Rio Grande Golden Locust

Rio Grande Golden Locust

Sighted at Taos Valley Overlook

The sturdy carapaces of these extremely rare creatures (saltamontes del oro) are actually coated in gold dust from digging burrows in gold-bearing ore deposits to lay their eggs. It is said that if you encounter one during mating season and follow from a safe distance, the insect may lead you to a claim. The hardy saltamonteros (grasshopper hunters) of territorial New Mexico scratched out a meager living boiling the insects for their gold, until the population plummeted.

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John Hamilton Farr lives at 7,000 feet in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A. As New York Times best-selling author James C. Moore tells it, John is “a man attuned to the world who sees it differently than you and I and writes about it with a language and a vision of life that is impossible to ignore.” This JHFARR.COM site is the master writing archive. To email John, please see CONTACT INFO on About page. For a complete list of all John’s writing, photography, NFTs, and social media links, please visit JHFARR.ART  

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