Arizona weekly enterprise., 1889-09-07
LOST MINES IN MEXICO.
An Important Discovery.
 [El Paso Bullion.
NoGALEs, Arizona, August 21, 18S

NOGALES, ArlZona, August Zl, locS. N
 You and your readers will undoubt- q edly recall the articles published in C the Globe Democrat and other eastern / papers, during the summer of 1887, ! on the discovery of certain "lost :, mines" m the Sierra Madre by myself , and other persons. l have never thought it worth the trouble to state publicly what was really my connec- ton with that wonderful discovery" though to my friends I have often given the exact facts. An opportunity is now offered to do so in connection with what is really discovery as re- markable as important and of the certainty of which 1 can vouch.
 I am responsible for the traditions related in those wonderful articles and for nothing more. I have discovered no mines, neither "lOst mines" nor others. I went to survey and not to
 prospect, my expedition was one of
 discovery, It is true, but was hunt ing lands and not mines. A prOspec-
 tors party did accompany my party,
 but long before we reached the Sierra
 Madre went it's way and left me to go
 mine. This party did denounce cer- tain old mines situated on the western slope of the Sierra Madre, in what
 was once the Mining District of Osti-
 nuri, but they were not "lost mines" l There is not miner in Sonora who | does not know more or less about them, not a few who have sought and expected to find unbounded wealth in 1 them because they had 8 tradition" and there is not one who ever took
 out of any of them what he put in.
 For many it is sufficient that a Mex
 ican mine has tradition" It is of
 little moment what that tradition"
 may be. Lest, therefore, some ofyour
 readers, with penchant for lost mines
 in Mexico, may like the Arabs.
 Quietly fold their tents,
 and silently steal away
 to this land of ''lost mines" and "tra-
 ditions," will tell you exactly what
 the tradition" really is in regard to
 the District of Ostinuri. This District
 was originally very large, but was
 finally reduced so much as to be com
 prised nearly within the triangle of
 which Mulatos, Trinidad and Maicoba
 are the vertices. You will find these
 points on any recent map Of Sonora.
 Ostinuri was originally the capital,
 but lost its importance more than a
 century ago, as did also the District,
 and even at that time the "lOst mines" of which we ear so much, were 'lost''
 and had their "tradition." Colonel
 "Don Antonio de Alcedo, Captain oi the Spanish Guards, of the Royal Academy of History, etc. in his "His, 2 torico-Geographical Dictionary of the ; West Indies or America" (Madria . 178S) says of Ostinuri,' There art many mines of gold and silver, thf ores of which are of very low grade :, and which have been very ittl' ! worked" This then is the true "tra ' dition" of the 'lost mines" reported
 discovered by me. and said to b.
 fabulously rich.
 According to "traditions" to b $ heard every where in Mexico ther e were seven remarkably rich mine l. situated somewhere in western Chi f huahua or eastern Sonora. The in e habitants of these mining camps wer V killed in an Indian uprising and ever II trace of them has disappeared. Anon st these mines Guaynopa and one othe n were exceptionally rich both in grad re and in quantity. None of them hay 10 ever been found It is known ths A what is now called Guaynopa is nc Ill Guaynopa but Santa Fe de Rodrigue An important discovery has, hoy Il, ever, been made respecting tn ol "other" mine referred to alone, whic ,e v, may possibly lead to the discovery ( Ie some or all of the others. This on to least, is much older than it has bee o1 thought to be. The discovery is or II iu of documents and was made in tn "e manner, so I am informed. Son 4se months since an individual lie dyir ho in an interior town of Sonora. | ad had an intimate friend summons to and told him substantially as follow If "My grandfather on his death b. m told my father that in a certain tow
 in a certain corner of the churt
 there was buried an immense che
 containing important documents. TIT to- fact has been handed down fro he father to son. I am the last male id that line. If you will go there V tic will find them. I don't know wh yh, they contain" The person who l au- ceived this information attached b nat little importance to it at the time b m- finally decided to investigate and $ of what there was in 1t. With t ore friends he went to the place, whi the was readily found though in rui .lo r1r f Ter, box and the documents. The 10 ns. going may be some body's version as the matter, but the documents ex 12, and are unquestionably genuil ore They are over two hundred years o day and begin with the statement that em, Indians are restless, that an uprisi ael- is imminent, and that preparatit
 have been made for defense. T
 document with others were enclo'
 in box and sent to the church in who certain town for safe keeping. It ary cribes in great detail everything ab' que the mine, even to the number Of m Il h. women and children there, tf the nationality and occupation; descrl iSea the bells and their inscriptions, ana distances and directions from tn vict tI,o n;:tr;o+ rr;t7os ffteon as the m "lln "lln Der of mines being worked in om, os camp; describes the vault in wh anu were deposited eleven cargos (3OO t9u- 19"!- of gold bullion and two hundred 'nis e silver; describes each of the lift ,at aoi mines, the distances from one to 'ody uIi'el V1.o oi'ta9 Ja.on;IoS | ooo i,, mart 0,ss mas lar that runs $24O0O in gold. I'll , I L;, documents contain in fact a deta --'' account of the discovery and worl
 of these mines, and Of everything
 the District as it existed at that | , ask o,,J ,,,,, e;o,,od bv savnn friars look T1: J;d hroo1, ont and Q, her lnu!"ii0 "iI .1 ,.