The Adventures of 'Peg Leg' Smith: Mountain Man, Trader, and Gold Hunter

Blog 17 - by Wayne Burt

Introduction

A mountain man with a wooden leg, a notorious horse thief, and the teller of some of the tallest tales in Old West history – meet Thomas Long "Peg Leg" Smith. In the early 1800s, when America’s western frontier was a wild expanse of possibility, Peg Leg Smith carved out a life of adventure that few could match. Strap on your boots (or peg leg!) and get ready to trek through the life of a true Old West character.

Early Life on the Wild Frontier: The Rugged Mountain Man (1820s)

Born in Kentucky in 1801, Thomas Smith ran away from home as a teenager to answer the call of the wild West. By 1820, at just 19, he was trekking up the Missouri River on a fur-trapping expedition. Smith spent two rugged years trapping beaver in Sioux and Osage country, picking up wilderness survival skills and Native languages along the way. By 1824, he struck out on his own as a “free trapper” in New Mexico’s mountains. He even rubbed shoulders with frontier legends like Kit Carson and Jim Bridger on expeditions that helped map the Southwest. By his early twenties, Tom Smith had earned a reputation as a fearless young mountain man—tough, resourceful, and always hungry for the next adventure.

A Leg Lost and a Legend Born

In 1827, a skirmish with Native warriors in Colorado left Smith with a badly wounded leg. With no doctor for hundreds of miles, he took a swig of whiskey for courage and amputated his own leg with his knife (a fellow trapper helped saw through the bone). Remarkably, Smith survived.

A band of Ute Indians found the gravely injured trapper and nursed him through the ordeal with traditional healing remedies. Over the winter, the indomitable Smith carved a wooden leg from a sturdy tree limb to replace the one he’d lost. By spring he was back on his feet (or rather, foot!), earning the nickname “Peg Leg” Smith for his new appendage and legendary grit. He didn’t let the injury slow him down; Peg Leg even relearned how to ride a horse. In fact, legend has it he would unstrap his wooden leg in bar brawls and swing it at troublemakers when things got rowdy. Nothing could stop this mountain man for long.

Trailblazer, Trader, and a Dash of Outlaw

Peg Leg Smith didn’t slow down after losing his leg. Through the 1830s, he continued roaming the West as a trailblazer and trader. Smith guided wagon trains and exploration parties across New Mexico, Arizona, and California, using his knack for languages and knowledge of the land to lead the way. He even ran a trading post near Bear Lake (in today’s Idaho-Utah territory) to resupply Oregon Trail pioneers on their journey.

By the 1840s, with the fur trade dying out, Peg Leg found a new (and very illegal) enterprise: horse stealing. Teaming up with Ute chief Walkara and fellow rogue Jim Beckwourth, he led one of the biggest horse-thieving rings in the Southwest, stealing hundreds of horses from California ranchos. For years he ran circles around the law and amassed a small fortune selling those stolen mustangs. Eventually, Mexican and American authorities united to crack down on the rustlers in the late 1840s. Peg Leg narrowly escaped capture and slipped into the shadows. His horse-stealing days were over, but he was already hatching his next scheme – hunting for gold.

Striking Gold (Almost): The Anza-Borrego Desert Discovery

In the early 1850s, Smith tried his luck prospecting in the deserts of Southern California. As the story goes, he was trekking through the Anza-Borrego Desert when a sudden sandstorm struck. After the storm settled, Peg Leg found himself next to a small rocky hill. Scattered on the ground were black pebbles that later turned out to be lumps of pure gold!

Peg Leg was thrilled at his discovery – until he realized he hadn’t marked the spot and now had no idea where that golden hill was. Despite many attempts to retrace his steps, he never managed to find that treasure-laden hill again. Of course, that didn’t stop him from cashing in on the legend. Back in civilization, Smith eagerly shared the tale of his lost gold (usually in exchange for a drink) and even sold hand-drawn treasure maps to gullible prospectors. For years afterward, adventurers scoured the desert with “Peg Leg’s map” in hand – but none ever struck his lucky find.

Tall Tales and the Legend of the Lost Gold

Peg Leg Smith’s lost mine became one of the West’s most enduring legends – the story always involves him stumbling on black-coated gold nuggets atop a hill among three little buttes in the desert. Whether he truly struck it rich or just concocted a clever yarn, no one knows for sure. Peg Leg was known as a “spinner of tall tales” who never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Some say he invented the whole thing to swindle gullible greenhorns with fake maps, while others believe he really found a fortune and took the secret of its location to his grave.

Either way, the legend lived on. Treasure hunters scoured the Anza-Borrego sands for decades, chasing Peg Leg’s lost mine. And even today, the tale is celebrated. Each spring, Borrego Springs hosts the Peg Leg Smith Liars Contest – a light-hearted competition where storytellers spin outrageous tales about Peg Leg and his gold. It’s a fitting tribute to a man whose legacy is equal parts history and myth.

Final Years and Lasting Legacy

In his later years, Peg Leg Smith drifted around California. He never did relocate his lost gold, and in October 1866 he died penniless in a San Francisco hospital – reportedly still boasting about his mysterious mine until the very end.

Yet his story didn’t die with him. Peg Leg’s name passed into legend as the one-legged prospector who almost struck it rich. A historical marker now stands in the Anza-Borrego Desert, not far from where he claimed to find those black nuggets. More than a century and a half later, people are still swapping tales about him. For those of you who venture out to the Anza Borrego area for a weekend of playing and riding, you might just be riding over lost gold. Keep an eye out for those 'black nuggets'.

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