The Colfax chronicle., 1904-12-10
STILL SEARCH FOR WEALTH
Repeated Failure Does Not Deter Man
from Hunting for Buried
Valuables.

Firmly imbedded in the minds ol
many men that upon other topics are
conservative to the point of skepticism
is the idea that somewhere in the
United States there is buried treasure
OF vast value awaiting the pick and
shovel of the searcher, says the Chi
cago Tribune.
And men have year after year put
their time and their money into quests
forthis treasure trove.
The localities in which 1t is sun
posed that great chests of gold have
been lying for years are well defined.
The coral keys of Florida make up
one hunting ground. The Peg Leg mine
In Arizona is another. The Martinez
gold mine in California Is another.
kidd's treasures are also in the list
OF prizes, and the stores which many
persons believe were sunk into the
ground by Bourchard. one of the most
successful pirates that ever ravaged
the Pacific ocean, are also included.
Men have set out to locate these
treasures as Systematically as they
would any ordinary work. They have
procured all the literature and all the
maps that are available. They have
talked with everybody that they
thought by any chance could shed light
upon their search. They have expend-
ed considerable money in fitting out
the expeditions which have gone out to
secure the prizes.
Many human lives have paid the cost
OF looking for the Peg Leg mine. This
mine, which is said to lie somewhere
upon the great American desert in
Arizona, was found once 1t was found
by a poor prospector, who took into
one of the smaller towns near Bisbee.
Ariz., nuggets that were richer in gold
than any that had been seen up to that
time, or indeed than any that have
been seen since. This prospector died,
giving his secret to another man. This
other lost an essential map, and from
that day to this hundreds of men have
followed what they thought was the
track upon which the first man found
the fabulously rich mine Even to-
day there are men looking for 1t. It
lies SO far from water that many men
have Perished from thirst upon the des-
ert in their quest.
Bourchard, the pirate, was chased In.
to California by some of the Spanish
war vessels way back in the days be-
fore the gringoes took hold of the
Golden state. In fear that he would
be captured, he buried his treasure.
1t has never been found. Tradition
has it that when it is found it will be
found by a man whose name begins
with B. aud that this man will be-
come one of the richest men in the
world.
Spanish galleons are said to have
gone down heavily loaded with bullion
off the coral keys of Florida, and about
those keys much search has been mace.
In New York 40 years ago a COM
pany of merchants took so much stock
in the story of the galleons that they
organized an expedition and at great
expense set out to find the treasure
They never found it. No more did
their successors, who looked for the
treasure In New Jersey upon the hy-
pothesis that Capt Kidd had buried II
there during one of his raids upon the
old city of New York.
The Martinez legend rests upon a
that is slightly more sub
stantial. When the Americans under
Gen. Fremont fought the native Cali
[ornians near the Pacific ocean the ma
tive forces were led by Gov. Martinez.
He lived upon rancho that stretched |
rom the Sierras to the ocean. II had
been granted him in fee simple. end
upon 1t he had erected stone ro,fs
great houses and corrals that leid
thousands of horses. To keep these |
horses out of the hands of the Ameri- |
ans. he drove them into the ocean.
where they perished.
In the battle which followed he and
lis troops were hard pressed. 1t is then
hat they are supposed to have buried
III the Martinez gold--estimated In
hese days at 10000, ,0C0---under one of
he buildings upon his rancho. Treas
ire seekers believe SO implicitly in this
that they have dug into the
oundations of every one of the old
Martinez buildings that Is still stand
ng One man is said to have found
sack filled with gold. but no one
'nows either the mans name or his
ddress, and there is not much conf
ence In his tale Meanwhile the dig
ing goes on.
TO men who have not tried their
and at the business Of prospecting for
uried treasure the strangest thing
bout the quests is that none of them
founded upon anything that resem-
les authentic history. yet the breath
lie is in every one of the yooe-a,