The Parker post., 1914-05-16
$6o,OOO FOUND
AT OLD LA PAZ
MYSTERIOUS STRANGERS IN RED
AUTO SAID TO HAVE UNEARTH-
ED LOST TREASURE OF OLD
MINING CAMP.

home and has something. to bear
out it's authenticity Last week
three strangers, two of them Porte
guese and one Spaniard, came into
Blythe in an automobile They re-
manned here for a day and the fol-
lowing morning they crossed the riv-
er at the Ehrenberg ferry.
Since that time, however, there
comes a report that these three men
went from here direct to the old
town OF La Paz, and after a search
there in the ruins of an old adobe
building, succeeded in uncovering and
carrying away gold to the amount OF
something like 100000.
That the party went to La Paz and
did considerable excavation work at
that place inside the ruins of certain
old adobe buildings, is a certainty
but the fact of their finding any
treasure is not fully verified. But
we are informed by certain persons
that the trio did claim to have un-
earthed the sum above named.
What gives credence to the story
is the fact that where these men did
the excavating was in the ruins o.
an old building that in the early and
balmy days of La PaZ was the prin-
cipal store and saloon of the place.
This place was owned and conduct
ed by one Francisco Rabana, Por-
tugese
Rabana, in addition TO conducting
a general store and saloon, was the
principal buyer of gold dust in La
,PaZ, gold dust being the common
those days.
Rabana was also the discOverer and
owner of the famous Goodman mine,
which was producing gold in large
quantities during the early days.
One day while at the Goodman
mine Rabana received serious injur-
les from which he never recovered
and in a few days he died.
Rabana had no family, his wife
having died previously; nor did he
have any very intimate friends. Ii
was generally known that he had
much gold dust stored about the
place, as that was the only way to
keep it, there being no banks and
transportation was slow. People had
seen this gold in Rabanas posses
sion, which he kept in sacks, dishes,
etc.
However, when Rbaana died the
only thing found on his person or
about the premises was deposit
check in a foreign bank for a small
amount of money. No cash or gold
dust of any considerable amount was
discovered.
The fact that no gold could be
found on the Rabana premises led
to numerous efforts on the part of
many to search for this supposedly
lost treasure.
Like all things of this nature the
fever became contagious. and men
have spent months, some have spent
years, looking and digging for Ra-
bana's gold. which. so far as known,
was never found
After the government had declared
La Paz to be located on an Indian
reservation and the inhabitants were
forced to move off, many man re-
turned and dug in the old town look
ing for lost treasure, and in this way
the earth about the old Rabana house
has been turned over many times.
About two years ago a flood came
down from the nearby mountains and
OyerfOlwed the old La PaZ tOwnsite.
Th mud houses. affected by
the water, crumbled and fell. leav-
ing naught but a mass of crushed
adObeS to mark the walls OF the
houses which at one time were the
habitatiOns OF three thousand people
who made up the population of a
flOurishing mining camp.
The very last building to go down
from the effects of this flood was a
large adobe structure which at once
sine served as the first court house
and jail of Yuma county, La Paz be-
ing the first county seat.
Since the flood has played havoc
with the buildings in La Paz, where
the old Rabana building stood has
beeen covered with three or four feet
Of debris, ,and not much eXcavating
has taken place since it occurred, un-
ill the other day, when the three