BajaNomad

THE ANGEL OF SANTA ROSALIA by Choral Pepper

David K - 10-18-2009 at 09:22 AM

[another chapter from the unpublished 'Baja's Missions Mysteries and Myths' by Choral Pepper]

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THE ANGEL OF SANTA ROSALIA


Back in the late 1880s, softhearted Irish lass named Nellie Cashman opened a restaurant above the border in Tombstone, Arizona. Prior to that she had followed gold strikes all over the American West, but had never grown rich because she was a patsy when it came to down-and-outers. Whatever she reaped, she ended up giving away. In Arizona she ministered to so many disenchanted gold-seekers that she became known as “The Angel of Tombstone.”


One day a Mexican entered her restaurant to exchange a heap of smooth, round nuggets for cash, claiming that they had come from Baja California near Santa Rosalia. He then disappeared and never returned. Because he wasn’t looking for a stake, Nellie convinced herself and a party of prominent citizens that included M. E. Joyce, a supervisor of Cochise County, and Mark A. Smith, later to become an Arizona senator, that all they had to do to get rich was charm the Mexicans in the Baja community into revealing their source of gold. None of the party had ever prospected this mysterious, unmapped peninsula, but they were game to try.


After outfitting themselves, the party passed through Sonora on horseback as far as Guaymas. There they chartered a fishing boat to carry them to Santa Rosalia across the Gulf. Nellie succeeded in befriending the natives, but the only information she could elicit in regard to their source of income was that it came from “the good Padre Pierre.”


The good padre, according to legend, was stationed in a mission in Golo Valley some twenty-seven miles inland. The French supposedly instituted his mission during the two-year period that Maximilian reigned as Emperor of Mexico. Following Maximilian’s execution in 1876, Padre Pierre had chosen to remain in Baja to carry on his work.

Convinced that the padre had a secret placer gold operation, the Arizonians set forth into Santa Rosalia’s rugged backdrop to find it. One morning, with their water almost gone and the discouraged men threatening to turn back, Nellie left them in camp and went out alone. After walking for torturous hours, she came upon a small valley rancherita. In its center stood a squat adobe church. As she approached, Padre Pierre welcomed her, offering water and shelter.



After resting, Nellie decided not to mention her search for gold until after she had had an opportunity to explore on her own. That evening, when the sun cast long shadows to cool off the hot land, she casually wandered beyond the confines of the rancherita. Immediately she discovered herself on the desert again, following a path cut by a dry riverbed. The nuggets she had seen in Tombstone were smooth and round; typical of those worn down by streams, so she paused to scoop up a handful of sand. As she examined it, Padre Pierre suddenly materialized from around a bend in the shallow arroyo.


He had never heard of the softhearted Angel of Tombstone, but he sensed the right button to push. After confiding to her that he had guessed her mission, he implored Nellie to consider the consequences if prospectors suddenly began to ravage the arid land to remove the only source of livelihood available to its native population.



Visualizing hordes of prospectors making a rush for Baja, she let the sand slip slowly through her fingers and promised that she would never reveal his secret. The next day she returned to her comrades accompanied by a guide who carried goatskin containers filled with water.



Weary of heat and failure, the prospecting party began its long trek back to Tombstone, more grateful for the water than it would have been for gold. As for Nellie, “The Angel of Rosalia,” she remained in Arizona until a new bonanza beckoned from Alaska. She died there in 1920 after revealing the true outcome of the Baja gold hunt.



Whether gold actually exists in the menacing desert inland from the port town of Santa Rosalia is a moot question, but most assuredly other minerals do. The area first gained importance in 1870 when copper-bearing ore was discovered. By 1885 the French-owned Compaignie de Boleo directed by the Rothschilds, had developed Santa Rosalia into the world’s greatest copper producer, which it remained until gradual ore deterioration forced closure of the mines following World War II.



As a destination, Santa Rosalia is nobody’s favorite. It looks like a company town and that is all it ever was. The most beguiling event in its history is the funny thing that happened to the church on its way to Baja. In the nineteenth century, a prefabricated structure (designed by A. G. Eiffel of Paris tower fame) was packed in sections to be shipped from France to a now-forgotten destination. Instead, it arrived at Santa Rosalia with a shipment of supplies destined for the mining company. Not knowing what else to do with it, the frugal French put it together. Now praised as a contemporary art form, Rosalia’s pre-fab Eiffel church is a treasure less nebulous than that sought by Rosalia’s “angel.”

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[Choral Pepper was the editor/ published of Desert Magazine in the 1960's and was often invited to travel with the expeditions of Erle Stanley Gardner. Her photos from those Baja trips can be viewed at http://choralpepper.com ]

David K - 8-17-2011 at 05:45 PM

bump

Squat

El Vergel - 8-18-2011 at 10:33 AM

Hmmm.... I sense another adventure! Do we know of this rancheritas squat adobe church?
Quote:
Originally posted by David K
[another chapter from the unpublished 'Baja's Missions Mysteries and Myths' by Choral Pepper]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE ANGEL OF SANTA ROSALIA


After walking for torturous hours, she came upon a small valley rancherita. In its center stood a squat adobe church.

David K - 8-18-2011 at 11:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by El Vergel
Hmmm.... I sense another adventure! Do we know of this rancheritas squat adobe church?

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
[another chapter from the unpublished 'Baja's Missions Mysteries and Myths' by Choral Pepper]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE ANGEL OF SANTA ROSALIA


After walking for torturous hours, she came upon a small valley rancherita. In its center stood a squat adobe church.


San Jose de Magdalena may fit the bill?

dtbushpilot - 8-18-2011 at 12:22 PM

I'm in, I've spent the money that I got for my share of the gold from our last "lost mission" adventure....oh, wait, I forgot that I wasn't supposed to tell that...never mind....dt

[Edited on 8-18-2011 by dtbushpilot]

David K - 8-18-2011 at 12:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dtbushpilot
I'm in, I've spent the money that I got for my share of the gold from our last "lost mission" adventure....oh, wait, I forgot that I wasn't supposed to tell that...never mind....dt

[Edited on 8-18-2011 by dtbushpilot]


STILL WAITING for your trip report!:light:

David K - 1-14-2012 at 08:49 PM

David?

BajaOkie - 1-15-2012 at 05:04 PM

Thanks David,

I forgot about this story. Thanks for all your research and commitment to this board - you are appreciated!

BajaOkie

Pescador - 1-15-2012 at 07:15 PM

She may have been right on the money. Right now our beautiful little "forgotten" town has been discovered by the new Boleo Mine and is being overrun by all the mining people who have moved in to cash in on the new "Copper Strike". It is almost impossible to find a place to rent for residence or business in Santa Rosalia and the town is taking on a whole new personality that it never had in it's old days. While I am glad for the opportunity provided for all of the workers and employees, it is with a certain amount of sadness that the change is so drastic. Unlike Mulege and Loreto which are pretty much overrun with tourist types, Santa Roslalia was one of those few places on the baja main road where you were able to get a true Mexican Experience without being immediately thrown in to the pot of tourists. The 'economic spin off" is certainly being felt even up in the ranching areas west of town and will likely change the very personality of the whole area, but that is one of the things that happens with "progress". So the original Angel of Santa Rosalia had the good sense to drop the nuggets and return to the party from which she came. I doubt that we will have that luxury available any more.

Mexitron - 1-15-2012 at 07:33 PM

Interesting story!