Devil's Canyon

by Ralph Compton

  “I brought a pick and shovel,” Isaac said. “Which do you want?”

  “Drop me the shovel,” said Faro. “It’s mostly loose dirt from the canyon rim.”

  With the shovel, Faro began removing the dirt a little at a time. Eventually the shovel clunked against something solid, and laying the shovel aside, Faro began scooping away the dirt with his hands. He then found himself looking into the empty eye sockets of a skull, and digging further, he found the gold chain was around the skeletal neck. Carefully, so as not to dislodge the skull, he removed the chain. He then held in his hands a gold cross that was some six inches in length, with a cross member of two-thirds that. Brushing the dirt away, Faro could read an engraving that had been etched into the cross member:

  Padre Esteban Borrego 1759.

  “Spanish gold,” Josh shouted excitedly.

  “Looks like it,” said Faro, “and this gent’s been here awhile. There’s engraving on the back of the cross.”

  Faro read the title, the name, and the date.

  “A priest,” Isaac said. “Do you want one of us to come down and help you uncover the rest of him?”

  “I can do it,” said Faro. “The dirt’s loose. I think he was lying here all the time, and the dirt slid off the canyon rim and covered him.”

  Carefully Faro shoveled away the dirt and found only the upper torso of the skeleton intact. The bones of the legs and feet were missing, and there was nothing else beneath the pile of dirt that might help to identify the long-dead priest. Faro shoveled dirt over the remains until the skeleton was completely covered.

  “That’s it,” said Faro. “I’m sending up the shovel and the cross. Then you can throw the rope back to me.”

  Josh backstepped the horse, drawing Faro up to the canyon rim. Isaac helped him to climb over the edge.

  “The river ain’t more than fifty yards away,” Josh said. “It may not get much closer to Devil’s Canyon than that.”

  “But it won’t hurt to go a bit farther,” said Isaac. “We’re still nearly two miles above the claim, and the shorter the distance between the canyon and the river, the less blasting we’ll have to do.”

  “That’s good thinking,” Faro said. “If the distance increases as we continue, then we’ll still be able to come back here.”

  The three of them mounted their horses, and within half a mile they found what they were looking for. There was a bend in the canyon, bringing it nearer the river. There was only a narrow strip of land separating the two.

  “We won’t find a place more ideal than this,” said Isaac. “I think the only reason the river hasn’t already broken through into the canyon is that there’s too much rock. We’re still more than a mile above our claim, and if we can divert the river here, we’ll have all the riverbed we’ll need for shelter and defense.”

  “Then we’ll do our blasting here,” Josh said. “Does that suit you, Faro?”

  “Yes,” said Faro. “We have dynamite, and even a few feet of solid rock can’t stand up to that. It’s better that we open a channel through rock. If there was only dirt, the force of the water might cave in the banks farther down.”

  “Then let’s return to camp and make plans for the blasting,” Isaac said. “Maybe we’ll be able to do it today. But first we must talk to the others and get their approval.”

  Mounting their horses, they rode upriver, where they crossed to the south bank. When they reached the wagons, the rest of the outfit was there, having just snaked in their first logs for firewood. First, Isaac showed them the golden cross and chain Faro had found.

  “Let me see that,” said Felix excitedly.

  Isaac passed it to him and he studied it intently. Finally he spoke.

  “I’ve done some reading about the early days, when Spain owned most of the territory from Texas to California. The gent who owned this may have been on his way to Santa Fe from California. There once were Spanish missions all over the Southwest.”

  “There’s a date, 1759,” said Faro. “What do you think it means?”

  “I can’t tie that date back to any particular event,” Felix said. “It might have been the year he was ordained, or maybe his birth date.”

  “Solid gold,” said Josh Snyder. “Wonder what it’s worth?”

  “Not as much for the gold content as it’s worth historically,” Felix said.

  “Faro found it,” said Isaac, “so it will be up to him what becomes of it.”

  “Consider it yours, Felix,” Faro said. “I agree that it’s a piece of history, and that it deserves better than just being sold. We’re here to mine gold, and I believe we’ve found the place to blast through the riverbed into Devil’s Canyon.”

  “He’s right,” said Josh, “but it’ll be through almost solid rock.”

  “That’s why we brought plenty of dynamite,” Collins said, “and thanks to Faro, we’ll be diverting the river and at the same time, creating a shelter from the elements as well as Indian attacks. How soon can we begin blasting?”

  “Maybe today,” said Isaac, “unless some of you think otherwise.”

  “All of you heard,” Collins said. “Are there any objections?”

  There were none, and Collins continued.

  “Isaac, since you, Josh, and Faro began this, why don’t you finish it? You can have as many of us as it takes, if you feel that you need help.”

  “The three of us can handle it,” Isaac said, “and the sooner we divert the water into the canyon, the sooner the riverbed can begin to dry.”

  “Then we won’t bother chopping these logs down to firewood length,” said Collins. “If the blasting accomplishes what we expect, we can just roll the logs over the riverbank and take axes to them later.”

  Collins and his companions rode out for more firewood, while Faro, Isaac, and Josh began unloading dynamite from one of the wagons.

  “I feel awful useless, hanging around the wagons while the rest of you are working,” Mamie said.

  “You’ll be doing more than your share, if you’ll fix us some noonday grub,” said Faro. “The wind’s gettin’ a mite cold and some hot coffee will be welcome.”

  “I’ll start right now,” Mamie promised.

  Having broken open the wooden case, Isaac and Josh had begun capping and fusing the dynamite.

  “I reckon a case of it will be enough,” said Faro.

  “Unless it’s solid rock to the center of the earth,” Isaac said, “this should be enough to blow up all of southern Utah.”

  As the explosive was made ready, Faro began placing it in the saddlebags of their still-saddled horses. Finally the three of them mounted and rode upriver, again crossing to the north bank.

  “We’d better leave the horses a good distance away, and continue on foot,” Faro said, “or the blast will spook them and we’ll end up walking back to camp.”

  “I figured we’d leave them up-canyon about where you discovered the gold cross,” said Isaac. “That’s maybe half a mile. All the dynamite has a long-burning fuse.”

  They dismounted, picketing the horses where there were some patches of graze along the river. Isaac removed four sticks of dynamite from his saddlebag.

  “We’ll start with a small charge, increasing it if we need to,” Isaac said. “If the charge is too heavy, you lose control of it.”

  “I can believe that,” said Faro. “Do you begin blasting at the riverbank, or at the rim of the canyon?”

  “At the canyon rim,” Isaac said. “We must be sure the channel from the river to the canyon is deep enough and that the elevation is right for the water to flow, before we bust through the riverbank. We need just enough of a retaining wall to hold the water back, but not so much that a final blast can’t finish the job.”

  “I reckon,” said Faro. “I can’t imagine lighting a dynamite fuse under water.”

  Expecting some rock, Isaac had kept the pick and shovel. When they reached the area where the distance was shortest between river and canyon, he swung the pick h
ard, driving it into the canyon rim. As expected, he struck rock, and quickly determined that most of the area between riverbank and canyon rim was equally obstructed.

  “Well,” said Isaac, “that explains why the river never broke through into the canyon at this particular place. We may need a sledgehammer and drill.”

  “Maybe not,” Faro said. “That’s why I brought a lariat. If the two of you can lower me over the rim a ways, maybe I can dig far enough into the canyon wall to set a charge. That should blast away enough of the rock for us to continue to the riverbank.”

  “That should work,” said Isaac, “but it’s a pretty good drop to the canyon floor, and I think we should go back for one of the horses. Josh?”

  “I’ll bring one of ’em,” Josh said.

  When Snyder returned with his horse, Faro tied one end of the lariat to the saddle horn. In the other end, he made a loop that he brought over his head and tightened about his waist.

  “That’ll cut you in half,” said Isaac.

  “All the more reason for me to do it pronto,” Faro replied.

  Chapter 17

  Josh backstepped the horse, bringing the lariat taut until Faro was over the edge of the canyon rim. A dozen feet down, there was a hump in the wall on which Faro was able to rest his feet, easing the strain of the rope around his middle. With all the force he was able to muster, he swung the pick, driving it deep.

  “More rock?” Isaac shouted.

  “Not yet,” said Faro.

  He drove in the pick again and again, dirt and loose stones cascading over him to the canyon floor below.

  “Don’t try to dig in too deep,” Isaac said. “Just enough to set a charge.”

  “Then haul me up,” said Faro wearily. “I can’t last much longer.”

  By the time they helped Faro over the edge, he was having trouble breathing. When he was at last free of the lariat, he lay there wheezing.

  “That’s the most difficult part,” Isaac said. “Josh or me can go down long enough to place the charge.”

  “There’s barely room enough, I reckon,” said Faro, “but maybe it’ll be enough.”

  “I’ll go down there and set the charge,” Josh said, “and once that fuse is afire, haul me up fast.”

  He tightened the lariat around his middle and took the four sticks of capped and fused dynamite that had been bound together. Faro backstepped the horse, tightening the rope as Josh stepped over the canyon rim. When he was in position, he shoved the dynamite into the crevice with as much force as he could. In his teeth he gripped three matches, and popping one of them aflame with his thumbnail, he lighted the dynamite fuse. Belly-down at the canyon rim, Isaac had been watching his progress.

  “Haul him up,” Isaac shouted.

  Quickly Faro backstepped the horse. When Snyder reached the canyon rim, Isaac was quick to help him to safety.

  “Help him mount his horse,” Faro said. “We may not have time for him to get his wind.”

  Quickly Isaac boosted Snyder into the saddle and the trio retreated to where they had left the horses. Still the charge didn’t blow.

  “Damn it,” said Snyder, “the fuse may have flamed out. I should have waited a little longer, bein’ sure of it.”

  But at that moment the earth shook with the force of the explosion, and the horses nickered in fear. Once the horses were again calm, Isaac took another four sticks of the dynamite from his saddlebag, and the trio set out for the scene. Reaching it, they found the blast had dislodged an enormous boulder, which now lay on the canyon floor.

  “Except for the one big rock, it didn’t accomplish much,” Faro said.

  “That’s enough,” said Isaac. “While we’ve gained less than half a dozen feet, that’ll be all we’ll need to set another charge.”

  “If I’m any judge,” Josh said, “we’ll have to go a lot deeper than that.”

  “I agree,” said Isaac. “Without enough elevation, the river won’t empty completely, but I think we ought to continue this channel on to the riverbank. That will give us some idea as to how much deeper we need to go. Then we’ll come back to this end and shoot for the proper depth.”

  “We may not finish today, then,” Faro said.

  “Probably not,” said Isaac. “When you’re blasting through rock, you have to take it a little at a time, like the calf ate the grindstone.”

  Faro laughed. “This is the first time I’ve heard that expression since leaving Texas.”

  “Let’s set another charge,” Josh said. “That should give us some idea as to how tough the rest of it will be.”

  The second blast dislodged more rock, advancing their channel another three or four feet. A third and fourth blast provided further proof of what they already suspected. Their progress was going to be agonizingly slow.

  “Looks like I was wrong,” Isaac said. “We’ll need more dynamite before this day is done, so we might as well ride back for some of that grub Mamie’s making ready.”

  The food was ready and the rest of the outfit was eating.

  “We waited for you as long as we could,” said Dallas Weaver. “Three minutes.”

  “That’s better than I’d expect,” Faro said. “I reckon you’ve been hearin’ our progress. I hope the lot of you have hauled in enough wood to last the winter.”

  “I expect we will have, before you gents get the river diverted,” Dallas said. “Looking down there, I still see water.”

  “You’ll probably be seeing it for a while,” said Isaac. “While there doesn’t seem to be much separating the river from Devil’s Canyon, what there is appears to be mostly rock.”

  “That’s why we brought plenty of dynamite,” Collins said.

  “There may not be any left over,” said Felix. “We were lucky, being able to dig some ore from the riverbank. For all we know, we may end up blasting the rest of it loose.”

  “We may need as much as two more cases of dynamite to blast the channel from the river to the canyon,” Isaac said.

  “Perhaps you should increase the charge,” said Collins.

  “I doubt it would help that much,” Isaac said. “Blasting through rock, you can only get so far with a single charge. We’re using four sticks at a time. Too much force might only widen the channel, rather than lengthening it.”

  “Then continue as you and Josh see fit,” said Collins.

  “Yeah,” Tarno said, “just as long as you have that riverbed dry in another day or so. The wind’s gettin’ colder, and the Injun in me says we’re due for another storm, and we’ll be needin’ shelter.”

  “Then if you can find a piece of ground that’s not solid rock,” said Faro, “you’d better dig a hole big enough for you and that Injun in you to crawl into. Blasting this channel to Devil’s Canyon from the bank of the river is some devil of a job, and it may run right on into next week.”

  Taking a second case of dynamite from one of the wagons, Isaac and Josh capped and fused it. The three of them then rode back to continue what they had started.

  “At least another fifty feet to the riverbank,” Isaac observed, “and even then we won’t have the depth we’ll need.”

  “No,” said Josh, “but when we begin blasting on a second level, there may not be so much rock. Then we can increase the charge.”

  “Seems to me we’ll have to blast this new channel even lower than the riverbed,” Faro said. “Otherwise, we may divert only some of the water, with the rest flowing along the original bed.”

  “That’s exactly right,” said Isaac. “Water always seeks the lowest level, so we may have to drop this new channel several feet below the original riverbed.”

  As the afternoon wore on, they placed six more charges, each advancing their channel a few more feet.

  “There’s enough dynamite for four more charges,” Josh said. “That should get us to the riverbank on a first level, and will be about as much as we can do today. Tomorrow we can begin deepening the channel.”

  The last charge advanced th
eir channel all the way to the riverbank, but still far short of their goal.

  “Now we’ll have to back up to the canyon rim and shoot for depth,” said Isaac. “We’re still a dozen feet away from water level, and depending on the depth of the river, we may have to go down another sixteen to twenty feet.”

  “Tarnation,” Faro said, “I hope we’ll have enough dynamite.”

  “We will,” said Isaac. “Josh and me figured on something like this, before Levi went to Santa Fe. There’s a good chance, as we go deeper, there’ll be less rock. In that case, the force of the river will work for us.”

  They reached camp an hour before sunset. The rest of the outfit was already there, and Felix was helping Mamie prepare supper. An enormous pile of logs had been dragged in for firewood. While they waited for supper, Isaac told them what progress had been made. Collins expressed some doubt.

  “Will we have enough dynamite? Where we had originally planned to divert the river—just above the claim—the banks were much lower.”

  “Yes,” Isaac agreed, “but there was a greater distance between Devil’s Canyon and the river, so it should even out.”

  “Isaac and me went a little heavy, orderin’ the dynamite,” said Josh. “We’re seven hundred miles out of Santa Fe, so it’s better havin’ too much than not enough.”

  “I don’t believe we’ll have too much,” Isaac said. “We’re considering the possibility that we may have to blast some of the ore loose, once the river’s been diverted. For all we know, the vein may run through solid rock.”

  “If it does, it’ll be worth the extra effort,” said Dallas Weaver. “I’ve had some experience with mining, and when you find rock shot with color, it’s almost always pure gold.”

  “I’ve heard talk about that,” Felix said.

  “This is all so exciting,” said Mamie. “It’ll be hard to wait.”

  * * *

  With the dawn came a cold wind from the northwest that had the feel of snow. Along the western horizon stretched a band of gray clouds.

  “Before we do anything else,” Faro said, “I think we’d better position four wagons and get our canvas shelters in place.”