Arizona republican., 1899-05-15
THE LOST AZTEC COLD MINE.
CBy c. J. Dyer.)

invaded Mexico W-re Q wonder to all
 the Spaniards, and their greed for the
 yellow metal led them to search in all
 parts of the country to find the mines
 from which the gold came. Some of
 the gcld mines which had been worked
 by the natives prior to the coming of
 the Sp2Aiards were discovered and
 others from which great amCun' of
 ga;d b5td been mined were covered by
 the natives and were never found
 Gven after the oppressors came some
 Nf these mines were worked secretly by
 tae natives and the gold was used tu
 ransom the native chiefs from the
 Spaniards. But the greatest mine of
 all. the one from which the gold in the
 temples was taken, and which was
 called The Mine of the Temples.
 could not be found.
 Il may be said that the traditions
 among the Mexicans and Indian even
 in the present day are that the Aztec
 Cacique had an immensely rich ledge
 which was worked solely tC produce
 gold for Ornamenting the temples Of
 the sun worshipers and that it had fur
 nished fabulous sums of gold, but the Spaniards showed such great greed for
 gold that these Indians who knew of the fCcaticn of the mine carefully coy- cred the entrance to it. The Spadiards used all the powers of persuasion and torture to make the faithful Aztec sub
 jects disclose the whereabouts of the
 mine, but in vain. Time passed on and the natives who first knew the location of the mine passed away and at last only traditions of this mine re- nlained, for all knowledge of it's true location had been lost and were it not for a long piece of symbolic records found in one Of the temples by the Spaniards giving an account of the weight of gold which had been received by the different temples from this mine for many years prior to the advert of the cOnqUerors and the account of the great sheets of pure beaten gold which the invaders had stripped from the temples and sent to Spain, and which were known to have been made from gold taken from '.The Mine os the Temples" even the SDaniards them selves in after years would almost have believed this mine had never existed. 50 totally lost was it.
 In the year 1S10, or there2 bouts, q peCn who had Indian blood in his veins and who lived Cn the hacienda Of Don Lucas, whose possessions consist ed of two Spanish grants in the north western part of the state of Jalisco, while hunting lost stock in the noun tains several leagues from the naci- enda. found a number of pieces of rock in which could be seen native gold, and which had probably come iron. an ancient mine near by, evidences of which could Ee seen. So much Of thls gold was there in the rock that the simple peon doubted his own judgment as to whether the metal in the rock was really geld. So he wrapped sew eral pounds of the metal sp2ttered rock l in his serape and determined on his return to the hacienda to submit il to the inspection Of his patron. Gong l directly to the great house on his re- turn the peOn called for his patrcn and in private room with closed | doors he turned the rock from thr i serape on a table for his patron s in ! spection. Don Lucas at first appeared i greatly excited but he quickly re- 1 pressed his real feelings and eXpressed | his doubts about the metal in the ere | b3ing gold and cast doubts upon it's be- 1 ing find of mu9Hsvalue. Making T i rough map from tkS peon's description | Of the vicinity where the orc was found Don Lucas swore the peon to | secrecy. Nor did Don Lucas tell his true thoughts, but inwardly he was astOunded for the richness of the rock | made him really believe that the long lost treasure vault Of the old Aztec miners which had furnished such vast sums of geld for the sun worshiDers temples had been rediscovered, but fearing if he showed his real feelings and excitement the peon might beJray the secret to others, he displayed as lit lie interest as possible. In few days after the peon had brought the gold ore Don Lucas had quietly made arrangements for a secret triD to the place in the mountains where the peca lad found tha ore, and which he saiI 1 was some l-agues distant Don Lucas trusted only his two grown sons with the secret Of the peOn's find and the party to make the secret visit was to r consist only Of the four men-the pcon as the guide and Don Lucas and his two sens. It was given out that the party was going to another granc which belonged to Don Lucas and | which was four days travel away. Well equipped with arms, mounted and With several pack animals carrying provisions and luggage the party took lhelr departure. One week passed tnen two, but not until the end cf the third week had come did Don Lucas ana ms sons return. They came with uUt the peon and they told the story lhaI theIr party had been attacked by the wild Indians in the mountains and that the peon had been killed by q poisoned arrcw. and that in order tc save their ceEn lives, being greatly outnumbered, they had left the Deon where he fell and sought safety in Night. But it was noticed by the other peOns that several heavy packages were taken from the pack animals ana carried at once into the great house.
 Months passed by and Bon Lucas and his sens, it was observed by the servants, made several trips away from the hacienda and their return. it was noted, always took place in the nigh. when heavy packages were always taken from the pack animals It was now observed by the peons that their I,