The Adama Diggings
Interview of E. V. Batchler. A manuscript from the Federal Writer's
Project, 1936-1940, and now stored at the Libraryof Congress. Keywords:
August 1864, Adams Diggings Mine, Magdalena, Fort San Rafael,
gold, Indians, Davidson, gold-bearing ore, mother lode, Pima, Alma, Bob
Lewis, Captain Sanborn, Reserve, Gallup, Magdalena, North Lake
Since I came to New Mexico, eighteen years
ago, I have heard stories of the wealth of the famous, old, lost Adams
Diggings Mine. I have heard at least a dozen different stories and each
succeeding story made the mine richer both in actual gold value and romantic
interest. As is often the way with lost mines of this type, it all depends
on who you listen to, whether the mine gets richer or not. It always seemed
strange to me that nearly every old-timer will swear that he knows more
about a fabulously rich, lost mine than any other old prospector. I will
try to discredit other prospectors who have searched for the mine and in
an effort to tell something "bigger", magnify its riches by many times
what others have estimated it at. In reality, none of them know or have
the slightest idea as to the value of the lost mine, because it has never
been found.
The current story and the one that seems to
be the most popular, is one that I read in the El Paso newspaper a few years
ago. It stated that a bunch of men, among them Edward Adams, who purportedly
found the mine that was later named for him, organized an expedition to
go to California. Their probably starting place was Magdalena. They traveled
in a northwesterly direction, until somewhere between Magdalena and old
Fort San Rafael, they camped on a little stream.
One of the men noticed gold in the stream
and excitedly revealed his discovery to the rest. Adams, who knew a little
more about mining than his companions, decided that the gold washed into
the stream from a rich outcropping above the camp. Taking his partner,
a man by the name of Davidson with him, he left camp and traveled up the
canyon about a mile to try to discover the "mother lode". A little while
after they had disappeared around a bend in the creek, the expedition was
attacked by Apaches, and as they caught the encampment totally unprepared,
the Indians massacred every man in camp.
Adams and Davidson heard the firing, and suspecting
its cause, took to the cover of the bushes on the nearby hillside. After
hiding for several hours, the two men cautiously made their way over the
hill and saw that the Apaches had left, secure in the belief that they
had killed all the men of the expedition, and had taken all the mules and
horses with them.
After burying all the dead, Adams and Davidson
knocked a few pieces of gold-bearing ore off an outcropping of quartz that
they believed to be the "mother lode". They then purported made their way
to Fort San Rafael, where they said they asked for aid to go back and find
the gold and were refused by the officer in charge.
They then made their way afoot and after perilous
hardships and a great deal of suffering, came into the little town of Reserve,
in what is now Catron County. It is said that they showed off the ore to
several of the natives, and then after borrowing some money on the strength
of the richness of the ore, bought horses and went to Pima, Arizona, where
Adams had friends whom he thought had enough money to properly outfit an
expedition to return to the place where he had found the gold.
The expedition was organized, and traveled
from Pima to Alma and thence to the immediate locality where Adams was
supposed to have found the gold. But through some freak of nature of loss
or direction, they could not find the gold, or even the place where the
men had been massacred. Perhaps it was because Adams and Davidson both
were notoriously poor in remembering directions. Many expeditions have
been organized since then, but to this day, the Adams Diggings remains
as much a mystery as when Adams first told of it.
Now I am going to tell a story that is almost
completely at variance with the story printed by the El Paso Herald. It
is a first-hand story from the lips of Bob Lewis, pioneer, old-time prospector,
cowboy and for the better part of his manhood, a frontier peace officer
and a personal friend of Edward Adams. Bob is a big man, well over six-feet
and weighing in the vicinity of two-hundred pounds. He always have a jovial
greeting and manner, and has the map of Ireland printed all over his face.
Big, rough and burly, he has been the [?] of many crooks and lawbreaker
in [?] County. He lives in Magdalena. He has been over nearly every section
of the southwestern corner of the State of New Mexico, and knows its rugged
terrain as well or better than nearly any other man. He is reknowned for
his lack of fear, and truthfulness. That is why I believe his account of
the Adams Diggings far more than any of the others I have heard. Here is
the story in his own words:
"Sure I knowed old Adams. I knowed him before
he left Magdalena, and after he came back. Never was a bigger old liar.
He'd tell a lie when the truth would fit better. He was used to braggin'
and stretchin' the truth. He was a drinkin' man too. I knowed him to stay
drunk six months out of the year," (maybe this was an exaggeration, but
many people have told so the same thing) "and then go on [?] and throw
a big drunk the rest of the year.
It was in the early part of August, 1864,
when Adams and about seven other men organized a trappin' expedition and
started up in the northwestern part of the state to trap beaver. They started
early and intended to get their camp set up before cold weather came. They
camped on a little stream not far from old Fort San Fafael, which is now
Fort Wingate and has been moved a few miles from the old site of Fort San
Rafael.
Now I don't know this for certain, but I believe
from events which I will try to explain later, that just about dark, a
caravan from California stopped and threw camp with Adams party. They had
stopped at Fort Wingate two days before and had told the commanding officer
that they were transporting between sixty and eighty thousand dollars in
placer gold from California to some of the Eastern states. I know that
they were never seen after the time Adams party was wiped out by the Indians,
so I believe that they camped with Adams party and met the same fate.
I know from Adams personal character, that
he was not above ambushing such a caravan. I did not know Davidson, but
as he was Adams sidekick, I believe he throwed in with Adams and the two
of 'em made plans to hijack the California outfit and steal their gold.
An encampment like that, in those days, usually
got us an hour or two before daylight, in order to make an early start.
It is said that Adams and Davidson made an excuse to go and gather some
wood, as wood had been scarce the evening before and they had not been
able to obtain a sufficient supply. I believe that Adams and Davidson absented
themselves from camp, so they could go down country a few miles and find
a suitable place for waylaying the California outfit.
While they were gone, and it must have been
just as good daylight came, because that is the time when Indians usually
attack, a big bunch of Apaches attacked the camp. So complete must have
been the surprise, that the white men could not have had a very good chance
to grab their guns and defend themselves. Every man in that camp was killed,
scalped and their bodies mutilated, and all their provisions, horses and
mules stolen by the Apaches.
When Adams and Davidson returned to camp,
they must have congratulated themselves on the luck that had caused them
to absent themselves from camp. Rummaging around among the supplies, Adams
must have found the gold the California outfit had been carrying. As proof
of this, I later saw a handful of this gold that Adams had save when he
buried the rest and it was a quality entirely foreign to that part of New
Mexico and identical with some I had seen from California Diggin's. The
pellets were about the size of a pinhead, up to as big as a pinto bean,
and I knew that nobody ever found that kind of gold in the parts of New
Mexico I have prospected over.
After burying the gold in what they considered
a safe place, the two made their way afoot, supposedly, to Fort San Rafael,
where they said they reported the massacre to the authorities in charge
and petitioned aid from the commanding officer to go back and help them
relocate a mine they had found and to view the remains of the Indian attack.
I do not believe this last part, because many
years later, I happened to be in Evans [?], in March 1890, where Adams,
who had been drinkin' pretty heavy, related a story of how he had gone
to Fort San Rafael, on a certain day (he mentioned the exact date, which
I can not now remember) in August, 1864, and petitioned the commanding
officer for aid to return to give decent burial to the massacred party
and offer him and Davidson, protection while they tried to relocate a rich
gold mine.
There happened to be an old, retired Army
officer in the saloon who had listened intently to Adams story. This man
was Captain Sanborn, who was considered a heavy drinker. However, he did
not appear to be drunk at this particular time, and he answered Adams:
"Sir, since the latter part of your speech concerns me, and it is most
damaging to my character, I now take it upon myself to refute your statements
and call you a contemptible, damned liar. I happened to be the commanding
officer of Fort San Rafael at the time of which you are talking. I recall
the day of which you speak very clearly and to my knowledge you never set
foot in that Fort in your life. It could never be said truthfully that
Cap Sanborn ever refused aid to anybody within a weeks ride of my post
who needed it."
"Who's a damn liar?" bellowed Adams. "Yuh better eat them words cap, or me
an' you are agoin' to tangle right here an' now. Bigod! I don't like army
officers anyway, so I might as well wipe up th' floor with one of 'em right
now." Saying which, he started for Sanborn.
Cap Sanborn ran behind the lunch counter and
grabbed a big butcher knife and jumped over the counter. Adams ran out
the front door and Sanborn chased him for a couple of blocks shouting that
Adams was the dirtiest liar that ever lived. He could not catch Adams,
and returned to the saloon, where he again told everybody in hearing distance
that Adams had not ever been to Fort San Rafael.
From the above incident I drew the conclusion
that Adams and Davidson never went to Fort San Rafael at all, but passed
a considerable distance to the south in an effort to avoid it. They limped
into the little town of Reserve, sore-footed and half-starved.
It was in Reserve that Adams showed a couple
of pieces of ore in quartz form that was exceedingly rich, and stated that
it was from the mine he had found before the Indians had massacred his
party. He made no mention of the California expedition.
I later saw the same samples Adams had shown
in Reserve and recalled that Adams had showed me one of the samples before
he left Magdalena in 1864. He had told me then that he had given an Indian
some whiskey for the samples and had promised him more if he would show
him where he got the amples. If Adams story he told in Reserve about these
samples had been true, there would indeed have been a substantial claim
to his having found a rich mine. This is where all such stories come from
and these all of them I have ever seen in my life, and must have come from
one of the richest mines ever heard of. But to my knowledge, no ore of
similar quality has ever been found, and the Indian who gave the samples
to Adams must be long since dead and the place he found the samples will
probably never be found.
Adams didn't dare show any of the gold at
that time he had stolen and buried. Therefore he and Davidson separated,
Adams going to Pima, Arizona to obtain money and supplies from friends
to outfit an expedition to later come back and salvage the gold. Davidson
went on a supposed visit to see some relatives in Louisiana.
Adams was successful in his attempt to raise
an expedition, and he sent for Davidson who returned from Louisiana and
the expedition met him in Alma, a little town just south of Reserve. They
could not find any gold, and Adams later made several solitary trips in
search of it, but never had any luck.
Several expeditions have been organized and
went forth in an effort to find the Adams Diggings, but all have met with
defeat. It was in 1898 that I decided to see if I couldn't find the bodies
of the men who were massacred in Adams party. Adams had told me that they
had camped about fifteen miles north of three peaks that rose up from the
plain and were a considerable distance from any other mountains. I got
to thinkin' and the only three peaks I knew of between Gallup and Magdalena,
were the Tres Montosas, which are only about fifteen miles west of Magdalena.
Figuring about fifteen or twenty miles north of there, I went to North
Lake. A few miles north of North Lake, I found the bodies of five men,
all buried in one hole. I could find no clue to any gold from anything
in the vicinity, so I came back to town and reported the finding of the
bodies. It is my belief that the bodies I found were the remains of part
of Adams expedition, but of course I can't prove this. But there is one
thing I do know. That is that an old fellow I know, found about twenty
thousand dollars buried about five miles north of North Lake, and only
a few miles from the place I discovered there bodies. This mans name is
Jose Maria Jaramillo, and this what he told me. But when I asked him if
the twenty thousand was in gold dust, he would not tell me.
That's the way a lot of there old, "rich-nice"
stories get started," finished old bob. "I've heard that the definition
of a miner is a damn liar with a hole in the ground. And a prospector is
a damn liar without anything but a dang good imagination. You can talk
to most of 'em, and dang near ever' one of 'em tells you about some rich
prospect they struck. But they're always broke and beggin' a grubstake.
If their mines was half as rich as their imaginations, they could take
a handpick, and a gold pan and make more money in a month than most bank
presidents could by wearin' out a half a dozen fountains pens. It's true
that sometimes a prospector does hit it rich, but when he does, he generally
don't talk and brag on it, but gets busy and gets some capital interested
and starts workin' it. That's my story of the Adams Diggings. It is one
of the richest mines in the world in the mind of a danged old liar like
I knowed Ed Adams to be, and in the minds of a bunch of old, dream-crazy
prospectors who aint got no more sense than to believe in it."
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