The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-05-03


ships sunk IN shallow waters.
Little of it has ever been recovered; the average
man prefers to work few dollars week
But the history of the hundreds OF treasures,
Of them well known and rich in narrative, some or
them but vaguely chroniced is something of absorb
Ing interest to the with the true spirit OF adj
venture in his blood.
More gold and silver was produced from the new
ly discovered Western Hemisphere by the early
Spanish and Portuguese adventures than the world
had known in its history. The Spanish Main
reekcd with it. The Indians. from Mexico Peru
had much that they had for it. Shipoad
after shpload went to England, Spain and Portugal
Pirates and privateers raided ports and gal
Icons Governors often cached the treasures OF
city to them from the RAIDERS bishops and
priests hid the wonderful solid gold affairs ratings
vessels, and SO FORTH to keep them safe. Often the
governor slain captured, perhaps removed,
and In many the cler1cs suffered similar fates
Hundreds of millions have been recovered, the
sums remaining unbound are so vast as to be stag
gering.
1t is of those unrecovered only partially
cred that write giving all the facts that have been
able to find, hoping to start the seekers to the
quests Some of it seems so easily recoverable that
could go and almost lay ones hands it;
of it would require patient effort, digging draining,
diving, searching; still other portions will be found
only by the purest chance the clues vague
There is astounding store of gold the history
of which is clear and definite and the obstacles
to recovery slight that will state its claims first
On the Cundnamarca plateau in the Republic OF
Colombia is a little pond quarter of a mile across.
In the exact center OF this pond supersttous Indians
dumped gold in fiber bags in such quantities that
on the bottom lie hundreds of millions. perhaps
several billion dollars worth One chief dropped
in 5000 pounds in day to the life of
sick daughter, and the votive process went on I'M
fnterruptedly for hundreds of 1t is easy to
see 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, Jesuit missionary who dwelt among
Chibcha Indians the lake for many years and
witnessed the one incident cited.
At the time of the conquest the lake called
Guatavita, "Caretaker of Life" The Indians
leved that in the lakes and springs dweit the sub
deities, and all the tribes in northern
lea believed that in this wonderful little pool,
with its clear cold springs and beautiful shores,
dwelt the deity, who had power to
Gold was to be found everywhere. Its sole l.
was for decoration and religious superstitious
offerings.
Even today they still hide the secrets of the
deposits appearing in the towns with little leaf
baskets the bottoms of which covered with
gold, which they buy all the pTint-cIoths,
arms, food and baubes that make up their SIM
pie needs; then they go away their huts in the
mountains When the Spaniards first came the
Indians laughed to find the white so eager
for what they deemed of so little value But
when they the white men killing and tortur-
ing their brothers, wives and children they grew
silent and ever since have hidden all their knowl-
edge of gold among themselves. An Indian who
leads the way to an Indian mine signs his own
death-warrant.
Fray Pedro Simons account of the lake says
that it of a chain; that It was SO small
that fiber ropes could be stretched across it.
marking it into quarters. They crossed in the
exact center. Rats moored onshore and
the Indians coming from afar laden gold
would heap it on these RATS in fiber and skin
bags the ropes guide the RATS to the CEN
ter and then throw in the gold, old sacred
man of the tribe or family reciting invocations to
the spirit OF the lake.
What | have related has been common property
among interested in treasure-seeking and
parts of the facts have been printed both in Amer
lea and England, but this is the first time that
the known facts have been given. There is today
on the plateau lake called Guatavita, but it does
not answer Fray Pedro Simon's description.
On the 18th of April 1913 there set sail from
what is now Colon the Spanish galleon Santa
Marta, commanded oy master-atarms called Ell
Tigre de Joasco. and bearing vtcegovernor Her
nando Arojas y Alencon, with considerable COM
pany OF wounded and feverbroken Spanish SOL
diers. scattering Of priests and some business
travellers.
She headed for Cadiz and vigo. Her cargo
almost entirely gold to the value of about
S25.000000
1t was not supposed that any one aboard was
aware that there anything extraordinarily
valuable aboard, except the master Governor
Aroias, and two priests Of the ships COMPANY.
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 over by
her own crew time during first week
out
Two boatloads of prisoners were abandoned on
the sandy shore of the PALISADES off the harbor
of Kingston, Jamaica, but Ell Tigre de Joasco and
Governor Arojas not among them. and
somewhere in the chinks OF history their fate has
slipped through and been lost.
The marooned people were very quickly picked