the most remarkable myths that appear in american history are those which were so eagerly listened to by the early spanish conquerors, who overran two-thirds of the two americas long before the saxons so much as attempted a foot-hold in the new world. there was the famous myth of el dorado in south america—a living man covered from head to foot with pure gold dust and nuggets. in mexico was the fable of montezuma’s untold tons of gold and bushels of precious stones, and many other impossible things. ponce de leon, the gallant conqueror of puerto rico, paid with his life for the credulity which led him to the first of our states ever entered by a european, in quest of an alleged fountain of perpetual youth—a butterfly which some of the world’s learned doctors are still chasing under another form. and all across the arid southwest the hot winds have scattered the dust of brave but too-believing men who fell in the desert through which they pursued some[162] glittering shape of the american golden fleece. when alvar nu?ez cabeza de vaca, the first american traveler, walked across this continent from ocean to ocean, over three hundred and fifty years ago, he heard from the indians many gilded myths, and chief of them were those concerning the famous seven cities of cíbola. so enormously abundant was gold said to be in these indian cities, that it was put to the meanest uses. when vaca got to the spanish settlements in mexico and told this wonderful report it made a great commotion, and soon afterward that great explorer, francisco vasquez de coronado, came to the seven cities of cíbola—which surrounded the site of the present pueblo indian town of zu?i in the extreme west of new mexico. but instead of the dazzling cities he expected, coronado found only seven adobe towns, without an ounce of gold (or any other metal, for that matter)—towns which were wonderfully curious, but which sorely disheartened the brave spanish pioneers. a little later coronado heard equally astounding tales of a still more golden aboriginal city—the fabulous gran quivira—and set out to find it. after a marvelous march which took him almost to where kansas city now is, he found the quivira—but no[163] gold, of course. and it has been the same ever since. coronado’s footsore men ran down their fables in 1541. certainly not a decade, and very likely not a year, has passed since then in which some equally preposterous story of incalculable treasures has not been born and found followers in the southwest.
i know of but one thing in the world more remarkable than that the spaniards should have believed such self-evident myths; and that one thing is that so many, many americans believe them to-day. not long ago i visited the most remote and inaccessible ruins in the southwest, and found there the work of these sanguine dupes, who had actually dug through solid rock in search of buried treasure. and even while i write a party is digging, a hundred miles to the west, for a treasure as mythical, and as palpably so, as that at the end of the rainbow. the stories of golden mountains, of buried millions and of mysterious “lost mines”—far richer, of course, than those which any one can find—in new mexico alone would fill a volume.
i had once the good fortune to run across some old and fragmentary spanish manuscripts of the last century and the beginning of this, which are extremely interesting.[164] it is not often that we get so much documentary evidence concerning the golden will-o’-the-wisps which have lured so many to disappointment and death. the writings all bear the stamp of implicit belief, and the old soldier, in particular, who is the hero of the fragmentary story, is often unconsciously eloquent and sometimes pathetic in his recital. i translate all the documents literally.
the first manuscript is a certified copy (certified in the city of mexico, march 5, 1803), of the “relation” and petition of bernardo de castro, a copy for which the spanish governor of new mexico had sent. bernardo’s story and appeal are as follows, rendering as closely as possible the quaint language of the day:
“most excellent sir: bernardo de castro, retired sergeant of the company of san carlos [st. charles] of the government of the city of chihuahua, in the provinces of the interior, admitted to citizenship in the city of santa fé, capital of the kingdom of new mexico, and resident of this capital, goes on and before your excellency says: that having served our royal monarch for the space of nine years and eight months as sergeant of the said company in the countless combats at which i assisted against the[165] nations of the ynfidels [indians], i came out with a lance-thrust in one leg, of the which it resulted that i was placed in the ynvalid corps by the sir commander don juan de ugalde. but considering that with time and medicines i recovered and gained strength to seek my subsistence free from the hardships to which the frontier troop is exposed from the mecos [probably the apaches], i gave up for the benefit of the royal exchequer my pay as invalid sergeant, and have followed working in the same kingdom of new mexico. there i have suffered various fights—as it befell in the past year of 1798, that while i was conducting a multitude of large cattle and other effects, the whole valued at more than $14,000, from new mexico to el paso del norte, the barbarous mecos assailed me, and after a long battle, in which flowed much human blood, they carried off all i had in the world. and we gave to god thanks for having saved us even the life.
“this continual contact with the savages has contracted me a friendship with the cumanche nation, which is at peace with the spaniards, and understanding their idiom facilitates me in trading with them to gain my livelihood.
[166]
“in the past year, 1798, i arrived in santa fé and presented myself to the sir governor don fernando chacon. his lordship informed me that there had come a frenchman and had shown him a piece of metal of fine gold, assuring him he knew the spot where it was produced, and that it was a peak which the ynfidel nations called peak of the gold, where there was such an abundant breeding-place of this precious metal that all the peak and even its surroundings could with propriety be said to be pure gold. that he offered to show the spot if his lordship would guard him with three hundred men of troops, and this he was bound to grant for the benefit of our monarch. that the distance, he considered, would be a matter of eight or nine days’ journey. the faithful love to our sovereign animated the sir governor, and he supplied the escort which had marched two days before, and his said lordship informed me that if he had found me in the city he would have made me one of the commanders. this offer inspired me, and i offered to follow after the expedition, and the love with which i have always served my lord, the king, enabled me by the utmost exertion to overtake the expedition,[167] with which i incorporated myself on the third day.
“and journeying on our course, on the ninth day the french guide slipped away from us, leaving us in the plains without knowledge of the road to our desired peak. at the which it was resolved by the leaders of the expedition to return to santa fé. but i, not suffering from the short march, separated from the expedition and went on alone to verify the report. and in the rancherias [villages] of the cumanches, where i was entertained, when i told them the trick and the mockery that the frenchman had put upon us, they assured me with one accord that the said frenchman did not know the location of the peak at all, and that he had never been there, for the gold which he took to new mexico they themselves had given him in exchange for various trinkets of coral, belts and other trifles. but that they knew the peak of gold, that was indeed with an abundance never seen before, and if i would go with them they would show me it, and i could pick up all i wished, and if we met any other nation [of indians] i should not be harmed if with them, for they were all friends.
“indeed, most illustrious sir, only by my fidelity and obedience to my superior could[168] i contain myself not to march to the peak without delay; and i told my friends the mecos cumanches, that i was going to seek permission of that sir governor of the new mexico, and with it would return. i arrived in santa fé and sought that permission, but it was denied me. but continuing my visits to the mequeria [i find that] so strong a desire have they formed for the granting of that permission and the development of this treasure, and the facility there is that the spaniards enjoy it and that their sovereign make heavy his royal coffers, that i resolved to make a walk of more than seven hundred leagues to seek the aid and encouragement of your excellency. [the brave sergeant so fully believed in his peak of gold that he actually walked nearly 2,200 miles alone through a most dangerous country to lay the matter before the viceroy in mexico.]
“my plan being approved, it is undeniable that the royal treasury will be swelled by the tithes and dues to the royal crown; new interest will animate men to follow up the discovery, and there will be civilized (with time and the friendship which is contracted with the nations of the cumanches, yutas and navajosos) more than three hundred leagues of virgin and[169] powerful lands—that being reckoned the distance from the city of santa fé to the peak of gold. the inhabitants of the internal provinces, who now live under the yoke of the assaults of the hostile indians, will revive; it will be easier for the sovereign to guard the frontiers of these his vast dominions. settlements will be made, and insensibly will follow the conquest and pacification of the ynfidels, who will easily embrace the holy gospel and come under the faith of jesus christ. what results to religion, to the monarch and to his vassals are presented, even by this clumsy narration!
“i do not intend to burden the royal treasury with the slightest expense, nor do i think to involve the royal arms in actions which might imperil the troops. my person is declared past its usefulness for the royal service, and i count myself as a dead man for entering matters of importance. but my military spirit does not falter, and i only desire to manifest, even at the foot of the tomb, my love to my sovereign. with only one faithful companion i intend to go among my friends, the cumanches, and, with the protection and guidance of them, to enter and explore the land, silently, without noise or preparation, to force a passage.[170] quietness, the gray shadows of the night and our own courage are the only preparations i make for the difficult undertaking, and, above all, the divine aid. having found the desired peak of gold, charted the roads to it, made the due surveys, and gathered so much of the precious metal as we can transport without making danger (and under the divine favor), i will present myself again to your excellency, and by your superiority will be taken such steps as the state of the case demands.
“under which considerations, and the solid arguments which i have expressed, of which your excellency can receive full confirmation from the most excellent se?or don pedro de nava, commander-in-chief of the interior provinces, and don joseph casiano feaomil y garay, lieutenant-captain of dragoons of san luís potosí, i humbly beg of your excellency that in use of your viceroyal powers, you deign to grant me your superior permission to go in search of the peak of gold; being kind enough to send to the se?or don fernando chacon, actual governor of the new mexico, that he put no difficulty in my path, and giving orders to the captains and chiefs of the friendly nations—cumanches, yutas and navajosos—that[171] they accompany and guide me in this expedition.
“and i respectfully say that my delay in getting to this capital [the city of mexico] was because i had to come nearly all the way on foot, my horse having given out in that great distance, and that now i am supported here by alms, such is my great anxiety for the benefit of the monarch, and beg that i be excused for this paper. [he was too poor to buy the stamped and taxed paper on which petitions to the viceroy must be addressed.]
“for so much i pray your excellency’s favor.
bernardo castro.”
he had the real spirit of the argonauts, this crippled old soldier, to whom poverty and danger and 2,000-mile walks were trifles when they stood between him and his peak of gold.
the viceroy evidently gave the desired permission—without which, under the strict spanish laws, no such venture was to be thought of—and there were one or more expeditions, but unfortunately we have left no account of them. it is clear that the viceroy ordered governor chacon, of new mexico, to assist castro in his undertaking, and that the matter aroused a good deal of interest throughout the provinces of new[172] spain. don nemecio salcedo, military commandant at chihuahua, seems to have interested himself in the matter, for the next document in this fragmentary series is a draft of a reply to him from governor chacon, as follows:
“according to that which your lordship advises me in communication of the 16th of september of the current year, i repeat that as to the expedition of bernardo castro to the discovery of the peak of gold, i will help him and the others who accompany him, that they may have no difficulty with the general of the cumanches, whom, however, i have not yet seen, since he has not yet returned with the ransom he offered me when he was last in this capital.
“god, etc. santa fee, 25th of fber, 1803.
“to se?or don nemo. salcedo.”
there was other correspondence between these two on the same matter, for now we come to an original letter from commandant salcedo to governor chacon, replying to a late one of his. it says:
“the communication of your lordship, no. 36, of the 18th of last november, leaves me informed of all the assistances you gave bernardo castro, that he might undertake the second journey [so he had already made one] from that city, with the object to discover[173] the peak of gold, which he has described in the territory of that province. and of the results i hope your lordship will give me account.
“god guard your lordship many years.
“chihuahua, january 5, 1804.
“nemecio salcedo.
“to the sir governor of new mexico.”
poor brave, misguided bernardo de castro! i wish we might have more of the documents about his venturesome wanderings in quest of the peak of gold. he must have gone far out into the wastes of texas; and at last he, too, yielded up his life, as did countless of his countrymen before him, to that deadliest of yellow fevers. we lose all track of him until governor chaves writes from santa fé, in 1829, to his superior in the city of mexico, who had written to ask him about these and other matters. his letter says:
“most excellent sir: in compliance with that which your excellency requests in your official letter of the 19th of august last, that i make the necessary verifications upon the mineral reported by the rev. father custodian of these missions, fray sevastian alvares, to be found among the gentile comanches, i have investigated the matter, and place in the knowledge of your[174] excellency that which various of the citizens of this capital—and all of them most veracious—say. they all agree in that it is a fact that don bernardo de castro [the old soldier had evidently won honorable recognition, else a governor of new mexico would not speak of him by the respectful title of “don”] entered this territory with the object of seeking the said mineral; that he made various expeditions with this object, until in one of them he was slain by the heathen apaches.
“passing to information received from the travelers to that nation, all agree in the statement that the comanches offer to sell them pouches filled with a metal which appears fine and of great weight, which they say they get from the neighborhood of the ash peaks (which are very well known to our people, but not explored or charted, because they are distant from the trails).
“the citizen pablo martin has been he who expressed himself most fully. he, knowing that the said don bernardo de castro sought a mineral in the comanche nation, has procured them to look for the said mineral. the only result was that one comanche named pa?o de lienso [‘cloth of linen’], who made himself his companion, gave him information that beyond[175] the ash peaks, in some round hills, were stones with much silver, whereof the said comanche had carried some to the province of san antonio de bejar [texas], where they made buttons for him. he who made the buttons charged the comanche to bring him a load [of that metal], but he did not do so, because in that time came the war of his people with that province. other comanches also have told him [pablo martin] that in said spot were stones with silver.
“this is all i have been able to find out as the results of my investigations, the which i place in the knowledge of your excellency, that you may put it to the use which you deem best.
“santa fee, 30 of 8ber of 1829.
“chaves.”
and there, so far as we know it now, is the story of the peak of gold.
