Post by Wayne Land on Nov 4, 2009 9:28:39 GMT -5
From Morrison's Book:
"That night, after Morrison had gone through the records at Carrizozo, they talked far into the small hours about what had happened in the old days, but it was not till the next morning, when they were back-trailing toward Roswell, that things began to come alive for the old man. The country had changed so much in seventy years that he had trouble locating himself, but suddenly he pointed to the mountainside on the right. "Over there," he said, "was a rock ledge that we used to ride out on and fire down into the valley. A little farther down on the other side of the road, we ought to see a cave we used to use."
Sure enough, the cave came into view. "A man could get a horse in there," he remarked.
Back in Lincoln he still refused to visit the old courthouse. But just..........."
End book quote:
So in other words, on the way from Carrizozo to Lincoln this prediction of a cave was made. If the ledge was on the right and the cave was on the other side of the road then the cave had to be somewhere between Carrizozo and Lincoln, on the north side of the road. In 2007, I visited Lincoln County and during a drive from Carrizozo where my RV was parked, to Lincoln, I tried to recreate that scene for myself. The only ledge I saw that would fit the description from the book, was followed up a mile or so later with this small cave on the left side of the road. It's difficult to tell from the distance from the highway whether it is large enough to get a horse into, but the fact that Brushy mentioned that may be due to the apparent lack of depth of the cave. Also, in the 1880's the cave might have been more substantial than it is today. Also, notice there is a smaller opening above the lower one which possibly indicates the presence there of a deeper opening than what is apparent from the road.
How in the world could Brushy have known about this cave "before" they passed by it? It is located just a couple miles west of Lincoln, on the north side of the road but there is a fence along the road there and I couldn't go up and explore it. Sometimes I wish I'd just pulled over and climbed the fence but at the time I felt that would be ill advised.
Here's the photo I took from the highway:
"That night, after Morrison had gone through the records at Carrizozo, they talked far into the small hours about what had happened in the old days, but it was not till the next morning, when they were back-trailing toward Roswell, that things began to come alive for the old man. The country had changed so much in seventy years that he had trouble locating himself, but suddenly he pointed to the mountainside on the right. "Over there," he said, "was a rock ledge that we used to ride out on and fire down into the valley. A little farther down on the other side of the road, we ought to see a cave we used to use."
Sure enough, the cave came into view. "A man could get a horse in there," he remarked.
Back in Lincoln he still refused to visit the old courthouse. But just..........."
End book quote:
So in other words, on the way from Carrizozo to Lincoln this prediction of a cave was made. If the ledge was on the right and the cave was on the other side of the road then the cave had to be somewhere between Carrizozo and Lincoln, on the north side of the road. In 2007, I visited Lincoln County and during a drive from Carrizozo where my RV was parked, to Lincoln, I tried to recreate that scene for myself. The only ledge I saw that would fit the description from the book, was followed up a mile or so later with this small cave on the left side of the road. It's difficult to tell from the distance from the highway whether it is large enough to get a horse into, but the fact that Brushy mentioned that may be due to the apparent lack of depth of the cave. Also, in the 1880's the cave might have been more substantial than it is today. Also, notice there is a smaller opening above the lower one which possibly indicates the presence there of a deeper opening than what is apparent from the road.
How in the world could Brushy have known about this cave "before" they passed by it? It is located just a couple miles west of Lincoln, on the north side of the road but there is a fence along the road there and I couldn't go up and explore it. Sometimes I wish I'd just pulled over and climbed the fence but at the time I felt that would be ill advised.
Here's the photo I took from the highway: