Mr. Thompson provides potentially supporting evidence that the Spanish was prospecting, mining, and smelting precious metals in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, and Idaho around the 1700s to 1800s. Most of this activity was apparently conducted "off the books" with only vague comments in official documentation. Why? To avoid paying the Spanish government tax. It took years to get official permission for each of the documented Entrada into new Spain. If you found anything valuable, you had to pay an export tax (the royal fifth). There is a belief that groups of miners were sneaking into the area to mine gold and silver that was later smuggled out of new Spain. Native Americans were enslaved to provide the labor. Mr. Thompson pieces together historical documentation, discovered artifacts, legendary tales, and the fact that the Old Spanish Trail generally passed through the area to weave a story how this happened. I question a couple of the theories but overall I believe that smuggling was occurring (possibly with the secret approval of the Governor in Santa Fe).
