Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1906-08-16

colombia, Central America, wait
ing for rain.
Heavy rain may mean to him,
and for those in the city in London
wall, the recovery of treasures
worth, so experts say, of at least
600, 900, 900. The hero of the
vigil is H. Knowles, managing di-
rector in Bogota of Contractors,
limited. The story of the company
is one of the most amazing romano
es OF treasure seeking in history.
The lake of Guatavitn,, in Colom-
bia, lies in the basin formed by the
cone of an extinct volcano 1t
stands 5000 to 10, 900 feet above
the sea level, and is but few miles
from the thriving little coal city of
Bogota- Many centuries ago it
was the Sacred Lake of Chibchas, a
race which at the time of the Span
ish conquest numbered over 1,0OO,-
600, individuals.
The Chibchas worshiped the
-'Gildcd Man, and devoutly be-
lieved that their deity made his
home at the bottom of the Lake
of Guatavita. Periodically they
are declared to have made pilgrim
ages to his lake, when they cast
every Imaginable kind of treasure,
gold, silver and jewels, into the
waters, with the object of propitiat-
fkC.IIaI
through his army of priests,
threatened all kinds of pains and
penalties unless the treasures were
offered in sufficient Quantities
The story of the Chibchas has
many times been Investigated by
travellers, and all agree in believing
that the lake contains un told treas
ure. Humboldt, the famous travel
er and historian, was one of those
who estimated it's value at $780,
600, 900.
Quesada, the Spanish ooaqueror
of the Chibchas, was told the story
of the treasure, and succeeded in
reducing the water of the lake,
then PA feet deep, to fifteen feet.
Then the sides fell in, and all his
labor was wasted. Further at
tempts were abandoned, and the
lake regained to very large extent
its former depth.
Where the great Spanish admin
istrator failed, however, Contract
ors, Limited, prosaic British syn
dictate, formed just over six years
ago, has determined to succeed.
The syndicate was formed for the
purpose of exploiting a concession
obtained from the Colombian gov
eminent to drain the lake and re-
cover for their own use the treas
ure believed to be hidden by its
waters. Among its directors are
R. ]. Price, M. P. for the eastern
division of Norfolk, chairman, and
c. ]. de Murietta. Its capital was
originally 100000, and was in
creasd to 635, 600 in 1908.
After six years of hard work,
however, some of those connected
with the company are beginning to
believe that the fGilded Man" is
still at the bottom of the lake, guard
Ing his treasure. Encouraging
finds of isolated gold and silver gods
and jewelled goddesses have from
time to time supported the tradi-
ton of the treasure, but so far the
dreams of untold wealth have not
materialized.
First the lake was drained. 1t
was not an easy task, for it is some
nine miles in length, and unforeseen
difficulties were continually con-
fronting the workers. The most
harassing of these was the con-
slant rain, which, winter and
summer, hardly ever ceased.
At last, however, toward the end
of 1905, the welcome news reached
London that Mr.. Knowles and his
staff of engineers and workwmen
had succeeded in cutting through
the basin of the lake, and the
water had been drained off success
fully. lhere was great JuD1lation
and preparations were made for the
large consignments of gold, silver
and jewels which might be expect
ed to arrive by the next boats.
Unfortunately, however, the
water is not the only barrier on
which the ''Gilded Man" has to
rely for the safe keeping of his
treasure. The jubilation in Lon
don-wal1 was summarily ended by
cablegram stating that twenty-five
feet of solid mud, or some $4,000
600 cubic feet in all, still lay
between the tresaure seekers and
!. their quest.