Trinidad

Spaniards came up from Mexico a few years after the American Revolutionary War and discovered in a rugged mountain peak, somewhere near what is now the states southern border, an immensely rich deposit of gold. The Spaniards began preparations for mining, timbering a shaft, making melting ovens and a cleaning trough. They had little more than started taking out ore when something never explained occurred to call them away. They ordered their peons and Indian slaves to cover the mouth of the shaft and remove all evidence of their labor. Then destroying their trail down the mountainside, the Spaniards and their train of horses, mules and servants left that region forever. According to tradition, the Spaniards discovered the gold by accident, under conditions in which they were not equipped to undertake extensive and long continued mining operations. Most old timers who have hunted this lost lode believe it lies in the rugged peaks rising west of Trinidad as the southern point and Walsenburg as the northern point. Trinidad is in Las Animas County; Walsenburg is in Huerfano County.