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16 www.DesertMessenger.com March 18, 2015 Long before the California Gold Rush there was a legend that persisted from the Quechans about a group of Span- ish colonist and a couple of padres who had thrown a cache of coins into a deep well and covered it. The well was said to be near a mission along the El Cami- no del Diablo. Back in 1768, from Mission San Xavier del Bac, Father Francisco Tomás Garcés had traveled up the Santa Cruz River where he spent time with the Pima In- dians. He then followed the Gila River to where it emptied into the Colorado River. At Yuma Crossing the swiftly running river was nearly 500 yards wide. Garcés couldn't swim and he wasn't sure his horse could either. So the friendly Quechan Indians carried him and his supplies across the river. During this visit to the Quechans, Fa- ther Garcés learned about a trail that went on to the great ocean. Once back at San Xavier, Garcés hur- ried down to the Spanish Presidio at Tubac to tell Captain Juan Bautista de Anza about the land route to the ocean. Anza received permission from Viceroy Bucareli in Mexico City to ex- plore the possibility of a land route. On January 8, 1774 Anza left San Xavier for the expedition with Garcés, Father Juan Diaz, and around 30 soldiers and Indian guides. At the Mission Sonoyta the explorers prepared for the next leg of their jour- ney across the desolate desert to the Quechan villages along the Colorado River. They were advised that the only known source of water before the river was the small oasis of Quitobaquito, or Little Many Springs. After experiencing the scarcity of water and the extremely El Camino del Diablo - The Devil's Highway rough terrain between Sonoyta and the river, the Spanish explorers agreed that the route of the El Camino del Diablo was indeed The Devil's Highway. Upon their safe arrival at the Colorado River, Anza and his party met with a chief of the Quechans, Salvador Palma. The Spaniards impressed Palma and his people with many gifts and by demon- strating the power of their guns. Even so, Palma knew he held the upper hand with his ability to cross the Colorado and his knowledge of the way across the great sand dunes of the desert and the trail to the ocean. With the help of the Indians, the Spanish party crossed the riv- er and proceed- ed over the hot dry desert. It was a very dif- fi cult journey, even for this hardy group of explorers. But within a month they crossed through a deep mountain pass that led to the Mission San Gabriel. At last, as Viceroy Bucareli had hoped, the Spaniards could have a line of commu- nication between the Port of Monterey and the Province of Sonora. Upon his return, Father Garcés de- cided to establish a mission at Yuma Crossing, the Mission La Purísima Concepción. Later, 15 miles upriver he also founded Bicuñer Mission and stayed on to work among the Quechan Indians. At fi rst, Father Garcés had a good experience with the Quechans. But later, when more Spaniards ar- rived, problems ensued. The colonist assumed that they could occupy what- ever fertile lands they wanted, even if it was land the Indians had previously cleared and built a waterway from the river. Arrogant and rude, the colonists assumed their ways were the only way and if an Indian did not follow their ways he would be tied to a post in the compound and publicly beaten. Early on the morning of July 17, 1781 the Quechans had had enough. They set fi re to both missions and all the build- ings that had been erected by the colo- nists. The legend of the coins in the well began during the time of the massacre, which by sundown left nearly 100 dead. A few men and 67 women were captured and taken to nearby Quechan villages. Father Garcés and another priest, Fa- ther Barreneche Diaz, fl ed Concepción with some women and headed down- river. Friendly Quechans tried to pro- tect them for a couple of days, but on July 19th a group of angry Quechans, and some Pimas, killed the unarmed priests thus ending the enslavement of the Quechans. They had stood their ground, refusing to be subjugated by outsiders. Within a couple of months a large group of soldiers came and ar- ranged the release of the captives who, other than being forced to work at hard labor, were unharmed. To the surprise of the Spanish soldiers, the women had not been molested. Perhaps the teach- ings of Father Garcés had made an im- pression on the Quechans after all. For years the Quechans remained un- friendly towards all light-skinned in- truders. The much needed land route so prized by Viceroy Bucareli was closed, thus weakening the Spanish positions both in southern Arizona and along the Pacifi c Ocean. The bad behavior of some of the Spanish colonists towards the Quechans was a costly one. Father Gar- cés wrote in his journal, "We have failed. It is not because we have not tried. It is because we have not understood." For over a hundred years the leg- end of a cache of coins persisted. That somewhere near a mission along the El Camino del Diablo was a well where the coins had been thrown and covered with dirt. Several Mexican treasure hunters from Sonora lost their lives on The Devil's Highway in their search for the lost coins. Was the well and the lost coins ever found and if so, by whom, and when? Read more about the El Camino del Diablo in this column on April 1st. Excerpts from "In the Shadow of Saguaros" by Rosalee Oldham Wheeler "In the Shadow of Saguaros" Vol. I & II are now available exclusively at the Tyson's Well Museum and Reader's Oasis Book Store Voices from The Past in Quartzsite, AZ Specializing in Licensed Coca Cola Collectibles! Antiques & Goodies! 543 W. 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