Legends of Lost Missions and Mines

[Old Bookaroo]

It doesn't take anyone fascinated by tales of lost mines and treasures in the American Southwest (say, after about the first ten pages of Coronado's Children) to start becoming interested in reading about various Jesuit lost mines and missions.

If you would like facts and not just legends find a copy of The Smoke Signal (published occasionally by the Tucson Corral of the Westerners, Tucson, Arizona) Fall 1968 (No. 18) [reprinted 1972] issue titled "Legends of Lost Missions and Mines," by Charles W. Polzer, S.J.

The author wrote this to refute the "...hopeful interpretations based on scanty information, poor Spanish, and weak logic" that are the foundation of so many treasure legends.

If you want to keep believing in the Treasure of Tumacacori, the Lost Mine with the Iron Door (KvonM mocked this story time after time!) and others, perhaps this isn't the best reading for you. If, however, you are interested in facts, I highly recommend this most interesting reference! It is a very rare item of lost treasure literature - original research and information.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

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[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Hi saddle sore Buckaroo my friend: Fr Charles Polzer was a personal friend of mine. We corresponded quite a bit and had an occasional visit. He always was adamant in saying that the Jesuits never were involved in mining, but I finally did get him to grudgingly say that when I opened Tayopa he would dance the first dance at the fiesta.

He died shortly after at the Jesuit Hospital in Santa Barbara in his room while waiting for reconstructive surgery..

He was highly honored by Spain and was the one most responsible for having Fr Kino possibly Canonized.

Incidentally, since I found, and now own Tayopa, etc., that rather clouds the issue no? hehehehe

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[SpectrumKevin]

....
If you want to keep believing in the Treasure of Tumacacori, the Lost Mine with the Iron Door (KvonM mocked this story time after time!) ......

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

Karl mocked the very notion of lost mines in fact.

 

[Marc]

Coronado's Children is one of the books that started added fuel to the fire of my own personal obsession. There are facts in that book, rather, pieces to puzzles, that most certainly CAN lead (and HAVE led) to treasure.

I wish I could say more... someday... someday....

I HIGHLY recommend ANYONE in the Southwest, interested in treasure, to read that book.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Marc, I have a first addition of that. If I can find it, do you want it?

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[SilverMaven]

This is my first posting so please bear with me. Amazon.com has quite a few copies of the book "Coronado's Children" by J. Frank Dobie that are priced around $4.00 and up plus shipping for anyone wanting a copy of it.

Reading all the postings on the Lost Missions and Mines brought back some memories that I personally experienced back in the summer of 1970 or 1971. I am hoping that someone will know about this and fill in the blanks for me. Here is what I remember.

A companion and I were hitchhiking around northern California back in the spring or summer of 1970 or 1971. We got a ride from an elderly man near Redwood City. He was going to take us to the turnoff for Weaverville but needed to stop at the bank for a minute. When he parked the truck in the bank parking lot, he turned off the motor and sat there for a second. Guess he needed a minute to size us up to see if we could be trusted. After a minute or two he said, you kids seem honest and wanted to know if we had ever seen a bar of gold. Needless to say, both of us had not so he proceeded to tell us this story. He and a buddy of his found 1/2 of an old map that showed an abandoned mission in the California desert. The men put feelers out to see if they could find the other half. While in Mexico they met a man who also had 1/2 of a map. The man from Mexico said he was a small child (could be a son or grandchild) who lived or worked at the mission. One day the mission was attacked and the Jesuits or Franciscan priests gave the map to a boy for protection as it gave the directions to the gold bars they had. They told the boy to run and hide. The boy was the only survivor of the attack.

The elderly man reached under his seat of the truck and pulled out a rectangular object that was covered with a cloth. He uncovered it and placed it my hands. It weighed so much that I almost dropped it. It was an irregular rectangular shape and one marking that I remember still. There was an embedded cross running the length of the bar. The man said that he and his buddy found a pretty good stash of bars but the government only allowed them to keep a couple of the bars personally. The rest had to be turned in to the government.

I asked why he was driving around with this in his truck and he said that he had gotten it out of the bank to show company that recently was staying with him. Don't remember when he and his buddy found the gold but it was some time earlier.

Wish I could remember more details of this story. I have never forgotten the weight of that bar in my hands and the markings on it. It was beautiful and must have been one heck of a ride!

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

HI Silver : A fascinating story, thanks. Incidentally what were you doing hitchhiking, not recommended for gals.?

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[SilverMaven]

Hi Don Jose,

Thanks for writing. I was traveling with a guy and things were a lot different back in the early 1970's than now. It was an extraordinary adventure and one I've not forgotten!

However, I wouldn't do it again nor recommend it to anyone!

Silver Maven

 

[Oroblanco]

bump

 

[simonds]

Very interesting !!

 

[uthunter]

You can go to www.archive.org and download the digitized version in pdf, txt, read it online via html, and I believe they have it in a version for the Kindle and other eBook readers. The website has hundreds of thousands of books that have been digitized, from all over the world. These books are ones that have gone into public domain by the authors granting it via copyleft, or by the waiting the allotted time after the authors death. You can get copies of journals from various Spanish expeditions, in North, Central and South America as well as various Jesuit journeys. Most of the books are in English, but you can get various ones in other languages too.

My collection is approaching 150 books (in pdf form) that I could not afford otherwise due to the cost of many. I print the pages I need as I need them. I found one book from the mid 1600's, the book by Agricola on mining.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Howdy!

Gollum posted a new Thread on this topic, using, in part, a version of Father Polzer's thoughts and research published in Desert Magazine.

See: JESUIT TREASURES - ARE THEY REAL? - Posted Dec 05, 2009

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo