Old Bookaroo
Silver Member
- Dec 4, 2008
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Don Jose would be disappointed there hasn't been a new post on the Tayopa thread for quite some time. Here's an article I know he would have enjoyed reading.
This cup of sox coffee is for you, Don Jose. By all accounts, a good man to ride the river with!
A special dispatch from the City of Mexico to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat says : Lieut. H.O. Flipper, late of the United States army, whose expedition through Sonora has resulted in important discoveries, is in the city. He confirms in full the story of the finding of the Guyaopa and Tayopa, two of the historical lost mines ; but besides this he brings maps and information of greatest interest and value to both Americans and Mexicans. Lieut. Flipper’s narrative of what he has seen in the wilds of Sonora is marvelously entertaining. On the United States military maps, of comparatively recent date, a district embracing Northern Sonora and Southern New Mexico and Arizona is designated as Tierra Discerrecida (unknown land). This is still particularly true of Sonora, about which country there is a great interest in the United States. Speaking generally of what the expedition found, Lieut. Flipper says:
“As to the grazing and agricultural possibilities of the land we have surveyed, I say nothing. As to mining, I consider the Sonora the richest region in the republic of Mexico, or on the continent. It is the least developed, and is practically virgin soil. We have seen gold, silver, copper, coal, plumbago, marble and tale-talc, or soapstone. The traditions of mines of fabulous richness find abundant confirmation. In the ruined towns are heaps of slag, old furnaces, gold washes and troughs cut of solid stone or made of cut stone masonry, which we saw all over Eastern Sonora. On the very tops of high mountains, among the great pine and fir trees, we found innumerable peach, apple, fig and other fruit trees, especially pomegranites [sic]. These and the ruins of old dams, sluices, or acequias, in the heart of the mountains, in small canyons, are unmistakable evidences of the fact of this country having been occupied by the Spaniards. The ruins of old churches, east of Nacon Chica, for example, show that these people were and not mere prospectors, but that they founded towns hear the mines they worked, and worked on a large scale.”
To a request for some information about the seven lost mines mentioned by Humboldt and other early travelers, Lieut. Flipper said:
“According to tradition and records of these times now existing in the churches of Chihuahua and Sonora, seven immensely rich mines were abandoned and never afterward worked, because of the Indians. The names of these mines are known, but I can recall none, except two, the Guayopa and Tayopa, which we found. At one of the mines, as tradition goes, all the people were killed by the Indians and everything destroyed that the Indians could destroy. There was, however, a store room in which the silver bars were stored till transportation to Guadalaja [sic], the then capital of New Spain, could be obtained. There was a large amount of silver in the room at the time under a strong lock and key, and this the Indians, it is supposed, could not and did not destroy.
“I am telling you the story as it is still firmly believed in Sonora and Chihuahua. Many an expedition has been organized to look for this store of fabulous wealth, but no one has found it. It is said that three Mexicans, some three or four years ago, did actually locate it. They described it as being built down in a deep, narrow canyon, into which they could find no entrance except by sliding down on ropes fastened above. This they did. They claimed to have seen through cracks in the roof, an immense number of bars of silver piled in the room, which was large. One of their number, attempting to effect an entrance, fell from the roof, and was dashed to pieces on the rocks below. His companions construed this as a warning from heaven to desist, and they did so. They have never been able to find the house since. They claim the house is built in the canyon up high above the bed of the mountain torrent that flows through. Their theory is that communication with the storehouse is by a secret passage extending back through the mountain some distance to the mine and reduction works. They found the ruins of the works, but could not find the second passage.”
“If the Mexicans located the store house once why couldn’t they do it again?”
The lieutenant thought as he replied : “If you could see the country you would have no need to ask the question. Tradition locates the lost mines near the boundary of Sonora and Chihuahua. The boundary between these two states is said to be the summit of the Sierra Madre. The Sierra Madre is not a chain of mountains, as many suppose, but a sea of lofty peaks and messas [sic]. They are in an immense basin, standing in the Pedonraeis pass in Chihuahua at the east side of an immense prairie or plain. One looks down upon the Bufa or Cusihuirachi, which is 1700 feet above the sea level. The famous Yaqui river rises in the plains of Chihuahua on the east side of the Sierra Madre, flows northeast of the mountains, turns and flows a little south of west, nearly due southwest, nearly northwest and then southeast, and finally, having passed through them, turns and flows almost southwest to the gulf of California.
There are more streams to the Sierra Madre than out of it in the two states of Chihuahua and Sonora. A person who has not seen it can have no idea of what a jumble of peaks, canyons and torrents it is. There is no way of solving the mystery but by organized effort. If some one who had the means, the disposition and sufficient knowledge of Spanish would visit the churches of Western Chihuahua and Eastern Sonora, and thoroughly examine such records as there exist in regard to all mines, I am sure it would be no great task to locate all of these mines. Whole towns, as well as mining camps, have disappeared. A careful collection and comparison of the records would undoubtedly lead to the re-discovery of these miles, which were abandoned simply because Mr. Lo [?] decided it. There are evidences everywhere of this hitherto unknown country having been populated by others than the Indians, who are still there in more or less decreasing numbers.
“Do Indians still stand in the way of the development of the country?”
[“] No ; this was the home of the Apaches until recently. They drove away the miners and made the region uninhabitable for centuries. The other Indians, who the, as now, occupied it in large numbers, such as the Pinoes, Opulas, Series, Papagoes, Arenoses and others, are and have been at peace with their Spanish or Anglo-Saxon neighbors. The Apaches, however, have been more recalcitrant, and have occupied the country to the exclusion of all whites, except at rare intervals. About eighty years ago the Apache tribe was induced by a prominent priest of Sonora to settle on the Sonora river, near the town of Bacuachi, and remained there in peach for about forty years, when they left their peaceful pursuits because of personal injuries received by one of their chiefs at the hands of a priest. They have been on the warpath ever since.”
“Did your expedition have any trouble with the Indians?”
“We began surveying the public lands in Sonora in August, 1885, and have been continually surveying from that time up to the present. While this section was at the mercy of the Indians and General Crook’s pet scouts, we began our work at Monument No. 18, on the Union Pacific lines, and continued our work till we had finished that district known as the District Arispe. All of that time, or at least for four months, a party of surveyors of a rival company lay in Tombstone, A.T., waiting the end of the Indian campaign to commence work. The Indians were near us many times, yet we were fortunate enough not to meet them.
“On one occasion a party of Mexicans who had been traveling along with us for protection left us at Bacuachi and started for Forteras. At 4 P. M. the same day they were ambushed, and seven out of twelve were killed, including one woman and her two small children. At another time Mr. Glenn and one man ascended a hill to take observations, and while they heard firing below, thinking it was his own men shooting at game, he paid not attention to it. When he came down he encountered an American severely wounded in the leg, who told him he had been fired upon by Indians, and he managed to escape. The American’s partner had been killed. The body was found afterwards. They were prospectors. The two parties of surveyors were repeatedly reported killed by the Indians. Though often in their vicinity we never had any casualties at their hands and we were never molested in our work by others than Indians except on two occasions. The perfect or governor of the Oriage district ordered us to stop work and leave the country, claiming that he had such orders from the City of Mexico. After considering the matter we reported to headquarters and continued our labors. I afterwards had to force him to present me the letters of his land for examination. The revolution of Montezuma delayed us nearly a month, though the people manifested the greatest good will towards us.
~ The Ketchum Keystone [Ketchum, Idaho] 11 June 1887 [VOL. 6. NO. 25.]
Editor’s Notes:
Baron Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is one of the most fascinating people who have ever lived. There isn’t room here to fairly describe his life and accomplishments. The reader who investigates will be well rewarded. Lieut. Flipper doesn’t specify in which of Humboldt’s many books he describes these mines. It might have been his Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain (1814).
I have not been able to identify Hamilton. Any suggestions will be great appreciated.
I have posted other articles about the most interesting Lieut. H.O. Flipper and his search for Tayopa:
(26) Lost Mines in Mexico - An Important Discovery by H.O. Flipper August 21, 1889 | TreasureNet 🧠The Original Treasure Hunting Website
(26) Sonora Antiquities by Lieut. Henry O. Flipper - 1889 | TreasureNet 🧠The Original Treasure Hunting Website
the Old Bookaroo
This cup of sox coffee is for you, Don Jose. By all accounts, a good man to ride the river with!
MEXICO’S LOST MINES.
-----
A Story of the Discovery by Recent
Explorers.
-----
-----
A Story of the Discovery by Recent
Explorers.
-----
A special dispatch from the City of Mexico to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat says : Lieut. H.O. Flipper, late of the United States army, whose expedition through Sonora has resulted in important discoveries, is in the city. He confirms in full the story of the finding of the Guyaopa and Tayopa, two of the historical lost mines ; but besides this he brings maps and information of greatest interest and value to both Americans and Mexicans. Lieut. Flipper’s narrative of what he has seen in the wilds of Sonora is marvelously entertaining. On the United States military maps, of comparatively recent date, a district embracing Northern Sonora and Southern New Mexico and Arizona is designated as Tierra Discerrecida (unknown land). This is still particularly true of Sonora, about which country there is a great interest in the United States. Speaking generally of what the expedition found, Lieut. Flipper says:
“As to the grazing and agricultural possibilities of the land we have surveyed, I say nothing. As to mining, I consider the Sonora the richest region in the republic of Mexico, or on the continent. It is the least developed, and is practically virgin soil. We have seen gold, silver, copper, coal, plumbago, marble and tale-talc, or soapstone. The traditions of mines of fabulous richness find abundant confirmation. In the ruined towns are heaps of slag, old furnaces, gold washes and troughs cut of solid stone or made of cut stone masonry, which we saw all over Eastern Sonora. On the very tops of high mountains, among the great pine and fir trees, we found innumerable peach, apple, fig and other fruit trees, especially pomegranites [sic]. These and the ruins of old dams, sluices, or acequias, in the heart of the mountains, in small canyons, are unmistakable evidences of the fact of this country having been occupied by the Spaniards. The ruins of old churches, east of Nacon Chica, for example, show that these people were and not mere prospectors, but that they founded towns hear the mines they worked, and worked on a large scale.”
THE SEVEN LOST MINES.
To a request for some information about the seven lost mines mentioned by Humboldt and other early travelers, Lieut. Flipper said:
“According to tradition and records of these times now existing in the churches of Chihuahua and Sonora, seven immensely rich mines were abandoned and never afterward worked, because of the Indians. The names of these mines are known, but I can recall none, except two, the Guayopa and Tayopa, which we found. At one of the mines, as tradition goes, all the people were killed by the Indians and everything destroyed that the Indians could destroy. There was, however, a store room in which the silver bars were stored till transportation to Guadalaja [sic], the then capital of New Spain, could be obtained. There was a large amount of silver in the room at the time under a strong lock and key, and this the Indians, it is supposed, could not and did not destroy.
“I am telling you the story as it is still firmly believed in Sonora and Chihuahua. Many an expedition has been organized to look for this store of fabulous wealth, but no one has found it. It is said that three Mexicans, some three or four years ago, did actually locate it. They described it as being built down in a deep, narrow canyon, into which they could find no entrance except by sliding down on ropes fastened above. This they did. They claimed to have seen through cracks in the roof, an immense number of bars of silver piled in the room, which was large. One of their number, attempting to effect an entrance, fell from the roof, and was dashed to pieces on the rocks below. His companions construed this as a warning from heaven to desist, and they did so. They have never been able to find the house since. They claim the house is built in the canyon up high above the bed of the mountain torrent that flows through. Their theory is that communication with the storehouse is by a secret passage extending back through the mountain some distance to the mine and reduction works. They found the ruins of the works, but could not find the second passage.”
ROUGHNESS OF THE COUNTRY.
“If the Mexicans located the store house once why couldn’t they do it again?”
The lieutenant thought as he replied : “If you could see the country you would have no need to ask the question. Tradition locates the lost mines near the boundary of Sonora and Chihuahua. The boundary between these two states is said to be the summit of the Sierra Madre. The Sierra Madre is not a chain of mountains, as many suppose, but a sea of lofty peaks and messas [sic]. They are in an immense basin, standing in the Pedonraeis pass in Chihuahua at the east side of an immense prairie or plain. One looks down upon the Bufa or Cusihuirachi, which is 1700 feet above the sea level. The famous Yaqui river rises in the plains of Chihuahua on the east side of the Sierra Madre, flows northeast of the mountains, turns and flows a little south of west, nearly due southwest, nearly northwest and then southeast, and finally, having passed through them, turns and flows almost southwest to the gulf of California.
There are more streams to the Sierra Madre than out of it in the two states of Chihuahua and Sonora. A person who has not seen it can have no idea of what a jumble of peaks, canyons and torrents it is. There is no way of solving the mystery but by organized effort. If some one who had the means, the disposition and sufficient knowledge of Spanish would visit the churches of Western Chihuahua and Eastern Sonora, and thoroughly examine such records as there exist in regard to all mines, I am sure it would be no great task to locate all of these mines. Whole towns, as well as mining camps, have disappeared. A careful collection and comparison of the records would undoubtedly lead to the re-discovery of these miles, which were abandoned simply because Mr. Lo [?] decided it. There are evidences everywhere of this hitherto unknown country having been populated by others than the Indians, who are still there in more or less decreasing numbers.
INDIAN TROUBLES.
“Do Indians still stand in the way of the development of the country?”
[“] No ; this was the home of the Apaches until recently. They drove away the miners and made the region uninhabitable for centuries. The other Indians, who the, as now, occupied it in large numbers, such as the Pinoes, Opulas, Series, Papagoes, Arenoses and others, are and have been at peace with their Spanish or Anglo-Saxon neighbors. The Apaches, however, have been more recalcitrant, and have occupied the country to the exclusion of all whites, except at rare intervals. About eighty years ago the Apache tribe was induced by a prominent priest of Sonora to settle on the Sonora river, near the town of Bacuachi, and remained there in peach for about forty years, when they left their peaceful pursuits because of personal injuries received by one of their chiefs at the hands of a priest. They have been on the warpath ever since.”
“Did your expedition have any trouble with the Indians?”
“We began surveying the public lands in Sonora in August, 1885, and have been continually surveying from that time up to the present. While this section was at the mercy of the Indians and General Crook’s pet scouts, we began our work at Monument No. 18, on the Union Pacific lines, and continued our work till we had finished that district known as the District Arispe. All of that time, or at least for four months, a party of surveyors of a rival company lay in Tombstone, A.T., waiting the end of the Indian campaign to commence work. The Indians were near us many times, yet we were fortunate enough not to meet them.
SEVERAL CLOSE CALLS.
“On one occasion a party of Mexicans who had been traveling along with us for protection left us at Bacuachi and started for Forteras. At 4 P. M. the same day they were ambushed, and seven out of twelve were killed, including one woman and her two small children. At another time Mr. Glenn and one man ascended a hill to take observations, and while they heard firing below, thinking it was his own men shooting at game, he paid not attention to it. When he came down he encountered an American severely wounded in the leg, who told him he had been fired upon by Indians, and he managed to escape. The American’s partner had been killed. The body was found afterwards. They were prospectors. The two parties of surveyors were repeatedly reported killed by the Indians. Though often in their vicinity we never had any casualties at their hands and we were never molested in our work by others than Indians except on two occasions. The perfect or governor of the Oriage district ordered us to stop work and leave the country, claiming that he had such orders from the City of Mexico. After considering the matter we reported to headquarters and continued our labors. I afterwards had to force him to present me the letters of his land for examination. The revolution of Montezuma delayed us nearly a month, though the people manifested the greatest good will towards us.
~ The Ketchum Keystone [Ketchum, Idaho] 11 June 1887 [VOL. 6. NO. 25.]
------- o0o -------
Editor’s Notes:
Baron Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is one of the most fascinating people who have ever lived. There isn’t room here to fairly describe his life and accomplishments. The reader who investigates will be well rewarded. Lieut. Flipper doesn’t specify in which of Humboldt’s many books he describes these mines. It might have been his Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain (1814).
I have not been able to identify Hamilton. Any suggestions will be great appreciated.
I have posted other articles about the most interesting Lieut. H.O. Flipper and his search for Tayopa:
(26) Lost Mines in Mexico - An Important Discovery by H.O. Flipper August 21, 1889 | TreasureNet 🧠The Original Treasure Hunting Website
(26) Sonora Antiquities by Lieut. Henry O. Flipper - 1889 | TreasureNet 🧠The Original Treasure Hunting Website
------- o0o -------
Good luck to all,
the Old Bookaroo
