The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1894-06-23
MEXICO'S LOST CITY.
The Remarkable Discovery OF a
Prospecting Miner.
While Rambling Through the wuds OF
the Durango Mountains the Pros
peotor Happens Upon the
Deserted Town.

QeSeTJe
city recently among the wilds of TIL
Durango mountains by Malvern "
Cresworth, an English mining mar
has had the effect of renewing the il
terest in the lost city long known t
exist somewhere in northern centra
Mexico, says the ST. Louis Globe-Demc
crat. The claim made that Mr. Ores
worth is the first man to see the city i
| perhaps erroneous, as it is pretty wei
known to have been discovered b,
Jose Barresa, a Mexican, over half
century ago, while the Indians of tn,
Sierra Madres have long referred t.
such city in their traditions On tn,
strength of Barresa's statements tire,
different parties have been outfitted il
late years from San Dimas, mining
camp on the west side of the range. in
the effort to locate the deserted city
and secure the treasure which the Mex
ican said it contained
The story of Barresa, who was alive
up to few years ago, is that when a
young man of twenty-five years of age
he was imprisoned in the carcel in the
city of Durango on the charge of cat
tle-stealing. Whether guilty or not
he declined to say, but at any rate he
succeeded in making his escape from
Jail and fed to the mountain wilds of
the north in the effort to reach his old
home at San Dimas The Sierra
Madres in the state of Durango are
among the widest mountains in the
world and are almost impossible The
fugitive soon became lost and for many
days wandered in an almost demented
condition over the rugged Businesses.
One day in coming out upon precipi-
tous bluff looking down into deep
valley he saw far below him what APP
peared to be a populous city. After
great difficulty he succeeded in de-
scending the PERCEPTIONS wall which
hemmed in the settlement from the
outside world, but found, to his amaze
ment, not an inhabitant in sight. Ex-
ploring the city, he found the houses
deserted and the courts of the dwell
ings grown up with rank weeds and
tropical plants. Exploring further, he
found signs which told him that the
city had been deserted or its people
the ordinary vocations of
life. The place could easily be recog-
aized as an old Spanish mining town |
by the works which remained, and. |
going into the old mills and arrastras,
ne found large stores of silver ore left
While in the process of being worked
The dlscoverer took samples of his
re and after many more days of wan
Iering finally found his way to San
)imas, where he had the samples
ssayed. They proved to be very rich
n silver, with some gold, and the story
old by the Mexican created large in
crest A party, with Barresa as its
uide, soon set out to locate the place
nd sack it of its riches. But as the
fountains were without trails and the
ountry in general one of the toughest
/ the world he was unable to again
nd the place, the trail to which was
least very obscure and intricate.
wo other attempts to find the hidden
ty under the direction of the Mex
an were made in later years, but
ere no more successful than the first.
there was every reason to believe !
lie story many of the associates of 1
lrresa, who lived to be over ninety |
'ars old, at various times have es- L
yed to rediscover the ancient city {
ID its workings. Many of them have c
me to grief and have never been heard t
since trying to unravel the mystery
the Sierras. S
Richard e. Chism, of the CITY of l.
exico, well-known mining man and a
present editor of the Mexican Miner, W
IS personally acquainted with Bar II
"a when he was an old man, and saws a
ere can be little doubt that the late II
made is but an accidental discov- a.
, of what has been searched for Sc
'ough many years. Mr.. Chism is en- p'
ely familiar with the country in a
leral way and says the Spaniards W
zee hundred years ago had large pr
les worked by native slaves in the &C
ion. If the fresh efforts which will W
shortly made to locate the city sue as
d in their purpose he thinks some pc
he richest silver mines in the re- nc
'lic will probably be reopene6 to dc
light and to work. til