Randolph Parrish's Blog
June 9, 2017
Scaddlefrumpf
For anyone desiring to write on their own, I agree with Flannery O'Connor, that anyone who has survived childhood has encountered enough characters to populate a library of books. One has only to remember them.
Cancionero road
The remoteness of the town of Cancionero was suggested by a trip I once took up the old Apache Trail.
Then it was only a dirt road, one and a half lanes wide, that skirted the cliffs and hillsides, without any barrier between the edge and the abyss.
If you met a car or a pickup coming in the opposite direction, one of you had to back up until you reached a spot that was wide enough for you to pass.
Once a year (or so) the state ran a bulldozer over it to flatten the soil; but at other times, it was left to the mercy of the elements.
They may have paved it by now; civilization eventually overruns everything, like creeping moss. . .
Then it was only a dirt road, one and a half lanes wide, that skirted the cliffs and hillsides, without any barrier between the edge and the abyss.
If you met a car or a pickup coming in the opposite direction, one of you had to back up until you reached a spot that was wide enough for you to pass.
Once a year (or so) the state ran a bulldozer over it to flatten the soil; but at other times, it was left to the mercy of the elements.
They may have paved it by now; civilization eventually overruns everything, like creeping moss. . .
Skeleton Mountain
A few words about the background of Skeleton Mountain.
The mission chapel at Tumacacori,
https://www.nps.gov/tuma/index.htm
just north of Tubac, served as the model for the chapel in the novel. Pictures of the interior show how thoroughly the walls have been chipped away and picked at by treasure seekers over the years.
The cemetery in the back also suggested the cemetery in the book.
The Superstition Mountains suggested Skeleton Mountain itself. Several good aerial views of the mountains can be found on Youtube; for instance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf9c7...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6gP-...
The Peralta Stones also suggested the use of similar carvings in the novel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peralta...
Of course there are many legends and rumors of lost treasures and mines of all types in those mountains (and at the chapel); and there is no shortage of Seekers still going to look for them; and willing to buy a "genuine" map when it comes along.
The mission chapel at Tumacacori,
https://www.nps.gov/tuma/index.htm
just north of Tubac, served as the model for the chapel in the novel. Pictures of the interior show how thoroughly the walls have been chipped away and picked at by treasure seekers over the years.
The cemetery in the back also suggested the cemetery in the book.
The Superstition Mountains suggested Skeleton Mountain itself. Several good aerial views of the mountains can be found on Youtube; for instance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf9c7...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6gP-...
The Peralta Stones also suggested the use of similar carvings in the novel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peralta...
Of course there are many legends and rumors of lost treasures and mines of all types in those mountains (and at the chapel); and there is no shortage of Seekers still going to look for them; and willing to buy a "genuine" map when it comes along.
