The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-09-04

or the primitive structures VIC found un-
mistakable evidence and traces Of civilized
society, readily convincing us that the set
tlemcnt was not, as we at first imagined,
the handiwork of an intelligent branch of
the ancient Navajoes. On the inner walls
OF one OF the larger adobe houses we found
the remains of heavy cuirass, evidently
at one time the pride Of bold Castilian
warrior. AS we prosecuted our researches
through the settlement, we made the dis
covery that, with few exceptions, each
house bore the name of It's former tenant.
traced In the adobe when it was soft; di-
rcctly above the entrance serving the pur-
pose of door. These names were purely
Spanish, and from my diary I transcribe
the following: 'Sylvcstro Rodrigo, Miguel
Bandara, Sanch Pizara, Francsko Mancha,
- Lopez, and a hundred others. In enc
or two places we found dates covering a
lapse of years extending from 1880 to 1865,
convincing us that the settlement must
have fiourishcd for period of thirty years
at least. Att depth of a foot in the ground,
which seems to be the layer which time
covered upon the scene, we uncarthed
Indian arrow-heads, Of u somewhat primi-
tive character, as we'll as metallic sub,
stances, which again proved to uo that CEN
turlcs back fierce war had ragged here be-
tween the original lords of the soil and the
Spanish invaders, and that the latter were
overpowered and perished at the hands of
the red warriors. 1t was all quite plain to
us, and in the signs which nature had pre-
served as record of the past, we read that
Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, had here
spent short period of his ll!ustrious cx-
istcnce, to what end and to what purpose
l must leave to the solution Of one gifted
with q more fertile and gifted imagination
than possess.
''But to the point. Drawn onward by
our discoveries to search the valley from
ono end to the other, we found in one of
the most obscure portions of the same in
dlcatlons of gold-bearing quartz Oh Il dump,
where it was probably placed centuries
back, and soon after we alightcd on the
shaft of an ancient mine from which it
had, to all appearance, been derived. The
mouth OF the shaft was entirely closed up
with rocks and bouldcrs which bad broken
from the mountain side and found lodgmcnt
here, and was widely intcrgrown with
ranking weeds and shrubbcry Guessing
that we had struck bonanza too valuable
to expose to any contingency Of a chance
discovery by Others without opening the
mine we took possession, packed our AMI
mails the second day after our entrance into
the valley, and returned to Del Nortc,
where we at once filed our application in
the local land office to take possession of
the valley under the homestead laws, and
additionally secured our mlnc by patent.
We hired a gang of men and set to work
developing our bonanz1. Such it proved to
te the most sanguine degree, and in short
time l hope to have amassed a fortune,
which, hypcrbolically speaking, will enable
me to return to Leldvil!e and purchase the
whole camp, including all the best mines.
The specimen send you is from the Cid,
as we call our mine. BY return letter tell
me what you think of it,"