Year: 1876

Los Angeles when she was Mexican
Pueblo, there is one which dates back
thirty years or more and recounts the
circumstances of buried treasure in
the Arroyo Seco. We heard it the 9TH
er day in conversation with Don Mato
Keller.


Tiburcio Tapia was Spanish
! Don who had arisen to considerable
! affluence in those times and besides
being the proprietor of the Cucamongo
ranch, conducted small store some
where above the Catholic church in
what is now called "Sonora."
| AS to the exact location Of this
| store or its character, tradition say
/ eth not, but it is sufficient that it
stood in the centre of the pueblo
/ and we may reasonably conjecture
/ that Don Tiburcio sold saddles, flour
I and aguadiente to the natives besides
i supplying them with the other necessi-
a ties of life. So great was the Don's
4 traffic that it is said he kept an express
line of Ox-carts plying between the
town and this Cucamongo ranch and
when expedition was required the trip
Of sixty miles was made inside of
week. In all matters that went to
make men rich in those days Don III
burcio had abundance-herds of cattle
land horses, bands of sheep, many
zsquare leagues of land and money
q The golden ounces as they accumu-
Elated in the hands of the old Don were
all carfully husbanded against rainy
4 day. Not that there were money banks
/ in those days with ponderous vaults
and defaulting cashiers; oh, no but
4 Don Tiburcio deposited his golden coin
a in the bank of mother earth where he
y knew that his sight drafts would al
ways be honored. 1t was his custom
& when he wished to secure his money
in this way, to take his son, Ramon,
Z with him and hide 1t tinder ground in
some secluded spot.


Thus it happened that when
Castro was securing the State with
his marauding band and threat
ening an attack upon Los An
geles, Don Tiburcio was overcome with
solicitude concerning his wealth in
money and goods and taking his son
with him one dark night he went up
the banks of the Arroyo Sece, and
there the two dug hole in the sand
and within it they concealed the trea
sure. There were two wooden boxes,
it may be the width of span and
twice as long and deep. They were
iron bound and filled with Spanish
doubloons, each piece weighing an
ounce and valued at sixteen dollars.
Our legend says that the Don had fifty
thousand dollars in his two iron bound
boxes which he placed in the sand and
4 onvnrod 90 raft,tlxy nd Tlnn III
bucio marked the spot so that he
might come back again in time of
safety and reclaim his deposit. Near
by, he planted a little cross in such a
way that it would be concealed from
a strangers view but easily recogniz-
able by himself or his son. One arm
of the cross pointed to the buried trea-
sure. Then the two led their horses
number of times across the spot to
obliterate the marks of their work
and departed with feeling of security.


His money safely hid from the grasp
of Castro and his band, Don Tiburcio
next busted himself in securing the
goods of his store. These he carefully
packed in boxes preparatory to send
ing them away, but first resorted to a
stratagem worthy of the shrewd old
Spanish stock. He said to his son,


Ramon. will place quantity of
lead in the bottom of these boxes and
when they are filled with goods, go
you and call in some of the neighbor-
ing racheros, to assist us in loading
them upon the carts. They will per-
ceive the great weight of the boxes and
will say that Don Tiburcio has cent
away all of his money by the OK
teams"


So the goods were dispatched to Don
Tiburcio's Cucamongo ranch in charge
of his son Ramon, and the inhabit-
ants Of the town whispered it about
that the Don had sent away all of his
gold.


Now while the steady going OK
teams are slowly toiling up the valley
of San Jose, bearing their freightage of
goods, to a place of security, Don I'll
burciO rests himself easy at home, in
the full belief that he has outwitted
the rascal Castro and his band. But
alas, what an uncertain thing is hui
man life Ramon has hardly been
gone three days with the teams when
Don Tiburci0 is stricken with paraly-
sis and laid at-the door of death. A
messenger is dispatched in haste
for the absent son. AS soon as the
distance can be overcome by the fleet
est horse, Ramon returns but only i'm
time to witness the dying breath Of
his father. With struggle Don Thur
Gle gasped, Ramon, Ramonr and de-
parted this life.


There were few to mourn the death
of Don Tiburcio and in due time the
priest performed the last rites of the
church over his body and he was gath
cred to his fathers. But now when
comparative safety is again assured to
the town, Ramon repairs to the bank
of the Arroyo Seco to unearth his
fathers gold. The cross is there with
its arm pointing to the hidden trea-
sure, but when the sand is turned up
there are no iron bound boxes. The gold
ahas been taken away. When Ramon
<iug up the cross he found beneath it
three ounces which had dropped unno-


iced into the hole OH that eventful
night, but this was all he recovered.
Then the truth flashed upon the son;
his father had removed the boxes to
secrete more money in them or to take
some out for his use. AS 1t vas never
his custom to secrete his treasure the
second time in one place, he had buried
them elsewhere. But where The
secret had died on Don Tibucio's lips
as he gasped Ramon" and his utter
ance was stopped by the hand of the
grim messenger.


The Inhabitants Of the town