Where might one steal that much gold?
This is an overlooked question in the James Gang’s Mexican Gold legend – where did this alleged gold come from? Well, duh – Mexico, of course. And on its face, that could be enough of an answer. Mexico was insanely rich in precious metals, so rich that in the 1500’s the Spaniards were able to exploit those resources (and South America’s in general) to finance their kingdom’s rise for the next 3 hundred years.
It also led to Mexico’s infestation of European influence we examine in the book. Spain was the early beneficiary, but in the late 1800’s, their fortunes began to fade (pun intended) and England, France and Germany began to reap benefits and to throw their influence around politically. They invested heavily in infrastructure because those monarchies were keen to duplicate Spain’s success and there seemed to be ore everywhere.
So, sure, there was definitely gold to be stolen. In The Unassigned Lands I worked the source of the gold into Mexico’s political crisis of the day and just glossed over the troubling details of how that could happen. I made certain the historical aspects of Diaz's and Juarez's roles, as well as how it all came about, were accurate, but the gold was pandora’s box. Nothing good in there, best focus on the legend.
For instance – the legend is very specific about mules loaded with gold bullion. Mules? Really? Why in the world would anyone with a railroad move gold bullion on a mule over a road that Jesse James (never mind the plethora of available Mexican bandits) might be haunting? They wouldn’t. Then – why didn’t the Mexicans miss the gold? Sure, Jesse gets away with it in the legend but it turns out the Mexicans kept fairly meticulous records of what they took out of the ground. (see T. W. Osterheld, “The History of Mining in Mexico and Its Economic Development”. He also credits our friend Porfirio Diaz with growing the Mexican mining industry dramatically.) There’s no missing 2-million dollar entry on a balance sheet. Yet we know intricate details of what treasure ships were carrying when they went down in hurricanes (meticulous records, right?)... but no one took a note that a bunch of gold bars disappeared one afternoon. It’s like the mule train never existed…
Happily, though, Porfirio Diaz absolutely existed and he created precisely the environment necessary for a 2 million-dollar mule train to go missing. If Jesse James were to steal Mexican gold and escape back into the Indian Territory, The Unassigned Lands shows what it would look like. And if he didn't, it's still a good story.
