Legend of the Breccia de Oro

by Kadee Kotter, copyright Arizona Lapidary & Gem Rough, Inc., Tucson, Arizona

A new and majestic stone, the Breccia de Oro, has recently been unearthed to the gem and mineral world. An intimate mixture of minerals including milky quartz, ankerite, chalcopyrite, silver and gold; this rare and intensely attractive stone has roots that reach back to the darkest days of the wild Arizona frontier. From that darkness there was born a rich foundation for free-thinking and progressive pioneer feminism. The history behind the Breccia de Oro inter-relates to its powerful metaphysical properties. Let us share this history with you so you might better understand the empowerment this amazing stone can bring to your life.

Back in 1877, nestled in the steep and rugged desert terrain of the Arizona Bradshaw Mountains there was an oasis, where water flowed, fig trees burgeoned, and the lure of silver and gold gave birth to legends of death, bloodshed and a strengthening of cultural ties.

Prospector Pete Donnelly arrived at the oasis about this time, homesteading there and staking the first claim for silver and gold in the vicinity. No one knows why after 24 years in the wilderness, Donnelly, at the age of 82, shot himself with his six-shooter, falling at the doorstep of his cabin. Folks wondered if it was the hardships of mining or the loneliness of the hills that led to his demise.

“Sometimes the worst situations turn out to be the best opportunities.”– Napoleon Hill: “Three Feet From Gold”

Years later in 1921, James McClure staked his claim near this same alluring oasis after homesteading there 3 years. William S. Bourne, manager of the Independence Mine in Colorado, had been prospecting and residing with the McClure family for nearly 5 years. The two men were said to be great friends. Bourne, his wife Eulalia and their two daughters helped to fix up Donnelly’s old cabin to provide room and board for some of the local miners.  McClure was often away on business trips, and also spent a year away at war while entrusting his claim to the Bourne family. It was probably sometime between the demise of Donnelly and the arrival of the McClure clan that the Breccia de Oro was first unearthed.

August 22, 1922 was a fateful day at the springs. Upon his early return from a business trip to Colorado, McClure met Eulalia on the trail as she was on her way to the post office. They greeted each other and McClure continued up to the cabin while she proceeded to get the mail. Some hours later, upon her return, she had to turn the mule out to graze and Mr. McClure asked her to wait while he got his hat because he “wanted to go with her”. She had made her way down a steep bank just out of sight of the cabin, when suddenly she heard the sound of a shotgun and then the answering report of a pistol.

Running back to the house she found her husband dead and Mr. McClure dying, each laying less than 6 feet apart from the other. One blast from McClure’s shotgun into Bourne’s heart left him dead in the same doorway where Donnelly had fallen 20 years earlier. Apparently, as Bourne fell he managed to fire three rounds from his pistol into McClure’s head leaving him speechless, face covered in blood, to die six hours later.

Lacking an eye-witness, the County sheriff was left to form his own conclusions. Foul tongues in the neighborhood whispered that Mrs. Bourne and Mr. McClure were having an affair; in her statement Mrs. Bourne confided that she thought her husband wanted to kill her as well. She requested of the coroner that “They shan’t be moved. They will lie right here in the wilds they loved so well”; and so it is to this day, that the men’s graves are side by side in the “wilds”, near the resting place of Peter Donnelly. The three grave sites can still be seen, along with an unknown child’s near the ruins of the old cabin.

Bourne’s demise left behind his former wife, Eulalia “Sister” Bourne, whom he married at the age of 16. She had a fierce no-nonsense quality to her that placed her well ahead of her time. Having survived this reportedly difficult marriage, she went on to become one of Arizona’s most fascinating pioneer women. Eulalia took her degree from the University of Arizona and became an elementary school teacher. To the shock of the civic authorities surrounding her, she was often seen wearing blue jeans and red lipstick!

Reminiscent of our modern challenges, despite an Arizona law forbidding the use of Spanish in schools, she spearheaded Spanish speaking in the classroom. She once said, “I thought that was the silliest thing I ever heard. I determined that if I was to teach them, I had to be able to talk to them”. She sent off to Los Angeles for a Spanish grammar to study, and set aside the last five minutes of each school day for her students to teach her Spanish.