The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1912-05-04

Little of it has ever been recovered; the ayerag
man prefers 10 work for few dollars week
But tho history OF the hundreds of treasures. som
of them we'll known and rich in narrative. some. o
them vaguely chroniced. is something of absorb
ing interest to the man with The true spirit OF ao
venture In his blood.
More gold and silver was produced from the ne"
iy discovered Western Hemisphere by the earl
Spanish and Portuguese adventures than the wort
had ever known in its history. The Spanish Mai
rseked with it. The Indians. from Mexico to Peru
had so much that they had for it. Shiploa
after shpload to England, Spain and Portuga
Pirates and priyateers raided the ports and the ga
Icons. Governors often cached the treasures OF
city to them from the raiders; bishops an
priests hid the wonderful solid gold affairs. railings
vessels and so forth. to keep them safe Often tn
governor slain or captured, perhaps removed
and in many cases the clerics suffered similar taes
Hundreds of millions have been recovered, but tn
sums remaining unbound are SO vast as to be stag
gering.
1t is of those unrecovered or only partially reco,
that write. giving all the facts that have bee
able to find. hoping to the seekers tn
quests. Some OF it seems so easily recoverable tha
could go and almost lay ones hands on 1t; NOR
of would require patient effort, digging, draining
diving searching stiil other portions will be ioun
only by the purest chance the clues too vague
There is astounding store OF gold the histor
of which is so clear and definite and the obstacle
recovery slight, that will state its claims first
On the Cundinamarca plateau In the Republic o
Colombia is little pond a quarter OF mile across
In the center Of this pond supersti9us Indian
dumped gold IN 0Der baBs IN Sucn quantities lHdt
the bottom lie hundreds OF millions. perhaps
several billion dollars worth. one chief dropped
in $500 pounds in one day to the life OF
sick daughter and the votve process went on un-
fnferTuptedly for hundreds OF 1t is easy to
how stupendous the treasure must be and how
difficult to estimate accurately.
The bulk of the definite information concerning
the lake comes from the journal OF Fray Pedro
Simon. a Jesuit missionary who dwet among the
Chibcha Indians the lake for many years
witnessed the incident cited.
Al the time OF the conquest the lake called
Guatavita, "Caretaker of Life" The Indians
Iieved that in the lakes and springs dwelt the sub
~ieties and all the tribes In northern South Amer
3ca believed that In this wonderful little pool,
with Its clear cold springs and beautiful shores.
dwelt the deity. who had power to and heal.
Gold to be found everywhere. Its sole use
for decoration and religious or superstitious
Offerings.
Even today they still hide the the
deposits appearing in the towns with little leaf
baskets the bottoms OF which are covered with
gold which they use to buy all the print-ctoths.
arms. food and baubes that make up their sim
Pile needs: then they go away to their huts the
noun tains. When the Spaniards first the
Indians laughed to find the white men eager
for what they deemed OF little value But
when they the white men killing and tortur-
ing their brothers, wives and children they grew
client and ever since have hidden all their know-
edge OF gold among themselves An Indian
leads the way Indian mine signs own
death warrant
Fray Pedro Simons account OF the lake says
chat it ere of chain; that 1t small
that fiber ropes could be stretched across it,
marking ii into quarters. They crossed in the
center. Rats were moored onshore.
the indians coming from laden with gold
would heap it these RATS in fiber and skin
bags. use the ropes to guide the RATS to the
ter and then throw in the gold old sacred
man of the tribe family rectng invocations to
the spirit OF the lake.
What have related has been common property
among interested In treasure-seekng. and
parts of the facts have been printed both in Amer
lea and England. but this is the first time that all
the known facts have been given. There is today
on the plateau a lake called Guatavta, but 1t does
not Fray Pedro Simons description
On the 18th of April 1913, there set sail from
what is Colon the Spanish galleon Santa
Marta commanded by a master-atarms called Ell
Ttgre de Joasco and bearing vice governor Her
aanao Arojas Alencon, with considerable com
psny Of wounded and feyer-broken Spanish sol
aiers scattering of priests and business
travellers.
She was headed for Cadiz and vigo. Her cargo
was almost entirely gold to the value Of about
SIS 900 900.
II was not supposed that any aboard
aware that there was anything extraordinarily
yaIuable aboard except the master. Governor
Some one organized mutiny among the return
ing soldiers and sailors and, while the ship was
heavily armed to defend herself against pirates
or privateers she was very easily taken by
her own crew time during the first week
out.
ehe SANDY shore of the PALISADES off the harbor
of Kingston Jamaica. but Ell Tgre de Joasco and
Governor Arojas were not among them, and
somewhere in the chinks of history their fate has
sJIpped through and been lost
The marocnsd people we're very quickly picked