spark was re-ignited. (I think I mentioned here once about my uncle keeping a skeleton in his welding shop) They figured the Apaches had killed him and covered up the hole to keep other white men from finding it.

So for many more years we dug (my brothers and I were helping out by this time) until we discovered yet another find. A cave. A small but beautiful cave every bit as awesome as the Carlsbad Caverns. Just on a much smaller scale. We also hit the end of the fill dirt. It was solid rock under our feet. We explored every nook and cranny of that cave but could find no trace of a volcanic action and no trace of minerals. We were stumped. It wasn't long after that Uncle Joe passed away and my dad was now sole owner of the claim.

Dad was an oilfield mechanic and had made a lot of friends in the industry. He convinced one of them to finance his mining endeavor and furnish a truck mounted drilling rig to do some test holes at the claim. I went with him on the first trip with it and we stopped at the cafe in Queen, NM to get some lunch. A local rancher was in the cafe and he was not a happy man. The ranchers in the area depend on water for their cattle and he was afraid dad was going to tap into the main aquifer and screw things up. Dad assured him he didn't plan to drill that deep but he wasn't convinced. The next day we had drilled about three test holes when we were overrun by forest rangers with cease and desist orders. We had to go to court for years and eventually lost. They revoked his mining claim and said never touch the place again. They barred up the hole and only allow spelunkers to enter with a permit now.

 

Denver dog moms are hot. I think they poop granola bars because of how fit they are.

 

Great story! Thanks for sharing!

 

I've got a scar between the left and right... wait oh shit

 

I have 8 about inch long incisions. It was done arthroscopicly. It was almost a 4 hour surgery.

 

Couple of honest questions for you. Who owns that land now? Also, in the 50's, could you "lay claim" to land? How did that work back then?

 

It's within the Lincoln National Forest so it's public land. You can file a mining claim anywhere on public land except in designated wilderness areas. You just need proof that there is something to mine. Either actual samples or a reliable source. They aren't as easy to get these days as they were then.

 

Gotcha. Thanks.

 

Mine is about the same, Mine was supposed to be 2 hours turned out to 6 hours

 

Repost.... I missed it

 

Hey there, Murph! You guys still camping?

 

What a weird thing to mumble in your sleep about...

 

Don't worry I've got some beer for ya

 

Really glad that I went to the dog park.

 

Afternoon all

 

Googled vasectomy scars to entertain the group but found nothing that would not get me perma banned.

 

I watched my hubbers get his. Pretty sure I could perform one if needed.