The Jinx of Payrock Canyon — Troy Nesbit

Jay has lived in a once well-populated mining town in Colorado's Rocky Mountains for all of his fifteen years. Orphaned when he was very young, he spends most of his time working at his grandmother's store or as a cattlehand in Payrock Canyon with his friend Doc. Toward the end of the summer, all sorts of strange things start to happen in Payrock: Bighorn sheep are dying mysteriously, black beavers turn brown, cattle are running themselves off of cliffs, and young twins strand themselves on a dangerous precipice. The town curmudgeon claims it has something to do with a wandering stranger who carries an odd box . . . but will the boys be able to stop whatever's going on before all of the canyon's wildlife disappears?