Hermosillo Mexico 1892 Gold Mine Found

[Kimbrough]

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9906EFDB1338E233A25755C2A9679D94639ED7CF

 

[Mackaydon]

That article was republished in a Kentucky newspaper months later, but there seems to be no further news; strange.
Don..

 

[RichWhite]

That story sounds much like a story I have heard from several people in Hermosillo, specifically claiming that the Indian in question was a Seri Indian. As far as I know, no such prospect was ever worked.

 

[lilorphanannie]

The article refers to a mine discovered in 1803 by a Spainard named Don Teodoro Salazar,who arrived from Spain in 1799 to prospect in the área of La Cienega, Sonora, known at that time as San Idlefonso de La Cieneguilla and site of one of the richest gold rushes known antwhere at that time. Unfortunately ,Mr .Salazar arrived on the tail end of the La Cienega bonanza and began to search for the source of the placer gold or a similar site. This search took him to a small range of hills some 15 miles northeast , and discovered a place known as San Francisco de Asis, here in the first two months 25,000 marcos of gold was mined, essentially by picking it up right on the surface. A marco is equivalent to 8 ounces. Eventually ,over 20,000 people had moved into the área. Up this draw, Don Teodore discovered the source ,or at least one of the sources of the placer. He named the mine La Teodorina, presumedly ,after his daughter. The Teodorina, is mentioned and well documented in the Sonoran mining archives and is referenced in several books. The mine had changed names and ownership over the years and herein lies much of the difficulty. As with many of the supposed ¨lost mines¨the problem has been the ongoing changing of names with each concession holder. I lived and worked in the área of La Cienega for three years in the early 90´s. There is no doubt as to the wealth that must have been there and still is. We saw veins that run 14 opt, 11 opt, and narrow quartz veins running 42% gold. And first hand reports comment that the Teodorina exceded them all in ounces per ton. I personally saw 8 pound Nuggets found with a metal detector, and the first metal detector brought into the área in 1989 took out 7.5 pounds in two weeks. The área was scraped and detected for the next 25 years and there are still some diehards giving it a go. Refer to the ´´Boot of Cortez¨nugget, found in this área not too long ago. In my opinión the Teodorina mine can be easily found, by visiting the mining claims office in Altar,if it still exists, and if closed to find out where those records are held. One can also solocit help from the Sonoran Historical society ,and local historians. Good luck.

 

[memotron76]

Just ran into this thread. Teodoro Salazar was Spanish, but was born in either Altar or Santa Ana around 1779/1780 (the Pimeria Alta census of 1801 has him as a resident of Santa Ana, age 21, with a bunch of brothers and cousins.) His Spanish family had been in Sonora, at least since his grandfather's - Jose Alejo - birth in the early 1700s. And about his work as a prospect, sometime around 1815 he also went to the Bolas de Plata site to see what he could get from those mines, but he did not find much. It is said that after his death around 1848, his ranch in Caborca was raided by trasure hunters. I understand they did not find anything either. Back in the 1970s, my grand aunt (a descendant of Teodoro Salazar herself) would tell us that one of her nephews somehow got a map of a treasure, and went looking for it. He didn't find anything either. Who knows if he ever hid anything, maybe it was all just a folk tale because of the production he had in la Cienega and Asis.