-by John Patrick William Ivey

Andrew (Andy) Ivey is 5th generation Texan. Andy’s great great grandfather, Jason William Ivey (b. 1830 Virginia) married Joanna Miller Ivey in 1847 in Georgia and moved to Texas in the 1850’s and settled near Leesville, Gonzales County Texas. John William (Bill) Ivey, Andy’s great grandfather was born in Gonzales County, Texas in 1859. At an early age Bill was a mail rider in Gonzales County before moving to Bee Cave, Travis County where he married Roxie Caldonia Kay, launched his farming and ranching career and started to raise 14 children. In the early 1900’s, Bill moved his family to his ranch in Erath County near Thurber, Texas. Bill’s son, Louis (LJ) Ivey, Andy’s grandfather, was born in Bee Cave in 1884 and after graduation from Tarlton College in Stephenville, Texas, he became a famous pioneer cotton farmer in Imperial Valley California, the Upper and Lower Rio Grande Valley near El Paso, Texas and Las Cruses, New Mexico, and Pecos, Texas. LJ was also an El Paso County Commissioner and State Representative. In 1950, after LJ’s term as a Texas State Representative, he moved his farming operation to Pecos, Texas and farmed in both Reeves and Pecos counties and raised two sons, Louis Jr and John. John Ivey, Andy’s father, was born in El Paso, graduated from Pecos High School and Texas Tech University and passed his West Texas DNA on to his son, Andy. Andy was born in Dallas and his Texas roots reach back to 1850. In the 1950’s John and his brother, Louis Jr., hunted along the Pecos River upstream of Horsehead Crossing near Coyanosa where Andy’s grandfather had his Pecos County farm.

If you visit Horsehead Crossing today you will see a narrow stream, of mostly stagnant water, surrounded by a desolate desert landscape with minimal wildlife and if lucky you may see oil and gas activity in the far distance.

Horsehead Crossing has played a major role in the history of the Southwest. If only the mesquite could talk because they flourished along the Pecos River and saw Spanish explorers that established the Santa Fe Trail along the Pecos while Comanche raiding parties crossed the Pecos at Horsehead Crossing en route to Mexico creating the Comanche Trail. Early Spanish and U.S. Army explorers crossed the Pecos at Horsehead along with early cattle drives along the Goodnight Loving Trail that also crossed the Pecos at Horsehead. Horsehead Crossing became an important part of the east-west route for settlers moving west seeking a new life. Before the Civil War, the Butterfield Overland Mail Stage crossed the Pecos at Horsehead carrying passengers and Mail to and from San Francisco tying America together from coast to coast. Peaceful Indians along the “salty” Pecos mined salt from Pecos River overflows and sold salt to early settlers as they crossed the Pecos at Horsehead Crossing and traveled west.

There is little evidence today that the Pecos was once a major stream that often overflowed its banks making crossing the Pecos extremely dangerous explaining the name Horsehead Crossing for all the skulls that outline the approach to the “Great Saltio” the name early cattle trail drivers called the Pecos. While the Pecos was the only water for 70 or more miles, early cattle drivers biggest problem was a cattle stampede as soon as approaching cattle smelled water. Losses were great as thirsty cattle drank their fill of the Great Saltio.

For over 150 years Horsehead Crossing and nearby Castle Gap have secretly preserved multiple lost treasures including Maximilian’s Gold, stage coach robberies and other lost treasures. Treasure hunters continue to search the entire region, but it appears the only product for their effort has been a vast array of literature both fiction and nonfiction. The western approach to Horsehead Crossing lies in Crane, Texas, home of famous western author Elmer Kelton who wrote many novels about the Pecos, Horsehead Crossing and west Texas cowboy life.

I was the youngest son of a farmer and spent my early years in West Texas from the lower El Paso Valley to Pecos. In the early 1980’s, three of my engineering and surveying buddies in Dallas asked me to help them explore West Texas. In the 1980’s we made 4 trips to West Texas and spent considerable time in Crane and Pecos counties and the surrounding area that included areas along the Pecos River upstream and downstream of Horsehead Crossing. We were convinced that both Horsehead Crossing and nearby Castle Gap played an important role in the history of West Texas. J Frank Dobie’s fabulous book, Coronado’s Children, holds perhaps the best description of the events leading to the unsolved mystery surrounding Maximilian’s Gold that centered on events that occurred in 1866 at Horsehead Crossing and Castle Gap. Our 1980’s research team of three Professional Engineers and one Registered Public Land Surveyor, explored the Pecos River that included a float trip using two flat bottom boats launched near the Imperial Reservoir, upstream of Horsehead, downstream near the Highway 67 bridge near Girvin, Texas. Our 1985 float trip was timed to coincided with major flow releases on the Pecos from dams found in New Mexico that resulted in a long time Pecos River flow impoundment dispute between Texas and New Mexico. The major flow release in 1985 resulted in significant flow in the Pecos River as it flowed through Crane and Pecos counties.

In event years, Andy and I made three trips to Horsehead Crossing and nearby historical sites. Andy’s twin boys, Ben and Henry, accompanied us on our 2023 trip.

Treasure hunters will be glad to know that we did not find Maximilian’s Gold or any lost treasures, but we did find:

1. Old iron cables crossing the Pecos River, assumed to be an early Ferry crossing near Horsehead Crossing,

2. A building foundation outline, assumed to be the Butterfield Mail Route Way Station near Horsehead Crossing,

3. A small stone foundation next to the Pecos River, upstream of Horsehead Crossing, assumed to be the platform for a large pump for a nearby earthen reservoir and irrigation system near the Town of Imperial,

4. A 1930’s flat stone survey marker, on the west (Pecos County) side of Horsehead Crossing, carved with the names of an early survey party,

5. Large stone Indian hide scraper and

6. One Winchester 38 Short Henry Rimfire cartridge marked “H” (Winchester’s first commercially available metallic cartridge ammunition was a large caliber rimfire load that was introduced in 1866. To honor Henry for his work, all Winchester rimfire cartridges carried an “H” headstamp)