Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-07-19
BURIED TREASURES.
Remains Of a Great City Near the Whit
Oaks Route.
. NAs
Section Director

nat reader OIL oIu Spanish history
and versed in the traditions OF New
| Spain has not heard of the lost treas
ures of Gran QuiviraY" Mention is fire.
quently made of it in the old Spanish
chronicles, and many persons have sac
rificed their lives seeking for it's hiding
place.
According to the old Spanish chron-
icles, Gran Quivira ruins are located
about 175 miles northeast of Ell Paso,
on the western border Of Lincoln
ty, New Mexico. The outlines of the
once large town or pueblo are still plain
ly visible. The walls of the old adobe
lines of the other buildings are plainly
discernible.
History and tradition of this old
town are both c%orroborated by the sur
roundings. The old Spanish history tells
us that here was located the seat Of
| government of New Spain, where all
the wealth Of the country vas then
brought and teemed in treasure vaults
of church and state. According to the
Spanish records, Gran Quivira was a
large Indian village at the time of the
first Spanish conquest, and was wrested
from it's Indian occupants about the
year 1916. In 1861 came the great Pueblo
Indian uprising, when the S%paniards
were driven out of the country as chaff
is driven before a wind. De Vargas, the
writer of the chronicle, says: I'VE trav-
eled to the southwark, fighting all the
way. We had 270 burro loads of treas-
ure. We buried it between two little
hills, burning brush over the spot" The
Spaniards were driven out of the coun-
try as far south as the gulf Of Mexico.
Where are the two little hills De Vargas
speaks about? Attempts to solve this
problem have cost many an adventur-
er his life. All around Gran Quivira can
be found holes dug in the ground where
some poor deluded mortal has been
seeking for the "lost treasure Of Gran
Quivira."
The Spaniards returned to the coun-
try again, after an absence Of twenty
years, returning here in 1881. They
found Gran Quivira in ruins, having
been destroyed by a volcanic eruption.
The Malpais had been thrown up, and
the town was found a heap of ruins, as
found to-day. To bear out these old
traditions, Spaniards' remains are to
be found in the graveyard, while Indian
r1rolaA1..- o-a Eo1,rJ H., Tho ri, re fhn
houses.
Coming to Gran Quivira from the
west the sight of the old ruins is ghost
like, indeed. The sun is nearly down, its
last rays are shining on the gray walls
of the old church, with the outlines of
many Of the other buildings plainly WIS.,
ible. 1t is a sight never to be forgotten.
There we stood for a time, our mind
centered upon what must have been the
scenes that transpired here over $50
years ago, when this was perhaps the
largest and most prosperous town of
what is now the great union of states.
1t most forcibly impressed these words
upon us: MAN is a vapor, full of woes;
he cuts up a caper, and down he goes"
The same can be truthfully said of en-
pires and villages.
But back to our subject. When the
Spaniards returned and found Gran
Quivira in ruins they pressed on north
ward in their fight against the Pueblos,
finally conquering them at Santa Fe,
where the Indians were divided up into
smaller bands, as we find the Pueblos
to-day. All along the foothills and far
up on the mountain sides Of the San
Andres and Sacramentos are to be
found the ruins Of former inhabitants.
At Gran Quivira and many other places
in the Lost River basin can be seen the
outlines Of former irrigation canals and
many other evidences Of a former CIV
ilization, all Of which assist in the veri-
fcation of the truthfulness Of the tradi-
tional history.ef the country.
The ruins Of old Gran Quivira are
located about thirty miles from Mela-
gro station on the Ell Paso and North
eastern railway. Between the ruins Of
the old town and the railroad are the
great Malpais, or Gran Quivira lava
beds, the most recent Of the volcanic
upheavals in the southwest. The crater
of this now extinct volcano is located
about five miles south Of Gran Quivira,
and is to all appearances bottomless.
A large spring flows out from the south
end Of the Malpais, whose waters are
10 nar cent salt. Strange to saw. N.Y.
| RAIDS Of a peculiar species Of fish are
to be found in this salt water. They are
the only living creature found in 1t, and
they seem to thrive there.-El Paso
Herald.