b'THE BANDITS OF COLOSSAL CAVE of ravine above sparkles with an abundance ofswitch. The locomotive thundered off the rails and running water, which can be so utilized as to be ofoverturned, along with the coal-tender. As this was great value to the land about the ranch. The houseat the top of a fifty-foot high embankment, it was is not sufficiently large to accommodate the guests,fortunate that the railroad bed was wide enough so who travel on the road, and Mr. Bridwell is nowthe cars didnt go over the edge. The fireman jumped making adobes on the premises for the purpose ofinto the top of a big mesquite as the engine went over, putting up an addition, or rather the new structurebut the engineer didnt have time to follow, and rode will be the main building, which will afford ampleit down till he could climb out the window and roll to accommodations for the traveling public. As Reubthe bottom of the embankment.says, bet your life, itll be nice!Meanwhile, the robbers ordered messenger Smith to There have been several mines located in this valley,open up the express car. When he refused, they blew and there is one within a hundred yards of the house,a hole in the door, and recognizing him, one said, of which an assay has been made showing $97 inSmithy, the stove racket dont go this time. When silver. Few prospectors have visited this section, andhe refused to open the safe, they pistol-whipped him not until recently has there been any particular talktill he saw reason. They went through the safe and made of the locality I have mentioned. If good mineshigh tailed it into the Rincon Mountains with U.S. can be discovered in any great numbers in the vicinity,currency and gold.(where there is water in abundance), why, Bridwells fortune will yet gladden the eyes of his friends in hisPosses consisting of sheriffs and deputies, as well old home in the East! as cavalry, Yuma Indian trackers, and even Marshal Virgil Earp, searched for over a week. They discovered There are probably few so close to Tucson that havethat the bandits had again used Mountain Springs the advantages of the business of carrying on a diaryRanch as a rest stop, and in fact all the tracking [sic] as the Mountain Springs. Grass is plenty and theparties made it their headquarters. They found a water is the very best. Leaving the ranch at about foursmall shelter cave which the bandits had used as a oclock in the afternoon, we traveled more of the samehideout. But the robbers were gone, leaving behind kind of smooth level road, and the time consumed infood, clothing, some coins and jewelry, the remains of traveling to TRES ALAMOS[Arizona Star, Sunday,a campfire, but no loot. The posses tracked them from March 28, 1878]. there to a very large cave, known then as Five-Mile vintagetucson.com Cave at Mountain Springs. Today we call it Colossal Three more train robberies took place on theCave. Here the bandits hid out for several more days, Southern Pacific line in Texas between April andstopped the train by the same methodshooting offand then taking advantage of the extremely rocky August. Then on August 10, 1887, same train, sameexplosives and firing into the cars. One shot clippedterrain and an absolute gully-washer of a rainstorm, place, same time of night, Express messenger Smithoff half the engineers mustache and this time, thethey escaped completely.in the express car, here we go again. Two menbandits booby-trapped the track by throwing acontinued on page 59WYLIE 500 GALLON EXPRESS WATER WAGON 5 yr. tank warranty 2-inch pump Low profile elliptical tank Heavy duty frame Large tires All steel & brass fittings Rental toughAvailable For Rent Or For SaleCall, Text or Visit.Four Valley LocationsNorth Valley Central Phoenix East Valley West Valley15634 N. 32nd St. 4050 E. Indian School Rd. 1313 E. Baseline Rd. 803 E. Van Buren St.Phoenix 85032 Phoenix 85018 Gilbert 85233 Avondale 85323602-992-1150 602-955-5100 480-539-8700 623-925-0200ArizonaRealCountry.com November 2021 57'