next »

TRAILBLAZERS
for students

ArchaeoFind
Archaeology News
Articles
Browse Attachments
Calendar
Downloads
Forum
Gallery
Links
Member Map
Our News Feeds
Submit Article
Tag Cloud
Video Channel

Trailblazers
Play Phaos
Chat
Trailblazers: Virtual Tours
History's Hinge - 'Ain Jalut

[seeker13]

   I've been doing some research in regards to the early Spanish mining explorations north of the Colorado. Many sources claim that this activity was much heavier "then recorded" because it was illegal and in violation of the Royal order, yet other sources dispute these claims to be nothing more then simple myth and legend that has been built atop the documented explorations of only a few. So I am interested in getting opinions and possibly gathering sources on the actual activity level of the early Spanish mining efforts in the far north, say into Utah, Wyoming, and possibly even Idaho. Do you think it was extremely limited, or do you think is was actually much heavier then recorded?   

[Solomon]

Hello seeker13 and welcome to History Hunters 

I am looking forward to reading replies to your intriguing question. As others here will attest, I am sceptical in this matter. However, I am also open to persuasion. Now: let us see if there is any empirical evidence.

Solomon

[seeker13]

Solomon,

    Thanks for the "welcome"...nice to meet you. I am also an open minded skeptic on this much debated subject...would love to learn that it is true but I have seen nothing yet to etch it in stone. I hope someone on this site might be able to steer me toward some new research material because Ive exhausted every avenue I know of. Later.....

[Bart]

Welcome Seeker;

Here is one reference, albeit somewhat tenuous. You also might consider searching French records for possible references to Spanish mining. This is something I will keep in mind in my searches.

- Bart

Mine La Motte, Missouri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

   Mine La Motte is an unincorporated community in Madison County, Missouri. It is located about six miles north of Fredericktown. The town was named for a nearby mine dating from about 1717; the mine was named for Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, an early explorer and Governor-General of Louisiana. The presence of lead, which was a critical ingredient for ammunition, attracted unusually early mining by the Spanish and French in this otherwise remote interior region of the North American continent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mine_La_Motte%2C_Missouri

[Baja Bush Pilot]

early Spanish mining explorations north of the Colorado...

Spanish mining in southern Nevada may be more myth than fact but, around 1770, a Spanish exploring party is said to have been sent by the Franciscan missionary Father Junipero Serra to mine placer gold, turquoise, and silver deposits in Clark County. This account is generally discredited, however, and most historians do not place Spanish exploring parties in the state until 1776 when another missionary, Father Francisco Garces, may have crossed the southern tip of Nevada.

Para 4 of:

 http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/dox/nl/nl20.htm

[Baja Bush Pilot]

SPANISH MINING
Precious metals mining in North America began with the discovery of the Esp?ritu
Santo Lode near Compostela, Mexico in 1543 (Young 1970:59). During the resulting
silver rush from 1543 to 1553 approximately 22 million pesos in silver were produced,
totaling more than all the silver seized during the Conquest. The Spanish, and later
Mexican, miners largely ignored the northern regions of Mexico that would later become
part of the United States. This was due to the continued profitability of the Mexican
mines, the distance from existing population centers, and the environmental difficulties
found in these outlying areas (Young 1970). The history of North America could have
been radically different if the value of the Spanish territories in California, Nevada,
Arizona and Colorado had been discovered earlier.

Page 36 of:

http://www.greybull.org/Mueller_Goldreef.pdf

But I'm still looking...

[azstomper]

Seeker...unless you have the keys and the clout to access records in sevile, the vatican, or in mexico i believe your question will remain unanswered. However i am a firm believer in the spanish trail monuments....(thanx buddy). I think the reason the area you are in search of is such a blank palate is due the troublesome 1600's in new mexico. The spaniards were at odds with the pueblo indians for a century. 1680 was the year Pope...a spanish learned native organized the natives to forcefully remove the spanish from santa fe...and it wasn't until 1692 that the spanish made an entrada back into santa fe to reclaim santa fe. I visited santa fe last month and found it to be full of history and down right beautiful. The palace of the govenors that was built in 1609 was pretty damn cool to see for a trail marker hunter....lol. I think the revolt and subsequent pillaging and razing of santa fe might have been the cause of a complete black hole when it comes to some mines and thier locations.

I live in western colorado where the dominguez-escalante party came thru....and working in the oil and gas field i have seen and documented a few trail markers in the area....so my advice is to find them and follow them if your are to unravel the past.

DW