Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1892-11-25
A LOST MINE.
The Strange Tradition of the Church Of
JuareZ.

nc Strange Oh INC NhuTCn Ol
Juarez.
Tourists who stop in Ell Paso on the
way to the City or Mexico or California
do not fail to visit the ancient church
at Juarez 1t is the first introduction
to ancient Mexico. 1t has been much
written about People from Maine to
Oregon have dropped their nicl1els in
the slot "for the repair of the church"
But not many became sufficiently well
acquainted with the good padre to hear
'the story of the lost mine"
Every locality where precious metals
have been found has its ''lost mine"
Ell Paso county is not exceptional. Ira
dition links this particular lost mine
with the ancient church. At the corner
of the edifce, to the left of the main en-
trance, is a tower. The door is usually
kept padlocked. Visitors are free to
enter the church and look at the curl
ously-jointed wooden ceiling, the pulpit
with it's eccentric stair on one side, the
confessional wholly unlike those seen
in Catholic churches in the United
States, and the Madonna-like face of
our Lady of Guadalupe. Even the
great wooden cross, on which is hung a
CHASTITY form for the crucifixion process
sion once year, is exhibited, but the
tower is closed. Those who are permit
ted by special favor to pass the door find
stairway of logs, the ends of which
overlap and form the axis of the cir
cling steps without any other support.
At the top of this freak in architecture
there is small room with outlooEs
through the heavy walls. And from
this tower the way leads to the lost
mine. The church itself is on an eleva-
ton. The tower gives a view over the
fiat tops of the one-story houses. In the
distance can be seen the Franklin
Mountains, and there is the lost mine.
According to the tradition, one must
stand in certain position and look
through certain window in the tower
and in line with certain natural land
marks. If the coalitions are fully COM
piled with the vision will rest on the
exact location of the lost mine. But
where is the place to stand, which is
the window, and what are the land
marks? The padre shakes his head.
He would like to know himself.
BY the tradition this mine was work.
cd before the Spanish conquest. 1t was
very rich. From it the natives along
the Rio Grande obtained the massive
gold ornaments which they wore when
the Spaniards came. In the early his
tory of the church many of these gold
en- ornaments were laid upon the altar,
But there came a long and stubbor
war with the conquerors. Incursions CT
Apaches and Comanches made the
mountains unhealthy. Afterwards the
Pueblo rebellion engrossed attention,
and still later was the American inva-
sion. Amid exciting scenes the natives
| lost their mine. Their descendants have
nothing except the tradition of the
church tower and window TO guide ther1
to it And not one of them seems to
care to look for the landmarks. They
/ fold their scraps about them and stand
beside Il he adobe in poverty all of their
lives rather than climb to the topof the
tower and look. The restless Ameri-
can is the only one who tries to solve
the riddle He visits the toyer, poI.-
ders long on the landscape, goes for,u
to search and never findsth mime ST
Louis Globe-Democrst