Apache gold and Yaqui silver

by J. Frank Dobie

1976 University of New Mexico Press trade paperback, J. Frank Dobie (Coffee In The Gourd). Buried vaults stacked with gold bars, secret caches of coins and jewels plundered from the Spaniards and the Church, exposed veins of ore with nuggets the size of turkey eggs. Guarded by the bones of dead men, the legendary treasures of the Southwest still wait for those foolhardy or desperate enough to seek them. Death is the cure for gold fever, and the lucky few who saw the riches and lived to tell of them spent the rest of their lives searching, haunted by faulty memories, changed landscapes, and quirks of fate. It is the stories of these men and the wealth they pursued that J. Frank Dobie tells in Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver. In this masterful collection of tales, Dobie introduces us to Pedro Loco, General Mexhuira's ghost, the German, and a colorful group of oddfellows. - Amazon

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Westerns, American Fiction, Folklore

366 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

Called the "Storyteller of the Southwest," James Frank Dobie was born in 1888 on his family's cattle ranch in Live Oak County. During his long life, J. Frank Dobie would live astride two worlds: a rugged life on a Texas cattle ranch and the state's modern centers of scholarly learning.

Dobie came to Austin in 1914 to teach at the University of Texas. In time he pioneered an influential course on the literature of the Southwest. By the late 1920s, Dobie discovered his mission: to record and publicize the disappearing folklore of Texas and the greater Southwest. Dobie became secretary of the Texas Folklore Society, a position he held for 21 years.

J. Frank Dobie Dobie was a new kind of folklorist—a progressive activist. He called for UT to admit African-American students in the 1940s—long before the administration favored integration. Dobie's vocal politics led to his leaving the University in 1947, but he continued writing until his death in 1964, publishing over twenty books and countless articles.

The inscription on Dobie's headstone in the Texas State Cemetery reads: "I have come to value liberated minds as the supreme good of life on earth." J. Frank Dobie was not content to simply preserve Southwestern heritage within libraries and museums. He gave life to that heritage and informed generations of Texans about their rich history.

Reviews

[Steven Howes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won't go into much detail here as this book is similar in content to Dobie's "Coronado's Children" which I previously read and reviewed. Suffice it to say that it contains several tales of hidden treasure in the desert Southwest and old Mexico. These are places that I have traveled in or would like to see someday. The author provides some excellent glimpses into what these places were like in the 19th and early 20th centuries - back when there were still a few wild Indians to be found in the canyons and mountains; and jaguars roamed the wild places.

Again, as with "Coronado's Children", my only criticism of the book is that it would been helpful to me at least to have a few maps showing, in a general sense, where these stories take place. At times it was difficult to envision the terrain and distances covered by the people featured in each of the stories.

[David Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver by J. Frank Dobie (Little, Brown and Company 1928)(917.8) is the tale of two lost mines in the Southwest which supposedly supplied much of the gold of Eldorado. Maybe if I read these books carefully and sift through all of the clues as to the locations, I could...My rating: 5/10, finished 1/10/14.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pleasure read and a window onto the late 18th and early 19th C TX/Mexico/NM some of the kinds of characters that populated that region and their lifeways. It was worth the read with all that in mind. What disappointed me was that he did not often create a sense of drama in me as I read, which I had believed he would. Perhaps it was a little slow paced, or simply dated — it was written nearly 100 years ago after all. Or I was not in the right place for it to work well. This lacking called to mind a book that really did that well, and I will review it here shortly. It is called Legends and Lore of the Guadalupe Mountains.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a well told story.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually have the original hardback of this. He is such a great writer

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dobie explores tales, legends, and myths about buried treasures of the American Southwest including Jim Bowie's San Saba mine. It is hard to separate fact from fiction.

[Rita Scranton]

Interesting history of the treasures it explores, but not riveting.

[Tripp]

Southwest