The Savannah morning news., 1901-11-17
BURIED TREASURE.
Tradition That Has Lured Many Ad-
venturers to Seek Hidden Gold.
From the New York Press.

venturers to Seek Hidden Gold.
From the New York Press.
Mexican tradition says that some
| where in the Central West are the
4 ruins of a populous Aztec city, IN
which Guate Motzin stored the vast
treasure which Cortez tried to find
after the conquest of Mexico. Expedi-
tons under Mexican and under for
eign directions have tried in vain to
! find this city. The story of one attempt
| to locate the wonderful city made by
| Col. H. C. Baddington, civil engi-
neer in the employ Of the Mexican
! government, certainly is curious. He
says
'"The story of a lost city is familiar
| to all Mexicans, and believed in by
| most of them. When l visited Mexico
| for the first time in 1872 I became in
terested in the subject from associat-
| ing with Mr.. Early, an English engi-
| neer, who assured me of his belief in
| its existence. Before leaving the City
| Of Mexico 1 inquired in government
| circles for information to substantiate
| tie story told by Early l found the
officials in different departments ready
| to credit the reports, which they be-
lieved plausible, as at that time no
| complete survey had been made by
For nearly twenty years I was I'M
able to carry out the project l formed
of investigating the matter, although
i during the period 1 gathered an the
! information / could bearing upon La
Ciudad de Perdido. 1t was not until
last October that I could command the
time necessary to search for the lost
city. 1 was at the City of Mexico at
the time and became acquainted with
Conrad Quinby, Colorado miner, and
with an attache of the French legation.
1 showed TO them the information I
had already acquired, and upon my
invitation they consented to accompany
us.
Blanca Mountains.
I'VE left San Luis Potosi early in
October and went south $50 miles,
striking the Blanca range of noun
tains. The country through which we
passed was extremely rugged, absolute
ly devoid of wagon roads or trains. It
was a case of travel by compass, some
times assisted by a guide, who would
spend a few days tramping with us,
but most of the time we went by our
selves. About November l we had
/ travelled the Blanca Mountains and
were ready to descend their southern
side. We had been on the road for
nearly a month, and my companions
were beginning to urge the uselessness
of going farther and the advisability
Of getting back as soon as possible.
You see, there is some. kind of an
understanding between foreign coun-
tries and Mexico which limits in some
respects the actions of legation rep
resentatives. and the French attache
was in doubt about the propriety of
going further into the matter. I urged
them to keep on for week longer,
for I thought I began to recognize in
dications that we We're approaching
the site of the city.
st was determined to make
thorough investigation and If 1 failed
in finding the lost city 1 wanted to
satisfy myself that it did not exist
After we had descended the Blanca
range we found ourselves on the banks
of river locally known as the River
of the White Hog, and there we camp
ed, intending to spend a few days
hunting and fishing. I think we had
been on the river about a week when
one morning we were aroused by the
intrusion of a dozen of the dirtiest
poems / ever saw. I soon discovered
they spoke an Indian dialect, although
they understood little of the Mexi-
can lingo.
II explained what we were after,
and was much delighted when one of
them volunteered to guide us to the
lOsl CITY. M lluuC6IuGHL WOulQ eiClI
a promise to see us into the city, how
ever, as he professed that it would be
impossible for him to do more than
take us to a point from which it could
be seen. OF course that was all we
wanted. We set off the next day, ac-
companied by a whole crew, and
travelled south until shutdown. When
we camped we had reached a point in
the mountains where a valley APP
parently twenty miles long and seven
or eight wide, spread out. 1t was a
beautiful sight.
after finishing our night repast and
smoking an evening 'puro' cigar we got
into our hammoncks and prepared for
the last nights rest before sleeping
in La Ciudad de Perdido, as our guide
had promised on the morrow to show
us the city, and then leave us to ne
gotiate for admittance as best We
could.
Perhaps it was the novelty of the
situation, possibly I was a little ner-
vous at the prospect of being the first
white man to tread the streets of the
lost city of Mexico'-whateve the
reason, sleep did not come easily, and
it was well on toward daybreak before
lost consciousness and slipped off in
to a troubled dream. ! dreamed | was
about to make a grand entry into
wonderful city. more fantastic than
any Niiilb HdQ ever seen OF I6aQ Oh,
crowded with a strange people, dis
tinct in type and manners from those
with which I was familiar. In an in
slant the city had vanished. and as
opened my eyes l beheld the face OF
our guide peering down into my own.
beautiful Mirage.
indicating that should keep silent,
the guide led the way 10 the end OF
the spur on which we were camped.
| Pointing OF to the south, he said:
See yonder range OF hillsY Well,
look well 10 the western slope. and you
will see La Ciudad de Perdldo.'
For several minutes J strained my
eyes but could see nothing. Then sud
denly, as " "A great searchiight had
been gradually turned on, ! caught the
| outlines Of a large square. Judging
from the distance ! estimated Il 20 be
"a mile or more IN extent Slowly u lost
me insfinctuess az rrst marking the
sight and slowly the outlines Of houses
1 began 10 apenT One thing which 4
recalled nfterward WAS that AZ the
4 time q mist seemed ~ extend across
\ The valley ana 10 within a few hundred