OCR Text |
Show I1IDD&N TKICASURE. The Arizona diamond excitement recalls many an old tradition of hidden treasure. The one of greater promise tells of an expedition, of the early French settlers of Louisiana into the heart of New Mexieo. They founded a city in a fertile oouutry, on the banks of a beautiful stream. The precious metals abounded, and the people with religious fervor erected a temple endowed en-dowed with wealth. The Holy Virgin and the Saints in solid gold and silver adorned the altar. But an earthquake came erasing the river from the face of the earth and renderieg the city untenable. un-tenable. The inhabitants, surviving the terrib'e calamity few in number, gathered together and deposited their treasures in a pit on the plaza, and attempted at-tempted to return eastward, bat perished per-ished by privation and at the hands of the Indians who gained possession of the record of the location and amount of tho deposit. The ruins of the city are said to be diseernablo on the banks of a dry river, in New Mexico., most accessible from Albuqurque. A frontiersman, fron-tiersman, now in California, claims to have gained possession of the document docu-ment referred to, which is said to indicate indi-cate the exact spot where the enormous enor-mous treasuro is to bo found. No mines yet discovered on tho coast have been rich enough to explain the source of the wealth of tho Aztecs of Mexico, and if tho vaguo rumors and reports now floating in the air attract miners, explorers, and adventurers, in thou sands, to Southern Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, the effect upon those wild regions may bo of greater value to the country than any wealth of jewels and riches discovered. |