sasabee

on the mexican border southwest of tucson is a small border village of sasabee. the only commerce there is the ranches on each side of the border. it is remote to both mexican and american alike. on the mexican side one of the ranches is owned by the osuna family. for generations they have ranched there and worked on the american side for added income.
      one of the osuna family , pablo was a good friend of mine. he worked at a different feedlot than me but we roped together at different ropings and socialized. he had a large family and was always scrappin up side deals to keep the many mouthes fed, plus i was told he helped support his brother at the ranch in mexico. pablo was always mounted on if not the best lookin horses the best handling and best trained.  i saw a mule he  trained once, that mule handled like a horse, could spin, slide , and work a cow like no other. when asked where he got the mule pablo smiled and pointed south.  he would periodicly come up with some really nice young horses. he would get them broke then sell them for what was at the time a good amount of money.  i remember a little palomino mare about 14 hands and a thousand pounds. she was catty quick, and could run a hole in the wind for about 150 yards. pablo roped on her and cut cattle on her. she was a doll. i asked him again one day where he got her, again he smiled and pointed south.
       about a month later he asked me to drive him to sasabee to see his brother, would i pull his trailer he asked, sure why not.  when we were a mile from sasabee pablo had me turn off on a two track trail that led along the internation fence.  about two miles into the trip the road died at a big mesquite thicket. pablo jumped out, squatted down and pointed into the thicket, there i could see 3 sets of horses  leggs.  pablo whistled and a young mexican boy riding one horses bareback and leading two more came up to the truck.  pablo explained that that the boy was his nephew. that the horses were from the family ranch across the line. how did they get here i asked.  he smiled and told me to follow him. the nephew rode his pony back into the thicket, we followed. in the middle of the thicket was a hole sloping down into the ground . it was paved in concrete and after walking down the ramp you could tell it was a tunnel that was built to accomodate a truck. pablo explained that during proabition the whiskey smuggles built it and used it to run whiskey into tucson.  when prohibition was repealed it was forgotton and the osuna family had their own port of entry. they took horses and cattle both ways  through the tunnel.
        i saw pablo a few years ago and asked with all the activity along that part of the border if they still used the old tunnel. he shook his head in a sad way and said no, the border patrol found it and blew  it no mas he said as he shook his head.