Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1905-09-09
ROMANCE OF
GRAN QU|V|RA
Fab|ed Treasures That Have
Lured Scores to the In.
teresting Old Ruins
ANCIENT DOCUMENTS
They Tell Of Cold, Silver and Gems
That Were Buried by Pueblos
Fleeing From Navahoes.

| When a representative of the New
Mexican started on his daily rounds
this morning he saw blind woman
on the plaza selling book which she
has written concerning La Gran Qui-
vira in this Territory. After speaking
with her the representative noticed,
sitting on bench near by, an old
timer of this city and to him he ad-
dressed the following question:
Can you tell me anything of inter-
est concerning La Gran Quivira? You
have been here SO long you surely
must know something concerning that
place that may be of interest to us,
new comers."
The old timer leaned his head on
his hand and after stroking his vener-
able beard. replied as follows:
Young man, as | overheard you
speaking to that blind woman con-
tcerning La Gran Quivira, my mind ran
back to the days when l was young
man like yourself, and to the time
when | visited those famous ruins.
Many, many years ago, / lived for a
time in the village of Tome, in Va
lencia County. That was long before
the American occupation OF this Ter
Iritory. We lived then under the Mex.
lean government, and there were only
a few Americans and Frenchmen in
this section. They had come as trap.
|pers and some of them remained here
permanently.
A Party of Treasure Seekers.
while / was living in Tome there
arrived from the States a party OF
Frenchmen, accompanied by Spanish
gentleman by the name of Amado Pi
rota., They had very complete anC
elegant camp outfit and fine horses an(
mules. They had negro slave fol
cook and a fine cook he was. The
party consisted of five men altogether
They rented a house belonging to {
prominent woman OF that village, Sen
ora Rosa Cisneros de Labadie. Tht
house is still standing and belongs a
present to Father Ralliere, the parish
: priest, of that place. DOna Rosa wa
married to Frenchman by the nam'
of Pablo Labadie. The ancestor o
Don Pablo had come to the then Span
ish province of New Mexico, in 171C
and had settled at Villita in Rio Al
: riba County, where he had married
grand daughter of Captain Sebastian
: Martin, one of the most influential cit
zens of this section at that time. TIL
: name of this Frenchman was DomiI
I go Labadie and he was very goo
r scholar and quite distinguished sui
r geon who had served in the Frenc
9 army before coming here. The new
/ of the arrival Of the strangers attrac
k ed much attention all over the countr.
q especially in the neighborhood {
s Tome. They were well armed an
i were very fond of hunting. The
t. spent much of their time, at first,
e hunting and riding about the countr,
n and it looked as though they ha
t come on simple pleasure trip. Th
3 strangers soon became well acquainte
n with the parish priest, Don Francisc
d de Maradiaga, one of the ablest me
e New Mexico had at that time, an
e with Don Labadie and it did not tai
long to find out what the real obje
Of the expedition was.
An Ancient Tesuque Tale.
+. "Don Amado Pirota was scholar
gentleman and had lived for mar
d. years in Madrid, and, on certa
" occasion, while examining lot
le old archives in the Escurial, he can
n across papers relating to some
he the Spanish expeditions into Ne
Id Mexico. One of the papers attract'
dis his particular attention. 1t was
ke lengthy account Of one OF the SPANS
Or expeditions into this country in Il
early days. Among other very int