Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
Henry Whacker's Hidden Money
The Killing of Indian Henry
The following is a condensed version of one of the many colorful short stories to be found in Howard Greager's book, "In the Company of Cowboys"
© 1990 by Howard E. Greager
Henry Whacker, later known as Indian Henry, was a "Digger Indian" from a tribe in the southwest Utah and Southeast Nevada areas. The term "Digger" evolved from the habit these Indians had for digging in the ground for most of their food. When he was about 17 years old, Henry was either abandoned by his parents or else told to get out on his own. Fortunately, he was picked up along a wagon trail by a couple of families on their way to settle in the Paradox area. One of the settlers, Jimmy Huff, adopted Henry, and he was known by some after that as Henry Huff. To the majority of people, however, he was called Indian Henry. He received a little schooling while he finished growing up in the Paradox area. Well known and well liked in Paradox, he later did cowboy work for some of the cattle outfits in the area and eventually owned a small herd of his own.
After the turn of the century and the discovery of radium, mining became quite an industry in the west end of Montrose County. Indian Henry staked quite a few claims in the Bull Canyon area; he worked some claims, but he mostly prospected, staked claims, and then held them for sale. Only the most high grade ore could be used for the extraction of Radium. It took a lot of prospecting and assaying to locate the desirable ore bodies.
The North Standard Chemical Corporation had some mines in this same part of the Bull Canyon Mining District, and the men who worked them lived in a boarding house built in the bottom of Bull Canyon, very near the wash caused by the rushing waters of the spring run-off. The boarding house was managed by John Keske, whose wife took in all the miners' washing and did their cooking. There was also a shelter under the overhanging rims for the pack burros and saddle horses. (The remains of both the old boarding house and the animal shelter are still visible today). Indian Henry used to spend quite a bit of time around the boarding house; it gave him a chance to visit with people, but, mostly, he loved to play Hearts, a card game that he played with Keske. Indian Henry, who had reportedly sold some of his claims, was thought to have quite a bit of money. Where he had it (if he had it) has never been discovered. Some people don't believe that he ever had more than just pocket change - enough for a few games of Hearts and a meal at the boarding house. John Keske, however, believed very strongly that Indian Henry did have a lot of money and that he either hid it around his cabin, which was not far from the boarding house or had it stashed with some of his personal belongings in the room he used while staying with the Keskes.
On the afternoon of May 11, 1917, in the Keske Boarding House, three men sat down at the dining room table to play some Hearts. The men were Clark Akers, an old time cowboy, John Keske and Indian Henry. John Keske had concealed a six-shooter in his boot top. For that reason alone, I think the whole episode that followed was a set-up to kill Indian Henry and steal the money they thought he had. During the course of the play, Keske led an ace, and Indian Henry trumped it. Outraged at this turn of events, Keske brought up his six-shooter and shot Indian Henry square in the mouth; he was killed instantly. Later inspection of the hand held by the Indian showed a void in the suit of the ace lead. His trump was valid and proper.
The Montrose County Sherriff was notified of the killing, and Keske was lodged in the County Jail for about six months while awaiting trial. For some reason, Clark Akers seemed to be afraid of John Keske and did whatever Keske told him to. During the trial, Akers and Keske both testified under oath that Indian Henry was molesting Mrs. Keske and that her husband had killed the Indian in defense of her honor. With no testimony to refute this, the Judge had no other recourse than to let John Keske go free. He left the country by way of Gunnison, Colorado and has never been heard of around this part of Colorado again.
Although Indian Henry had a lot of friends, there wasn't much they could do now. A young cowpuncher, working for an old man by the name of "Tub" Tracy, probably did more than anyone else to pay tribute to a good man. After Indian Henry was buried under a huge overhanging sandstone cliff at the junction of Picket Corral Draw and Bull Canyon Wash, George Riley put up a tombstone. Carved from hard red sandstone, its lettering was laboriously chiseled out by hand. He fenced the grave area off to protect it from livestock. Still there today for anyone to see, it is marked with this simple epitaph:
HENRY HUFF
MAY 11 1917
AGE 55
My uncle, Jim Williams, who was well known all over the country as a packer, used to pack the ore from mines in Bull Canyon. Well acquainted with Indian Henry and John Keske, he had spent many a night at the old boarding house. He had often stabled his burros under the overhanging rimrocks. After reaching the top of Monogram Mesa with a Burro pack string, he would go north across the Mesa to the Joe Dandy Tram. The ore buckets on the tram took the ore to the valley floor in East Paradox. There, the big ore wagons with six-horse teams would be loaded up, and the ore would be hauled to Placerville where it was then loaded on the train for its final destination.
Over the past few years there have been quite a few people with electronic metal detectors looking around the Bull Canyon area for the money supposedly hidden by Indian Henry. Located on a big wide bench up out of the east side of Picket Corral Draw, his cabin is a very popular spot for searching. As far as anyone knows, nothing of value has ever been found. About 1965, two young men thought they had found something there when their metal detector located something in the shape of a long box buried several feet deep. They began digging, and struck metal, and soon exposed the corner of a steel box. After frantically digging the whole thing out, they discovered the ash box from an old time cook stove.
For many years after his death, Indian Henry's cabin was used as a cow camp by old "Tub" Tracy. The cabin was solidly constructed out of large Cottonwood logs that had been hauled up from the bottom of Bull Canyon where it enters the Dolores River Canyon. Half the cabin has a cement floor; a rock fireplace stands against the south wall. The fireplace was the sole source of heat and the place where the cooking was done. Although there was never a stove inside the cabin, there was an old stove outside where water was heated for baths and washing clothes. Tracy refinished the concrete hearth and carved a big "Tub L" (Tracy's cattle brand) right in the middle before the cement had hardened. He built the picket corral as a place to trap some of his wild cattle that were difficult to gather and drive anywhere. His cow trap was in the upper end of a dead-end canyon; wide wings extended from the corral so that the cattle driven up the canyon would soon be inside the wings and then the enclosure itself before they had a chance to escape. The corral is very well concealed in the pinion and cedars; the last time I saw it (1967), it was remarkably well preserved. Built totally out of native cedar, which takes about a hundred years to rot away underground. Indian Henry's cabin is roofed over with cedar poles. At one time, it had about a foot of sod growing on top.
The Killing of Indian Henry
The following is a condensed version of one of the many colorful short stories to be found in Howard Greager's book, "In the Company of Cowboys"
© 1990 by Howard E. Greager
Henry Whacker, later known as Indian Henry, was a "Digger Indian" from a tribe in the southwest Utah and Southeast Nevada areas. The term "Digger" evolved from the habit these Indians had for digging in the ground for most of their food. When he was about 17 years old, Henry was either abandoned by his parents or else told to get out on his own. Fortunately, he was picked up along a wagon trail by a couple of families on their way to settle in the Paradox area. One of the settlers, Jimmy Huff, adopted Henry, and he was known by some after that as Henry Huff. To the majority of people, however, he was called Indian Henry. He received a little schooling while he finished growing up in the Paradox area. Well known and well liked in Paradox, he later did cowboy work for some of the cattle outfits in the area and eventually owned a small herd of his own.
After the turn of the century and the discovery of radium, mining became quite an industry in the west end of Montrose County. Indian Henry staked quite a few claims in the Bull Canyon area; he worked some claims, but he mostly prospected, staked claims, and then held them for sale. Only the most high grade ore could be used for the extraction of Radium. It took a lot of prospecting and assaying to locate the desirable ore bodies.
The North Standard Chemical Corporation had some mines in this same part of the Bull Canyon Mining District, and the men who worked them lived in a boarding house built in the bottom of Bull Canyon, very near the wash caused by the rushing waters of the spring run-off. The boarding house was managed by John Keske, whose wife took in all the miners' washing and did their cooking. There was also a shelter under the overhanging rims for the pack burros and saddle horses. (The remains of both the old boarding house and the animal shelter are still visible today). Indian Henry used to spend quite a bit of time around the boarding house; it gave him a chance to visit with people, but, mostly, he loved to play Hearts, a card game that he played with Keske. Indian Henry, who had reportedly sold some of his claims, was thought to have quite a bit of money. Where he had it (if he had it) has never been discovered. Some people don't believe that he ever had more than just pocket change - enough for a few games of Hearts and a meal at the boarding house. John Keske, however, believed very strongly that Indian Henry did have a lot of money and that he either hid it around his cabin, which was not far from the boarding house or had it stashed with some of his personal belongings in the room he used while staying with the Keskes.
On the afternoon of May 11, 1917, in the Keske Boarding House, three men sat down at the dining room table to play some Hearts. The men were Clark Akers, an old time cowboy, John Keske and Indian Henry. John Keske had concealed a six-shooter in his boot top. For that reason alone, I think the whole episode that followed was a set-up to kill Indian Henry and steal the money they thought he had. During the course of the play, Keske led an ace, and Indian Henry trumped it. Outraged at this turn of events, Keske brought up his six-shooter and shot Indian Henry square in the mouth; he was killed instantly. Later inspection of the hand held by the Indian showed a void in the suit of the ace lead. His trump was valid and proper.
The Montrose County Sherriff was notified of the killing, and Keske was lodged in the County Jail for about six months while awaiting trial. For some reason, Clark Akers seemed to be afraid of John Keske and did whatever Keske told him to. During the trial, Akers and Keske both testified under oath that Indian Henry was molesting Mrs. Keske and that her husband had killed the Indian in defense of her honor. With no testimony to refute this, the Judge had no other recourse than to let John Keske go free. He left the country by way of Gunnison, Colorado and has never been heard of around this part of Colorado again.
Although Indian Henry had a lot of friends, there wasn't much they could do now. A young cowpuncher, working for an old man by the name of "Tub" Tracy, probably did more than anyone else to pay tribute to a good man. After Indian Henry was buried under a huge overhanging sandstone cliff at the junction of Picket Corral Draw and Bull Canyon Wash, George Riley put up a tombstone. Carved from hard red sandstone, its lettering was laboriously chiseled out by hand. He fenced the grave area off to protect it from livestock. Still there today for anyone to see, it is marked with this simple epitaph:
HENRY HUFF
MAY 11 1917
AGE 55
My uncle, Jim Williams, who was well known all over the country as a packer, used to pack the ore from mines in Bull Canyon. Well acquainted with Indian Henry and John Keske, he had spent many a night at the old boarding house. He had often stabled his burros under the overhanging rimrocks. After reaching the top of Monogram Mesa with a Burro pack string, he would go north across the Mesa to the Joe Dandy Tram. The ore buckets on the tram took the ore to the valley floor in East Paradox. There, the big ore wagons with six-horse teams would be loaded up, and the ore would be hauled to Placerville where it was then loaded on the train for its final destination.
Over the past few years there have been quite a few people with electronic metal detectors looking around the Bull Canyon area for the money supposedly hidden by Indian Henry. Located on a big wide bench up out of the east side of Picket Corral Draw, his cabin is a very popular spot for searching. As far as anyone knows, nothing of value has ever been found. About 1965, two young men thought they had found something there when their metal detector located something in the shape of a long box buried several feet deep. They began digging, and struck metal, and soon exposed the corner of a steel box. After frantically digging the whole thing out, they discovered the ash box from an old time cook stove.
For many years after his death, Indian Henry's cabin was used as a cow camp by old "Tub" Tracy. The cabin was solidly constructed out of large Cottonwood logs that had been hauled up from the bottom of Bull Canyon where it enters the Dolores River Canyon. Half the cabin has a cement floor; a rock fireplace stands against the south wall. The fireplace was the sole source of heat and the place where the cooking was done. Although there was never a stove inside the cabin, there was an old stove outside where water was heated for baths and washing clothes. Tracy refinished the concrete hearth and carved a big "Tub L" (Tracy's cattle brand) right in the middle before the cement had hardened. He built the picket corral as a place to trap some of his wild cattle that were difficult to gather and drive anywhere. His cow trap was in the upper end of a dead-end canyon; wide wings extended from the corral so that the cattle driven up the canyon would soon be inside the wings and then the enclosure itself before they had a chance to escape. The corral is very well concealed in the pinion and cedars; the last time I saw it (1967), it was remarkably well preserved. Built totally out of native cedar, which takes about a hundred years to rot away underground. Indian Henry's cabin is roofed over with cedar poles. At one time, it had about a foot of sod growing on top.
