Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1935-09-12
Golden
phantOIllS
FASCINATING TALES
OF LOST Nj L N IS
@w.N.u. By Edifh0 l.. Watson
NAVAJO GOLD
By Edifha l.. Watson

WHICH udIeS DdCh 10 lOtO LII IHdI us
| tant year, it is said, the Spanish ex.
plorers of the West discovered placer
! in the Navajo country. 1t was lost,
In the manner Of so many old Spanish
mines, but the story of it's existence
and it's richness, and the approximate
location of the place, persisted.
James O'Rourke, western congress
man, heard the story, and was in
spired by it to gather together small
party and to go down into the Navajo
country to search for the lost placer
| mine.
The party succeeded beyond their
| hopes In canyon somewhere in that
strange region they came across pile
| of stones which marked the location
| of some 200 pounds of silver matte
and also number of fine gold nuggets.
This, they felt, must be sign of the
place they were hunting, and they
| camped that night at the cache.
The Navajo, however, had an idea
that these white men were trespassers
| on their land. Any gold or silver that
| lay within the reservation belonged to
them So it was only natural that
| band of these Indians should rOut out
| the intruders, chase them up a box
canyon from which they could not es-
cape.
Prospectors who happened to come
that way finally rescued the party,
which returned home much the worst
| for wear. The only treasure they had
| to show for this chase of the golden
phantom was the handful of gold mug
gets, which they had taken on sight
|
Perhaps that lost Spanish mine is
the same as Pech-la-Ki, word which
is a combination of Navajo and Span
ish and means white money"
This mine is also in the Navajo
country, somewhere near the famous
Four Corners where Colorado, Utah,
Arizona and New Mexico meet. The
Navajo have sold silver speciments
from Pech-laKi for many years, and
more than one prospector has tried to
find the source of their wealth, but
series of lost lives mark the search.
This, too, may have been the mine
| found long ago by Merrick and
| Mitchell They were young prospec-
tors in the Navajo country who came
upon rude forge or furnace and
some nuggets of gold. While they
| were searching for the ledge from
| which the ore had come, Indians dis
In 1882 an old prospector, Charles
| 7. Johnson, retraced their route, and
in doing so became separated from the
rest of his party. He got lost in
forest of fallen timber, which was i'm
| passable on horseback, so he left his
horse and tried to get out on foot
While climbing about over the rotten
logs he lost his balance, fell down
steep incline and brought up in mine,
which apparently had caved in at
this place. A vein of white quartz
containing much gold met his eyes,
and he was certain that at last he had
found the lost NINE
His friends, who were searching for
him in the forest, heard his shouts and
helped him out Of the place. But for
some reason it Is not recorded that
he or they ever went back to the shaft
Another echo from the Navajo coun-
try was heard when a priest appeared
in Prescott, Ariz, many years ago,
searching for cache of gold. He had
been told about this hidden treasure,
he said, by a man who died in the
hospital of the Sisters of Charity in
| Denver.
This man and two others had taken
| $4,000 in gold out of placer mine
on the Navajo reservation, and they
had fled with their wealth when the
tribesmen discovered their presence.
In getting away from the region, to
| avoid as much contact as possible with
| the Navajo and their neighbors, the
| fugitives had travelled south through
western New Mexico, crossed the Mo
| gollOn mountains, followed the ella
| river to the Verde, and at last had
| reached Prescott in this devious man
ner. On the way two of the men died,
| one of malaria, the other from wounds
| given him by the Indians, so that the
man who told the story was the sole
| survivor. He, afraid that retribution
| would overtake him also, buried the
| gold under a boulder near spring, at
| the foot of a mountain past which
| stream flowed into small valley. The
| place he described as near Prescott.
| He never dared to return to his
cache; evidently his fear of the In
dams was based on first hand knowl-
edge. But on his dying bed he begged
the priest to go and recover the gold
for the use of the hospital.
In case a placer mine, ledge,
shaft, and gold and silver together
may prove to be too puzzling COM
bination, few words of explanation
will clear up the matter. The Span
iards found the placer first, and then,
looking about for the source of it's
gold, they saw the ledge, where gold
and silver ores were mingled.
Roasting the silver In their rude
furnace produced the matte, and the