Abandoned ruins have a unique way of drawing in treasure hunters. The Spanish Mission ruins in New Mexico are no exception, and some local towns even created a small business selling fake treasure maps to thrill-seekers. Many of these maps pointed to hidden Spanish gold supposedly buried at Gran Quivira.
Legend has it that during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Spanish had to leave Gran Quivira in a hurry, hiding gold to come back for later. However, it’s worth noting that the mission at Gran Quivira was actually abandoned eight years before the Pueblo Revolt. As Frank "Boss" Pinkley remarked after meeting a treasure hunter there, "The stories they shared revealed a surprising lack of historical understanding about the site."
One notable treasure hunter was Jacobo Yrisarri, who was born in 1860. He made several attempts to uncover treasure at Gran Quivira. In 1917, he followed a treasure map carved into a rock and dug a deep shaft in the apse of the San Isidro mission church, which was eight years after Gran Quivira National Monument was established. Yrisarri was eventually taken to Santa Fe, likely by archaeologist Edgar Hewett, and fined for breaking the 1906 Antiquities Act, which prohibited looting in National Parks and other federal lands.
Interestingly, in 1930, J.B. Wofford received permission from the legislature to dig at Gran Quivira in search of buried treasure. By 1932, Jacobo Yrisarri was brought on to lead the "excavation" until it ended a year later. The treasure shaft he dug went straight down before turning toward the San Buenaventura church. Unfortunately, Yrisarri passed away in 1937 without ever discovering the treasure at Gran Quivira. The shaft he created was filled in and sealed up in 1940.
