You nailed it
April 13, 1999 at 11:32:45
In Reply to: Re: But do these books reflect real life?--Steve
posted by Richard Walburn on April 13, 1999 at 10:08:46
Very astute observations, Richard. My guess is that for every group of early Nuevo Mexican explorers/miners loyal to the Crown, there were two that were loyal only to themselves. That includes many free agents from all over the Old and New Worlds, not to mention crooked Mexican politicians and greedy Jesuits. After all, human nature was the same then as now. In fact, I wonder if the deception didn't start with the Marcos de Niza/Estevanico expedition in 1539.
You can bet that a lot of successful searchers were using their own codes and not the King's. Haven't you ever wondered why so many early Spanish mines in the southwest remain "lost"? If they had been marked with the King's system, anyone schooled in the system should be able to backtract them - that's why they set up the system in the first place. No, these mines were hidden by either the miners when they left or in many cases rebellious natives such as with the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The codes used to locate these sites in many cases went to the grave with their creators.
 Follow Ups:
Post a Followup
This forum has been discontinued - please use our new forum
Comments:
|
