Story Time............

[muley]

This episode happened in '50 or '51 along the Colorado River north of Yuma Arizona and maybe 20 miles west of what is nowadays known as Picacho State Recreation Area.
The Parra Wash was a favorite area of my dad's to hunt, fish and prospect for minerals and he had been doing it in the area since the late '20s. The Parra Wash is several hundred yards wide in places and miles long with deep side washes that are only accessable by jeep or sandbuggy for short distances. Then, you have to walk.

So, to the story.......My dad, Old Jim, Uncle Elgin and I were camping about ½ mile from the mouth of the river up the Parra wash and doing some prospecting and fishing. We would have camped next to the river but the mosquitoes along the water made that impossible.

I was 10 or 11 yrs old and it was my job each morning to take the sandbuggy down to the river and check the throw lines for catfish and put them on stringers and rebait the hooks. We had two throw lines out......On the third morning, we had 6 nice Channel Cats on the stringer. Our plan was to take the fish home with us when we left after 5 or 6 days.........

Anyway, when I went down to check the lines on the fourth morning, the throw lines were lying on the riverbank and the stringer was gone. At first, I suspected raccoons. But, then I saw boot tracks. Big boot tracks.

I immediately took off back to camp and told my dad. We all went back to the river. But first, my dad picked up the old Model 94 and Uncle Elgin got out his Remington Model 8 Cal. 35. That's when I knew this was serious. They milled around awhile in the area and Elgin disappeared for a little bit. I knew he was tracking them. He was the tracker in the family. Soon, he came back. Then, I heard him tell my dad and Old Jim that there were four of them and they went up the east side of the wash......

Without hesitating, they got in the sandbuggy and drove back to camp. They were going to leave me there and go after them. Then, when I asked my dad what should I do if they came while they weren't there, he got a funny look on his face and told me to just come along with them. I was glad.

We drove along up the east side of the wash for a mile or so and then Uncle Elgin got out and trotted ahead just in sight of us. I guess so the sound of the sandbuggy motor wouldn't alert the fish thieves. After another mile, Uncle Elgin came walking back. He said he smelled smoke ahead. So, they left me with the sandbuggy and went on ahead.

The rest of the story I was told to by my dad and Uncle Elgin because I didn't see it first hand. They found the camp of the thieves and after looking it over, decided to approach it from three sides. My dad walked in from one side, Uncle Elgin from another and Old Jim from another.

There were four men in the camp and they were dressed alike and all had shaved heads or very short hair. My dad suspected that they might have escaped from some facility somewhere. My dad held the old 30/30 at port and Uncle Elgin held the Model 8 in the crook of his arm. Then Old Jim said “We come for our fish”.

One of the thieves was still cleaning the fish. He looked up and all he said was, “Well, wait until I finish cleaning them”. They didn't wait. When we got back to camp, we packed up and left.

A couple weeks later, my dad and Old Jim made a trip back to the camp and saw where the four men had come down to the camp and walked in from four directions to our campsite. Probably that night......and probably not just for a fish dinner.

[pickenup]

Yup, when it's time to go, it's time to go.
Glad ya'll knew when it was time, otherwise we might not be reading this story.

Thanks, keep em commin.

[Marlin]

Pays to use common sense, Muley. Glad you are still here to keep the stories comin'!

[SouthernMoss]

Excellent story!