The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1892-06-17
A MEXICAN LEGEND.
A Mythical Story of an nlusive Valley
-.-.T of Gold In Eastern Arizona.


The story of the famous treasure of
the "Madre dOro" is an old one, 1t
comes from the Aztecs Of Mexico. Some
where i'll southeastern Arizona there is
a small valley, about five miles long
and two miles wide, walled in by tower
ing mountains. The sides are SO precip-
itous that it is impossible to climb down
them, and there is only one entrance,
through cave, which is carefully hid
den by Indians, who guard the treasure
for the second coming of MOntezuIna.
1t is said that even among them the
entrance is only known to the three most
aged men, and is never communicated
except when, on the death Of one, it is
necessary to give the knowledge into
the keeping of another.
| The valley itself, though surrounded
by inhospitable rocks, is a paradise.
Watered by the stream which flows
through it, its soil is covered with flowers
and beautiful trees, through the branches
of which fit bright hued birds. The only
reptiles seen are the gold snakes, with
their glittering greenish yellow scales.
Stretching across the valley from one
side to the other is ledge of pure gold,
its masses of virgin metal cleaning and
glistening in the sunlight. 1t is said to
be five feet, ten feet, fifty feet, 100 feet
wide. The gold lies in it in great veins
and nuggets, imbedded in clear quartz,
the sharp angles of which glitter in the
sunlight like gigantic diamonds. Across
the ledge the stream flows, forming a
little waterfall, below which the mug
gets of gold can be seen in the water
and out. Gold in tho ledge, gold in the
scales of snakes, gold in the stream, gold
in the birds-gold, gold, gold, gold-is
the refrain of the golden story.
The fearful precipices which surround
the place, the strange ceremonies and
hOrrid banquets which have served to
keep the secret safe, the tribe of Aztecs,
living only to preserve for their mys-
teriouB ruler this treasure house Of ma
ture, have all aided in giving to the
story its strange interest. Small Won
der is it that the pulse should quicken
and the eye grow bright as you hear the
tale from the lips of men who more than
half believe it, The lonely desert sur
rounding you, with the tall cacti look
ing like ghosts in the half moonlight
the long drawn melancholy of the coy
ote's howl, the prospector's fire of grease
wood, the men with their rough cloth
ing and quaint language, all vanish a.
you listen, and in imagination you arr
transported to the wonderful valley il
which is the "Madre dOrO," the Moth
er of Gold"
Nor are they content to tell the story
as an Indian legend. They cite instances
of white men who have seen the place
who have descended into the valley il
some way and returned with all the golC
they could carry. The location of thu
spot is always in dangerous IndiaI
country have been told twice that i
I was in the ChirCahua mountains. 1t il
always said to have been found merely
q by accident by men who were eithel
! hunting or prospecting for lodges, abou
! the only two occupations which viii
make unscientifiC men climb the noun
tains. 1t can only be seen from the up
p per end after the morning mists in tn
valley have cleared away. Then, as ON
stands on the rugged peaks and look
/ down, he sees the great ledge spanning
the valley below him, the virgin meta
glittering in the sunlight, and he know
that he has before him the place O
which he has heard so much and dreame'
a so often. Interview in Washington Star