The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-29
SEARCH ISREWARDED
PART OF TREASURE BURIED IN
SAN SABA RUINS is
RECOVERED
WHOLE COMMUNITY GOES WILD
Ground in Vicinity of Old Fort Is
Being Thoroughly Explored by
Men Who Believe Millions
Are Concealed There.

The buried treasure of the famous ruins
OF San Saba, Tex, for which Texans have
been seeking more than a century, has
been found and some of it carried away
by a small party of MeXicans.
Fortunes have been spent and many
lives have been lost in searching for the
vast sum of gold and silver that was
known to have been in the possession OF
the lid mission priests when San Saba
was surprised by the Indians and every
soul but a mother and her little babe
massacred. The walls of the old fort are
still standing The Enclosure and the
region of country for many miles in
every direction is honeycombed with holes
that fortune hunters have made in
searching for the gold.
1t is an undisputed historical fact that
an enormous amount of gold and silver
bars were disposed of in some way by
the padres before the old fort was cap
tured by the Indians. Several times in
the last half century parties of MeXicans
have visited the various ruins in the vail
ley of the San Saba, and some of them
were bold enough to admit that they
were searching for the millions that their
Countrymen buried when the fierce
COmanches swept over the land. Some
Of these people asserted that the amount
lost was not less than $4,000, 900; others
insisted that there were seventeen burros
loaded with treasure, and that it was
buried at a place known to the Texans
as Bowies fort.
1t is now believed that the latter was
the correct theory. 1t was here at
BOwie's old fort or Iona Grande, that
the last party searched. Here they
camped for ten days, and here they dug
a great hole under the wall of the old
fort, and here they quarreled and fought
with pistols and knives, killing two men
and leaving one badly wounded.
This wounded man was found by a
cowboy, and he has since told the whole
story Of the discovery of the buried
treasure.
When the cowboys found him Pedro
Sanchez, the wounded man. had in his
bosom bar of pure gold, which weighed
ten ounces. He said that he secreted the
gold bar about his person while helping
his comrades TO take the treasure from
the excavation under the walls of Fort
Bowie Another gold bar of like size and
several coins have since been found in
the dirt that was thrown out of the treas
IRE hole. The wounded man was taken
to the house of John Miller, about four
miles from Fort Bowie, where he was
cared for. Neighbors visited him. and
when his story became known the widest
made to keep it a secret.
Sanchez asserted that the man who had
conducted the expedition from Mexico had
said that they had found only a part of
the wealth that the old padres and the
governor of the province had buried in
the fort The leader was Francisco Yorba
He was descendant of Gov. Yorba, who
was in power at the time that the In
dams massacred the inhabitants and SOL
r7i,
possession Of an old chart which, Sanchez
said, was found recently in the archives
of Montclava. After finding the gold bar
and the coins in the dirt at the fort sew
eral citizens followed the trail of the for
tune hunters to the crossing of the San
Saba. one man found a small gold bar
where the ,AIeXicanS crossed a small creek
and this created so much excitement that
the TeXaSls would have followed further
but when they came to consider the mat
ter it was easy to see that the fortune
argonauts had been gone long eaough
to put themselves far beyond the Rio
Grande.
They returned to the bedside of the
wounded man, hoping to learn from his
lips some clue to the whereabouts of the
remainder of the hidden treasure, Be
cause few of them could speak Spanish
fluently they sent for Fanny Ranes, who
was raised in Monterey. Through her
Interpretation of the wounded mans
words they learned the whole story, and
1t was enough TO set them wild. All eff
forts now to keep the matter a secret
were abandoned, and the entire neighbour
hood turned out with plows, scrapers
picks and shOvels to dig into the ruins of
Iona Grande. The more confident and
enthusiastic Of the treasure hunters saw
That they do not intend. to stop work
until they have RACED the walls and dug
TO q depth of ten feet over the entire in
closure. About twenty men, women and
children are engaged in the search. and
they often continue their labors until late
at night. These people firmly believe that
more than million dollars in silver bars
That We're taken from the famous lost
mines of the San Saba are almost within
their grasp.
This is the story of Pedro Sanchez:
Our leader, Senior Yorba, brought ten
men with him from Mexico. He had an
oid chart which he often consulted after
we crossed the Rio Grande. We followed
an old trail which was worn deem in the
FOUNTAINS. 1t had certainly been used
ny many caravans a long time ago.
1orpa told US that it had not been used
s.hce 1tS4. We went straight to the ruins
CT san Saba, near MenardYille and we
We're surprised to see the walls of the
Tort still standing. We camped there
enc night. Senior Yorba told us the his
tory Of the fort and the story of the
massacre. He said that one of the rich
est silver mines in the world was not far
from the fort. It was called the Lost
Mine of the San Saba from the fact that
me Americans could not find it. He told
us that he could go straight to it in a.
rev moments. We went to see the great
uala across the river and the canals
winch the Spaniards dug for some mys-
ferrous purpose. Senior Yorba told us
that several thousand people lived there
curing the latter years of the last cen.
fury. They enslaved the Indians and
forced them to work in the silver mines
L ne Wild Indians came to the rescue of
the slaves, and one evening they swooped
down on the fort and massacred every
Soui IN the place but one woman and her
enid This woman was in a VINEYARD
she ran to Iona Grande at night. car
rylag the news of the terrible battle.
ne treasures Of the province were at
Iona Grande, and a caravan of MANY
burros loaded with silver bars was lust
ready to start to Montelava.
1orba told us that his grandfather
who was governor, in the presence of
several priests, buried about a half mill