Clues to Buried Treasures in the Far South West

[jeff of pa]

Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 23 Sept. 1899.




Evening star. (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, September 23, 1899, Page 17, Image 17 « Chronicling America « Library of Congress

 

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[Rebel - KGC]

Did E.F. Beale know...?

 

[audigger53]

Ethnology: A science that deals with the division of human beings into races and their origin, distribution, relations, and characteristics.
And this deals with buried treasure how?

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Thank you for that link! This article is listed in J. Frank Dobie's classic Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver (1928) - "Where I Dug for Adams Gold." I hadn't been able to run down a copy before now.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

BURIED TREASURE

Great Fortunes That Lie Hidden in the Far Southwest.

LOST MINES OF SILVER AND GOLD

Would Enrich the Finder Beyond the Dreams of Avarice.

SHROUDED IN MYSTERY

Written for The Evening Star.

Here are some unpublished clues to buried treasure which may lead you to wealth and influence if you follow them industriously. They are brought back fresh from the desert regions of the far southwest by Mr. F.W. Hodge of the bureau of ethnology, who this week returned from a two months’ tour, for purposes of study, in the entire Pueblo region, which alone, traveling entirely overland, he covered 650 miles.

“While in the southwest I heard many enticing clues to buried treasure, open to any one who can find the hidden key,” the ethnologist said, “but none of these offer such temptations as the story of the Ollas del Plata mines. The truth of this is borne out by documentary evidence to be found in certain old records of the ancient Mexican custom house, in operation a century and a half ago.

“Somewhere between the years 1736 and 1741, when Arizona was a Spanish territory, Don Diego Asmendi, a wandering Mexican miner, reached a settlement of the Papago Indians situated almost upon the present boundary between Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. The Papagoes, who still cover this area, called their settlement ‘Arizonac.’ Don Diego Asmendi, by some chance, came across a hidden deposit of silver and astonished the Mexicans by returning with what was probably the largest virgin lump of the precious white metal before or since found in the world. It contained no less than 2,700 pounds of pure silver. Asmandi, returning through Mexico, bore with him another virgin lump of 275 pounds, while the aggregate weight of several other nuggets was 4,023 pounds.

The King Got It.

“According to the Spanish policy of exorbitant revenue assessment, these tremendous nuggets were unreasonably taxed by the Mexican custom house officer of those early times when Don Diego’s find became known. A dispute between the officer and the finder of the silver rose and the matter was appealed to the Viceroy of Mexico, who decided that the controversy, involving, as it did, the largest silver nugget found in the word, was beyond his responsibility, and that it would have to be referred to the King of Spain himself. The king, taking the viceroy’s hint, promptly ruled that a nugget weighing 2,700 pounds must be regarded as a curiosity, and that all natural curiosities of great value found in the colonies must by courtesy be regarded as the property of the crown.

“Asmendi was naturally heartbroken at this loss of his priceless nugget. It is said that he left Mexico in disgust without revealing the precise locality of the wonderful mine. It was, however, known beyond doubt that the lumps of silver were found in or near the Papago settlement of Arizonac, which grew to be known as ‘bollas del Plata,’ which, in Spanish, means ‘balls of silver.’ The old name, ‘Arizonac,’ thereupon became widely applied to this region, and, as very few people know, when the present territory of Arizona was carved out of Mexico its name was directly derived from this same Papago village, near which the abandoned mine of Asmendi still remains undeveloped. I presume that the monster nugget was sent to Mexico and coined in the mint there for the Spanish king, whose argument that it should be preserved as a curiosity was, of course, inspired by sinister motives. Soon after the misadventure of Don Diego the place became abandoned and lost sight of and the ardor of some unskillful miners who attempted to recover the deserted wealth became cooled. The nuggets were found on or near the surface and discouragement doubtless overcame the followers of Asmendi because they failed to pick up more surface deposits. In those days they had no facilities for deep mining.

Awaiting a Finder.

“Indeed, I should like to have the time to go in this region and dig on my own account. It is not unlikely that some more 2,700-pound lumps of virgin silver, or even larger ones, are idly reposing beneath the soil where the Mexican made his rich find. The people who have inhabited the region for the past century and a half are the last in the world to improve such a mine if assured of its resources. The Papago still have their little settlement on the spot, as in their language it is still known as Arizonac. These red men are not such as would resist any attempt to mine the region today. Arizonac lies just about on the boundary line, perhaps a trifle over toward the Sonora side. To reach it the journey must be almost wholly inland from the Southern Pacific railway.

“I also learned from an old and reputable authority who lives in the southwest the story of a great wealth of lost gold known to have remained buried since a generation ago, somewhere between what are now two small stations, ‘McCarty’s’ and ‘Grant,’ fifteen miles apart, on the Santa Fe Pacific railroad, in western and central New Mexico. The story runs as follows:

A Lost Fortune.

“When the California gold craze was at its height many Mexicans were tempted to try their luck in the new El Dorado. One of their expeditions, which had met with tremendous success, was returning home with a large burro train weighed down with gold, and was following a trail leading past the spot mentioned, when they heard that a great band of Navajos were about to raid them. The burros were immediately stripped of their costly burdens and all hands set to work to hide it in the earth, hoping for sufficient time to escape before the Indians might arrive. Not until after the last nugget had been securely covered, certain markers had been planted and preparations had been made for rapid flight did the poor Mexicans realize that their time had been ill-reckoned. The Navajos, who greatly outnumbered their victims, swept in upon their band and slaughtered all but one, who fled in terror to a settlement beyond, where in great excitement, he told his tale and left a meager description of the hiding place. Hurrying in search of others to help him recover the gold, this man evidently met with some mishap on the way. At any rate, he never returned, but certain Mexicans to whom the story was confided hurried to find the place designated. After excavating many feet one of these men hit with his shovel a stone with peculiar markings which resounded with such a weirdly hollow tap as to lead them to believe that something uncanny resided beneath. He fled from the spot, alarming his companions, who, being a superstitious people, imagined that in a cavern beneath the soil the ghosts of the massacred miners were watching as sentries over their lost treasure. After this incident the spot became forgotten, as none of the superstitious diggers could be induced to return. But the story still lived. The source of my information is such as to lead me to suspect its truth.

Raided by Indians.

“Another clue to buried treasure which I heard in the southwest is the following: A dozen or more years ago an American named Adams came hurrying from the Navajo country into the mining town of Gallup, on the Santa Fe Pacific rod, in western New Mexico, literally weighed down with huge nuggets of pure gold. The people in the locality at once became wild with excitement. Adams told how he with several companions had discovered a rich mine in the Navajo reservation and how they were just gathering from the surface such huge nuggets as he carried with him when they were all raided by a hostile band of the Indians. While fleeing for their lives all were butchered except himself.

“A large party was at once organized with sufficient strength to recover the mine, but Adams, who held the key to the situation, succumbing to the excitement of his terrible ordeal and narrow escape, meanwhile went raving mad and had to be confined to an insane asylum, in which he soon afterward died. The party, however, attempted the recovery of the gold, but soon returned unsuccessful. Up to a few years ago there were made similar efforts, all equally futile. Such constant intrusion upon the Navajo reservation became so much of an annoyance to these Indians as to necessitate the dispatching of a military expedition from Fort Wingate for the purpose of making a reconnaissance of the lost mine and, if possible, of determining the value of its deposit. With the aid of the Navajos themselves this party came upon gold in the Carriso [sic] mountains, in the northern part of the reservation, and this was believed to be the lost Adams mine. But the gold in sight occurred only in small quantities, and it was decided that it would not pay to mine it. In and about Gallup there are still many men, witnesses of the arrival of Adams, among whom there is serious doubt as to whether that found by the army expedition is the mine which, before the collapse of his mind, he described in such glowing terms.”

Professor W.J. McGee, ethnologist in charge of the bureau of ethnology, who has spent many seasons of field work in the southwest, added the following story:

Source of Unfailing Wealth.

“In the town of Yuma, which lies partly on the California and partly on the Arizona side of the Colorado river, there lived thirty or forty years ago a Mexican known to possess a rich but undeveloped gold mine somewhere in the desert to the west. Whenever he became in want he mysteriously left the little town by night and took a burro with him in the direction of his buried wealth. He was careful to change his course each trip so as to avoid, by retracing his tracks, the leaving of a trail such as might lead others to the spot. Returning usually in about a week his burro was always heavily laden with the precious metal, the mysterious source of which weighed upon the curiosity of the entire neighborhood. Those who endeavored to track him either returned unsuccessful pr became desert mad and losing their way from this cause, died of thirst or starvation.

“To the present time this mine awaits its rediscoverer. Indeed, in this locality, especially in the desert west of Yuma, no gold mine of any description has yet been found.”

The Evening Star, Washington, D.C. - September 23, 1899

 

[BillA]

Now called "Planchas de Plata", reasonably well known. Pulled a survey engineer out of a ditch and got an invite to the big-time mining concession, but failed to follow up. This was what - in the '80s, jeez.

Bill