A Secret in El Paso

[Hal Croves]

I have been following the life of a somewhat obscure archeologist who, if the reports are correct, made a great discovery in El Paso at the turn of the century.

The target was so important that President Diaz of Mexico actually helped to fund the search. This story suggest a treasure cache and more importantly, a vault of records.

Records of what? I can not say however, they may lead to further, more significant discoveries that predate the European Invasion.

I have been able to locate the general area of the supposed cache and I am now looking for someone with integrity to help collect a few details locally. If you have ever wondered about the maze of tunnels reported beneath El Paso, if you are interested in local history and enjoy the hunt, let me hear from you.

I will write the back story here in a series of post if anyone is interested.

Warning: It is my personal belief that this discovery was quickly suppressed and eventually forgotten over the past century. I also believe that there may be some element of risk involved in researching the actual location.


First I want to establish the fact that a network of tunnels does exist beneath El Paso. Any google search using "tunnels El Paso" will return videos and first hand accounts.

Many of these are modern works (1850 to now) and were used to facilitate smuggling. But if this story of discovery is correct, there should be something much older beneath El Paso.

Something official for those who refute the existence of these tunnels.
This information is public.
See page 11, partial list of 94 suspected man made tunnel locations.

http://ncbsi.utep.edu/documents/HSI Tunnel Project/HSI Tunnel Mapping Project Final Report.pdf

I have not had the honor of visiting El Paso yet and if anything I write going forward is incorrect, please correct me.

 

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[Hal Croves]

There are a few problems with this remarkable story that still need to be resolve.

First is the character of the archeologist involved. Yes, he had ingratiated himself with very powerful people in both Mexico and Washington DC but, there was a prior incident in California that speaks poorly to his nature. I will also show that he was exposed as a "purchaser" in a Chicago based mail-order diploma scheme. With this said, he did have the ear and confidence of President Diaz.

Next is the fact that rivers alter their course over time. There was at least one major change in 1830(?) and it is unknown if this archeologist was aware of the change in the Rio Bravo Del Norte.

Perhaps these thing don't matter when weighed against this archeologist success. There were several important discoveries made in Mexico to his credit.

Last, is the group of individuals who were involved. There is a common thread that connects these gentlemen which will become obvious. They, I believe, would have been responsible for the suppression of the discovery if there was really anything to suppress.

It begins with Porfirio Diaz who provided the documents used to locate the sight.

Worth reading: http://tcmam.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/sofia-3-porfirio-diaz/

Something to remember is that Diaz was always trying to assimilate into European culture. A weakness in Diaz's personality, combined with his Masonic connection explain why he entrusted a foreigner (our archeologist) with the documents. I am using the term documents but I believe it was actually a map.

 

[austin]

Good luck on your search, but forget the tunnels. The Mtns. hold the secret. All I will say on the matter...

 

[Hal Croves]

Good luck on your search, but forget the tunnels. The Mtns. hold the secret. All I will say on the matter...

Thank you Austin.


I have no doubt that the Franklins hold some great discoveries. I find it telling that they were once used by Apache raiders. Lost treasure, mountain strongholds of the Apaches. It seems an ongoing theme.

What I am writing about here is not in the Franklins. This was suppose to be a man made structure which housed records & treasure and if the story is correct, it was the dwelling place of priests.

I am not sure which word I should use to describe the site. The English and Spanish words are European ideas. Obviously I am writing about Aztec culture/history which is something that I am honestly unfamiliar with.

The location is said to have been close to the river. Today, this ruin sits beneath the city of El Paso, if it exists. Non invasive GPR technology could provide answers if one knew where to look. And that's the easy part because clues to the location were made public. For a short time, locals were actually permitted to visit the site before it was fenced off. What is puzzling is the lack of information in the months following the discovery.

I am still looking.

I am also a bit skeptical that something so important was actually located due to the character of the archeologist involved but, what he achieved in the years following the discovery is what makes me curious. He went from being an educated speaker promoting an apocalyptic vision, to a "Jewish looking" scoundrel, to an educator tutoring the children of President Diaz, to a respected professor of an international school in Washington DC.

Something did happened to this archeologist that eventually led to renewed credibility and some increased measure of power. But what? There is no official record of a cache being removed.

What is interesting is that inscriptions in stone were found, one described as three arrows.

Can you imaging living 10 - 15 feet above something so incredible?

 

[Hal Croves]

One of the first hurdles in this story is history of Mt Franklin's volcanic activity. From what I can tell the area did have geologically recent volcanic activity but recent means within the past 100,000 years. That is a problem because Dr. X (our archeologist) believed that the ruins he excavated were entombed in volcanic material.

"Dr. X claims that a beautiful Aztec castle stood at this point on the banks of the Rio Grande and that it was buried beneath the present surface of the earth by a volcanic eruption of old Mount Franklin"

If true, this obviously predates Aztec civilization unless the city was destroyed by a massive flood and buried in sediment?

Here is a description of what we are looking for:

"That eminent scientist asserts with positive assurance that where the recent flourishing and modern metropolis of the southwest, El Paso, now stands was, centuries ago, the site of a magnificent city of castles and palaces whose walls were of solid masonry and polished marble"

 

[UncleMatt]

Well, if any records were found, what language would they be written in exactly? Not familiar with any examples of natives in that area keeping written records prior to the arrival of Europeans.

 

[Hal Croves]

UncleMatt,


Dr. X proclaimed the site to be Aztec. He used a "chart" which was provided by the President of Mexico who, as I wrote, financed the search. I think that in order to appreciate this story, it comes down to understanding the relationship between Mexican politics and the influence of Freemasonry. This was a period of Masonic wars in Mexico. Brother fought brother for control. With that control came access to guarded information taken (inherited) from Spain's conquest of the Aztecs.


President Diaz trusted Dr. X, his children's tutor, and because Dr X was skilled in languages and history (including Aztec), he was given a chance to prove himself in Mexico. Which he did. There is proof that he was able to find at least one important statue that was hidden during the invasion using his understanding of Aztec inscriptions.

So, to answer your question I would guess Classical Nahuatl? Uto-Aztecan.? I honestly do not know.

I think the disconnect here is that Dr. X described the ruins as being entombed in volcanic material. I will show you that he was actually excavating sand which, in my mind suggests a catastrophic flood. The volcanic material found was in chuck form and well mixed with sand.

This now brings us back into the time of the Aztecs.

Flood effects:
http://photos.elpasotimes.com/2013/09/12/photos-flooding-in-el-paso-county-juarez/#22
http://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=Angry_Waters_-_Worst_Flood_in_Texas_History
http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth13273/m1/2/

 

[gollum]

Hal,

Here is one issue I have with that: Almost every Indian Dwelling found in the late 1800s and early 1900s was called Aztec or Mayan in the newspapers of the time. When I first started seeing this after I signed up with Newspapers.com, I got excited, because I figured that maybe they knew the truth back then, and that has been whitewashed by our historians since then (like a lot of historical mining information). What I came to realize was just the opposite. The newspapers called every cliff dwelling and modern looking building (i.e. Casa Grande and Mesa Verde) Aztec because they didn't think any Savage Indians would have been capable of building such a structure. It was all basically racism against Indians. As we gained more knowledge of older Indian Tribes, we began to understand that those tribes a thousand years ago were indeed capable of building all those structures.

Nowadays, one has to be very careful about calling anything Aztec or Mayan North of Mexico. There are examples I personally know of that are 100% NOT American Indian. Here is what is left of a sandstone cat carving from Southern Arizona:



Just one of many.

Mike

 

[Hal Croves]

Gollum,

I am still trying to understand the many groups that occupied this region and I keep reading of a wide spread general acknowledgement of Aztec centralized power. In fact, one story tells of a mass exodus of people south to confront the Spanish invaders.

I believe that Dr. X was familiar with Aztec culture and could discern the difference between various nations. The documents used to make his discovery were also from an archive in Mexico.

It's a fantastic story that I would find completely plausible if not for Dr. X. I am missing one critical piece of the story but when Dr. X sued two editors of the Sacremento Bee for slander, the judge ruled that Dr. X failed to prove that the statements written about him were not true. It is unfortunate and his involvement in buying diplomas taints everything.

I do agree with your thoughts on the generalization of native peoples.

That is an amazing image.

If you are unfamiliar with this story it gets even better when you read about the apparition said to guard this site - a veiled woman in black.

"We wanted to dig to the vault, open it, and remove the treasure that we know to be therein, if it is an Aztec vault."

Testimony of a Mexican living locally who went in just before midnight.

In the short time that the site was made available to the public some 1500 people had come to see what was described as a constructed stone wall.

It gets even better.

 

[Hal Croves]

Here is a decent description of what was found.

 

[gollum]

Funny thing. General Porfirio Diaz' Daughter was also involved in a treasure hunt in the Caballo Mountains in New Mexico. She had supposedly gotten a map from her father.

Mike

 

[Hal Croves]

Gollum
I had planned to hold off publishing Dr. X's name because I have not yet confirmed that he was who he claimed to be. To do that, I need to trace back to the place of his birth which, I have not yet done.


Your story of Diaz' daughter and her search for treasure in New Mexico would make more sense if you had the name.


Dr. Leon Berson.


Be careful because there are two people in history that went by this same name. One ironically was an accomplished aeronaut. Now that's funny.


Ok, so now I can tell the story outright and share my sources and the clues to finding the site.


-------------------------

 

[Hal Croves]

A word of caution here. The information that I am sharing is obscure but public. Anyone with time and persistence could have made the same "re-discovery" of this story. In fact, I can not understand why the discovery was forgotten. With this said, I want to remind those reading this post that the locations involved are private property. Please be mindful of local privacy laws.

 

[Hal Croves]

A word of caution here. The information that I am sharing is obscure but public. Anyone with time and persistence could have made the same "re-discovery" of this story. In fact, I can not understand why the discovery was forgotten. With this said, I want to remind those reading this post that the locations involved are private property. Please be mindful of local privacy laws.

Ok. I have Dr. Berson of New York in San Diego in October of 1886. It seem that the doctor was searching for a wife and in doing so, was "Duped" by his bride to be.

October 22, 1886

 

[Hal Croves]

By January of 1887, Berson has set up shop in Sacramento at 518 North Street:

 

[Hal Croves]

Berson's troubles seem to have followed him to Sacramento. One of the reasons to suspect the name Berson as an alias. Berson was known as Rev. Archibald Richard. Take note of Berson's connection to Madame Duflot.*

*http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/l...y=-221&x=-924&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

February 2, 1887.
"Alleged Crook"

 

[Hal Croves]

By March, Berson has moved his shop a few block.

 

[Hal Croves]

This correction was published three day later. Berson will open his Pasiglossic Polytechnicon school which will educated both boys and girls.

 

[Hal Croves]

By May 1887, Berson is once again on the move.

 

[Hal Croves]

May 15, 1887. Berson is lecturing again.

If you want to read about the content of Berson lecture, read this:
Jews and Gentiles
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/l...y=-221&x=-905&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=2