Coronado's Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of the Southwest

by J. Frank Dobie, Frank H. Wardlaw (Introduction)

Written in 1930, Coronado's Children was one of J. Frank Dobie's first books, and the one that helped gain him national prominence as a folklorist. In it, he recounts the tales and legends of those hardy souls who searched for buried treasure in the Southwest following in the footsteps of that earlier gold seeker, the Spaniard Coronado. "These people," Dobie writes in his introduction, "no matter what language they speak, are truly Coronado's inheritors.... l have called them Coronado's Children. They follow Spanish trails, buffalo trails, cow trails, they dig where there are no trails; but oftener than they dig or prospect they just sit and tell stories of lost mines, of buried bullion by the jack load... " This is the tale-spinning Dobie at his best, dealing with subjects as irresistible as ghost stories and haunted houses.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Westerns

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1930

About the author

Called the "Storyteller of the Southwest," James Frank Dobie was born in 1888 on his family's cattle ranch in Live Oak County. During his long life, J. Frank Dobie would live astride two worlds: a rugged life on a Texas cattle ranch and the state's modern centers of scholarly learning.

Dobie came to Austin in 1914 to teach at the University of Texas. In time he pioneered an influential course on the literature of the Southwest. By the late 1920s, Dobie discovered his mission: to record and publicize the disappearing folklore of Texas and the greater Southwest. Dobie became secretary of the Texas Folklore Society, a position he held for 21 years.

J. Frank Dobie Dobie was a new kind of folklorist—a progressive activist. He called for UT to admit African-American students in the 1940s—long before the administration favored integration. Dobie's vocal politics led to his leaving the University in 1947, but he continued writing until his death in 1964, publishing over twenty books and countless articles.

The inscription on Dobie's headstone in the Texas State Cemetery reads: "I have come to value liberated minds as the supreme good of life on earth." J. Frank Dobie was not content to simply preserve Southwestern heritage within libraries and museums. He gave life to that heritage and informed generations of Texans about their rich history.

Reviews

[Sonny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a semi-entertaining compilation of treasure hunting stories and legends in the southwest United States.
To be honest I didn’t finish this book but I did get through more than half so I am counting it as read.
Up to the point I quit all the tales were basically the same. Someone locates a buried treasure, circumstances prevent recovery and they die before they are able to return or they return and can’t find it again.
If you enjoy buried treasure legends though you may enjoy this book. Be warned though, this book was published in 1931 and some people may find parts of it offensive.

[Ray Perdue · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Warning* - this book contains terminology and euphemisms that are offensive, and therefore this book is not suitable for all readers. It is a product of the era in which it was written.

Disclaimer aside, the folklore of the southwest has long fascinated me. Ninety years after it's publication, it is still a premier collection of the stories, lore, legends and mythos of the lost treasures of the Old West. Before anyone ever heard or cared about Oak Island, there were the Seven Cities of Cibola.....

[Max Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid history of the Southwest, particularly west Texas. Takes readers through the early, middle, and late Spanish periods, as well as Independent Texas and US eras. Dobie is a good storyteller who should be more broadly read today.

[L. Frockcoat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the essence of folksy Americana. It moves at its own pace and never really gets anywhere, but once you accustom yourself to it, you can sit back and enjoy Dobie's writing and reflect on how much has changed over the years. People with an odd sense of humor like myself will also find some rather amusing passages:

The Tigre Ranch is on one of the long, alligator-gar infested lakes of the Nueces flats about five miles below the Olmos headquarters. For many years now the only inhabitants of the dilapidated house have been a family of white owls. The man who built it and was master of the range about it was Zack Hargus--uncle of the Doctor Hargus who dug at Estambel Hill for gold under human bones--and was as odd a character as ever enjoyed his own oddities. He was something of a reader and very much of a tobacco chewer. His favorite position for reading and chewing was on the gallery overlooking the lake, his chair tilted back against the wall on the left-hand side of a window that opened into the dining room. Here by the hour he would sit, reading and chewing. When he wanted to spit, he merely turned his head slightly to the right and spat inside the window. That took less energy than leaning forward to spit off the gallery. He made it a habit to work harder on Sunday than on any other day. Once he built a chimney to his house, working on it only on Sundays. After the country was fenced up, he invariably left the gates open when he went to Cotulla. He was not much of a lover of horses. Sometimes he kept them tied up for a day or two without water. Year in and year out he kept a horse staked to an old wagon axle driven into the ground out in the sacaguista grass; naturally there was not much grass around this stake pin. He had odd names for his horses, too; one of them he called Jesus. One time he told a boy who was working for him to drive the team across the river for some posts. When the horses got into the water, one of them drank himself to death. The boy came back to report the loss. "Oh, Mr. Hargus," he cried, "old Jesus has done went and drank water till he died."

[Steven Howes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think just about everyone is intrigued by tales of lost gold and hidden treasures. J. Frank Dobie was one of Texas's most well-known folklorists and in this volume, originally published in 1930, he presents a number of such stories from America's desert Southwest. While many of these stories may have had their origins in actual historical events, a majority have "evolved" over the years and have been embellished by those who heard them and retold them. As the author states, many of these stories have become a part of the fabric or "soil" of a particular area or landscape.

Through reading these tales, the reader gets a good dose of Southwestern history and can easily picture what life was like in the border area in the mid- to late-19th and early 20th centuries. There is a great deal of colorful vernacular which I assume was common during those times.

For me, only two things could have made these stories even more enjoyable. While the book did have some nice pen and ink illustrations, I would have liked to have seen a few maps as I am not familiar with all the locations discussed, especially west Texas. Lastly, it would have been an extraordinary experience to listen to the author spin some of these yarns around a crackling fire on a desert evening.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dobie was one of Texas's best-known folklorists (he is something of an Austin icon). Coronado's Children is his collection of Texas treasure legends. They are a mixture of tales as he heard them, rather than attempts to correlate the legnds into master narratives. Dobie offers directions and maps less as guidebooks than as examples of the folklore. Stories include many variations on the Lost San Saba Mines, Emperor Maximilian's Gold, various treasures of the pirates Lafitte, etc. The San Saba mines are particularly interesting and inspired Jim Bowie's famous treasure hunt into the Texas interior back in the 1830s. A number of Western writers have worked on this theme including Robert E. Howard & Elmer Kelton.

[Jack R. Cotner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed story teller and folklorist J. Frank Dobie’s Coronado’s Children. The book, published in 1930, does a wonderful job of capturing old tales and legends of lost mines and undiscovered treasures in a style and voice of those who lived and died in and before Dobie’s time. Many, it seems, perished in vain searches for wealth in the deserts, mountains and vast terrain of the American Southwest. The book includes some treasure maps and extensive, colorful, and sometimes humorous narrative relating stories of treasure hunters, suspected lost mine locations and clues to other valuable, lost treasure. A must-have reference for anyone interested in writing historical fiction related to treasure hunting in Texas and the Southwest.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It is one that I will read and reread. A must read for any seeker of lost treasure or Texas and Southwest history buff. J.Frank Dobie writes in the colorful style and language of the storytellers whom he has drawn from in the course of his travels.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite book as a kid and I was convinced I could find gold in the New Mexico Desert.

[Florenceweinberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of stories of greed and the lengths it will lead gold-seekers to go, including murder. Stories of the Southwest--a good reference tool for a writer of historical fiction.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are stories of lost gold mines and buried treasures in the American Southwest. Dobie puts his spin on some of these legends including the Lost Dutchman mine.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much buried treasure, so many greedy men, so much disappointment. Folklore tales of Texas, but after a while the stories became repetitious.

[Greynomad · Rating 2 out of 5]

It got to be repetitive after a while but interesting history of Texas......

[James L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich stories of lost treasures, told with such immediacy and detail that the reader catches himself thinking, "I bet I could find that."

[Nik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome, American folklore and Texas history.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

great collections of legends and stories about mines and lost treasures.