Deadman's Canyon Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Cache contains small toys for trade. Located at a grave site.
Located along Hwy. 115 on the east side from Calle Del Fuente Rd. It is a lone grave. Henry Hawkins was murdered here in 1863 on March 19th.
There is plenty of room to park on the shoulder of the road. Take a small hike up the hill to the grave site.
"The Harkens grave is located on the east side of Highway 115, about 5.8 miles south of the main entrance to Fort Carson, southwest of Colorado Springs. Visible from the road, it is ringed by a white fence set on a small rise and crowded by scrub oak. According to GPS-derived geolocation (accurate to within 10 meters), the memorial's coordinates are latitude 38 40 16.3 N and longitude 104 51 30.2 W. The original marker has been embedded in a larger tombstone-shaped concrete marker. Faint lines from the original inscription are visible but not genuinely legible on the lichen-covered stone.
In 1939, the Colorado Springs Gazette published an interview with Henry Priest, who was a boy when he helped bury the murdered Henry Harkens (January 22, section 2, page 8). Harkens was about 55 when he moved to what later came to be known as Deadman Canyon. Priest had previously known him in Buckskin, Colo.
Harkens and his partnersûAlden Bassett, McPherson, and Juddûhad bought a sawmill in Ca±on City and were moving it to the canyon. Harkens was building a cabin there, and he welcomed the Priest family when they moved nearby on March 12, 1863.
On March 19, 1863, Harkens worked all day on his cabin. As he was preparing supper, the two Espinoza brothers, Mexican bandits who were terrorizing the region, attacked and killed him. McPherson and Bassett discovered the body later that evening. Fearing the unknown murderer or murderers still around, they took refuge with the Priest family that night. The next day the murder was reported and 25 local men gathered to
survey the scene and bury the body. "We chose a spot on a little knoll under a sheltering pine tree," Priest reported. "And on a rough headstone we carved the words: æHenry Harkens, Murdered Wednesday Eve, March 19, 1863.'" (March 19, 1863, was a Thursday.)
The bandits were eventually tracked to Espinosa Peak, near Cripple Creek. The older one was killed, but the younger brother escaped. In addition to Harkens's glasses and personal items from other victims, the
elder brother was said to have had a document on his person pledging to kill 600 whites in revenge for the loss of their money and property during the Mexican war. The younger Espinosa reportedly returned to Mexico, recruited a 12-year-old nephew, and returned to his quest. Both were killed near Fort Garland, Colo., by a marksman who received reward money put up by the state."
(Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project
(visit link) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project )
More on the story: (visit link)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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