"Lost treasure of the San Xavier Missions" by Jeanne Williams.Temple Daily Telegram:

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Lost treasure of the San Xavier Missions

by Jeanne Williams

Temple Daily Telegram - August 23, 2010

SAN GABRIEL - The treasure that lies beneath the grazing meadows and furrowed ground near

the San Gabriel River off FM 908 most likely is only of historical wealth, but that has

not quelled 250 years of tales and legends of Spanish gold believed to be hoarded in

Milam County land.

"There is no truth to this scientifically from all of the archival documents and

archeological work that has been done," said Dr. Jim Bruseth, Texas Historical Commission

director of archeology. "If all of the stories of lost gold or buried treasure in Texas

were true, I estimate about 80 percent of the world's supply of gold and treasure would

be in our state."

Buried treasure stories abound, however, and those in search of ancient riches are not

easily convinced that they are merely folklore, said historian Joy Graham of Rockdale.

"There have been treasure seekers in Milam County looking for that gold," Mrs. Graham

said. One treasure hunter leased Sugar Loaf Mountain, the sacred summit of the Tonkawa

Indians, specifically to search for gold, she said.

The man moved a bulldozer to the top of the mountain, devastating that whole area. He

scraped off the top,” Mrs. Graham said. “To my knowledge there has never been any gold

found either at the three mission sites, nor on or around Sugarloaf Mountain. Property

owners of these locations have had to run people off their property for looking for

‘treasure.’”

Several versions of one story had a Spanish mule train burdened with gold traveling

through Milam County.

Forced by hostile Indians or other circumstances to bury their gold, the Spaniards, in

this tale, ultimately murder someone and place the corpse on top of the treasure to

protect it from looters. Sites of this buried gold range from near the Brazos River, the

Little River and the San Gabriel River, and some are connected with ghost stories. Other

tales are set at the San Xavier mission site, where rumors will not die concerning lost

or buried sacred communion cups, candlesticks and crosses made of pure gold.

The mid-18th century Spanish government that ruled the wild Texas frontier decided in the

1740s to colonize the area now known as Milam County by opening three Roman Catholic

missions close to the San Gabriel River: the San Ildefonso, Nuestra Senior de la

Candeleria and the principal mission, San Francisco Xavier de Horcasitas.

The settlement was beleaguered by strife between Spanish soldiers, priests, colonists and

Indians. When a Spanish soldier murdered a priest who denounced his sinful life and had

him excommunicated from the church, the settlement witnessed a scary sight — a ball of

fire in the sky circled the area. Some believed the fire ball represented the wrath of

God, who cursed the presidio that soon was plagued by disease and a drought so severe the

river dried up. The missions were abandoned in 1755 leaving behind charred ruins,

intrigue and tales of hidden gold that won’t stay buried.

A legend divulges that in less than 12 years after the departure of church furnishings

and valuables, rumors of buried riches kept the mission sites marked on the maps of

treasure hunters.

One of the most popular stories to materialize into print came from J. Frank Dobie’s

“Legends of Texas Volume I: Lost Mines and Hidden Treasure” published in 1924 by the

Texas Folklore Society.

“Buried Treasure Legends of Milam County” written by Louise von Blittersdorf maps out a

fascinating yarn supposedly handed down in Mexico through a Spanish family of the theft

of a large solid gold cross and sacred gold items used by priests at the San Xavier

missions in Texas. In this version angry Indians wanting to destroy the missions murdered

a priest, prompting Spaniards to abandon the mission. They buried the priest and the gold

items at the mission site.

Many years later when a church was being built in Mexico, an elderly Mexican man came

forward with the story of the buried cross and treasure asking a priest to accompany him

to the San Gabriel River area in Central Texas to find the gold cross to use on the new

church.

The old man died en route to San Gabriel and the priest was forced to return to his

congregation but he entrusted the journey to a young Irishman named Mike Welch, who

promised to fulfill the task. The burial sites were found, but Welch was double-crossed

by one of his men, who apparently found the cross and other gold items and ran away in

the night. This story has been proven false by archaeological research, said Mrs. Graham,

who worked with respected archaeologist, the late Dr. Kathleen Gilmore, on the history of

the missions. Dr. Gilmore led an archaeological dig in 1967 at the San Francisco Mission

and researched Roman Catholic records in Spain for details on the Milam County missions.

At 94, Dr. Gilmore planned another dig in Milam County, but she died earlier this year.

“I do know first-hand from research of Dr. Gilmore on the crosses from the missions,”

Mrs. Graham said. “According to the missionary diaries she used in her research all of

the golden crosses were taken to San Marcos along with other mission furnishings and left

there until the missions were built in Menard.”

jwilliams@tdtnews.com

History, not treasure, is the only riches to be found at the site of three 18th Century Spanish Missions.
Photo by Shirley Williams/Telegram

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