NEW MEXICO

New Mexico, the "Land of Enchantment", was admitted as a US state on January 6, 1912, and was so-named centuries earlier by the Spanish to denote "the lands north of the Rio Grande River".

New Mexico marks the entry point of the legendary Spanish Trail into what is today the modern United States of America. In the period 1848 to 2000, New Mexico's mines produced over 3.2 million troy ounces of gold and 117 million ounces of silver. There are some 163 mining districts throughout the state, and ten of these have each produced more than 150,000 troy ounces of gold.

Gold is found in New Mexico in quartz veins intruding its many ranges of the Rocky Mountains, as well as a free metal or in a combined form in secondary placer deposits in their drainage areas.

New Mexico lore abounds in the discovery of gold nuggets, which is notable in view of the fact that free nuggets represent the least common occurrence of gold.

Our extensive research into the lost treasures of the American southwest has surfaced seven well-documented Lost Treasure Tales from the state of New Mexico. They are presented below. To see these on a map of New Mexico, click the "Show Map View" button at right. To see more detailed maps, visit each tale from the index below, and click on the "Page 3" maps link.