The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-10-16

and his men. but they nevertheless looked
with more or less suspicion upon their in
| trusion. And when Don Valdez saw the
great amount Of gold in possession of his
newly made friends he determined to
abide with them for a time. and, perhaps,
he might be able to return to Mexico,
| laden with sufficient riches to enable him
to obtain his proud fathers forgiveness
as well as his consent to wed the trust
ing girl he loved. With this ambition and
hope uppermost in his mind the young
fugitive used all the diplomacy at his
command with the chiefs and medicine
men Of the Osages. He joined in the
chase with them and became the most
daring and fearless ally in their frequent
wars with other hostile tribes, and was
not long in winning the esteem OF the In
dians as a courageous warrior, but the
willy red men persistently declined to take
Don Valdez and his men into their conf
dence to the extent Of revealing to them
the location Of their source of golden
wealth The Indians would make coca
sional trips into the mountains and re-
turn with great quantities of the crude
though precious metal, but they never
permitted Valdez or his companions to &C
company them.
The gold dust brought back by the In
dams would be melted and moulded into
such shaped ornaments as they desired,
and during the halcyon days of gold with
the Osages it was a very thriftless mem
Der Of the tribe who did not possess a
nose ring, pair Of earrings and a pair of
arm bracelets of solid gold.
For several years Don Valdez and his
men remained among the Osages, under-
going discourse ing privations in the hope
of finally working themselves Unto the
confidence of the tribe and sharing with
it the benefits of the fabulous golden
wealth. But it was a vain hope. The
Osages would not even permit their white
brothers to, enter the mountains unat-
tended by some member of the tribe.
Finally the men, desperate with discour-
agement and reckless with a life of hard
ships and disappointment, Swallowed an
unsuspecting band of Osages into the
mountains and discovered their secret.
They watched the Indians after following
them into a great ravine in the mountain
range, remove great fat rock from the
mouth Of a cavern and enter. A few
hours later the Indians emerged from the
cave. carefully replaced the great fat
stone and returned to the Usage village.
The party of watchers also returned
and reported their adventure to Don Val
dez. who, with several Of his men, went
back into the mountains the next day
to explore the cave. When they removed
the stone from the mouth, as the Indians
had done they could hear the mad rush
Of waters below. Then by the aid Of
torches they swung themselves down to
a ledge of rock some ten feet below
This ledge led them far out into the side
of the mountain. where they found the
rude bark troughs used by the Indians in
washing out their gold Further investi-
cation showed that the sand of the cav
ern was rich with gold, while nuggets of
the precious metal were picked up by
the handful. and the men returned to the
camp that night with almost fortune
apiece in their pockets. Frequent other
trips were made by Valdez's men to the
cave and each trip proved equally as
profitable as the first. Finally. however.
the Osages became suspicious Of the fire.
quent absence from their camp Of Valdez
and his mn and the Indins began to watch
them
One autumn evening Valdez and his
party set out in roundabout way for
last trip to the cave. They had decided
that they had sufficient wealth with
which to return to their sunny Mexican
homes. and that they could quietly take
their departure on the morrow.
But. alas. this proved just one trip too
many. The Jealous Osages watched them
TO their treasure cave. saw them remove
its covering and enter into its gloomy re-
cesses. The enraged Indians gave the
fearful vsrwhoop and closed in on the
little band Of Spaniards. and after fail
ing 70 disiodge them. finally starved them
70 death In the cave-nous vault. Great
boulders from the mountain side above
rolled down into he mouth Of the cave.
which the s1IPerstitious Indians never at
tempted to remove
The story goes. however. that some hun
dred years afterwards the cave was re-
opened and worked for time BY another
party % Spaniards who found the grin
ming skeletons Of Valdez and his men AMI
''ie-- 81 'i4-ie4 siNtAS az SelLoW metal IN
disturbed, but who met with a similar
fate BY being entonbed by the Indians
and starved to death.
Since then the location q the cave II
starvation and gold has been completely
lost sight Of L is now uythically known
and discussed az .'The Lost Louisiana
Nine" ard me world NAV vet be sts-taei
by its rediseovery in the rugged noun
tsins jGst east q the Grand river