Tales Of Buried Treasure In San Diego

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/books/millslandmarks/landmark.htm



This page has a list of all of the Historical Markers in San Diego County. I think it would be cool to go visit every one and take a picture. But a lot of them are out in the desert.



This one mentions buried treasure!



NUMBER 369 SANTA YSABEL MISSION SITE

Slightly over a mile north of the town of Santa Ysabel, on State Highway 79, is the site of the chapel of the Santa Ysabel Asistencia of the San Diego Mission, established in 1818 by Father Fernando Martin. A brush hut thrown up in that year as a temporary chapel was replaced a few years later by a substantial adobe building. For years after the rest of the church had disappeared one of the mud walls remained and, in spring, was used to form one end of an improvised chapel of brush and reeds, where mass was said for the Indians. The mission bells, said to be the oldest in California, hung the year round on a wooden frame of logs, to call the faithful to worship at that one time. The bells have since been stolen. At Santa Ysabel Kearny's command stopped the night before going into action at San Pasquale The church, then owned by an English rancher, gave the soldiers shelter from the rain. Some say that wine they were served here contributed to their defeat. There are many tales of buried treasure at Santa Ysabel, partly because of confusion with the mythical Mission Santa Ysabel of Lower California, where the Jesuits were supposed to have secreted a fabulous treasure. There are also stories of a cache left here by a miser. The present chapel stands just to the south of the historic site.

Location: On State Hwy 79 (P.M. 21.8), 1.4 mi N of Santa Ysabel



OK, so wait a second... So where is this Santa Ysabel of Lower California then? I want to go to the one with all the buried treasure and get rich! Well, the above says that THAT Santa Ysabel is "mythical". Huh? I'm assuming that Lower California means Baja California. But google doesn't turn up anything about that. Did the maker of the Landmark sign make the whole thing up? Or was it just a legend passed around by word of mouth?



The widipedia entry on the mission does talk about the "missing bells" though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ysabel_Asistencia







But hold on - a google search of "santa ysabel baja treasure" turns up this page:

http://www.google.com/search?q=santa+ysabel+baja+treasure&hl=en



The "Lost Mission" of Baja California

Peter Gerhard

Western Folklore, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Apr., 1958), pp. 97-106

doi:10.2307/1497117

This article consists of 10 page(s).



Unfortunately, you have to be some kind of authorized user to see beyond the first page. And with a first sentence like "Most People are intrigued by stories of buried treasure, and the ranchers of baja california are no exception." how could I not want to see more?



Why are these Jstor people hiding buried treasure from me??