The Naranjal mine (more commonly known as El Naranjal) is the name of a legendary
lost gold mine in the
Sierra Mountains of
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. Folklorist
J. Frank Dobie devoted part of his book "Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver" to the story of this legendary lost gold mine.
The mine was supposedly located at the bottom of a
canyon
A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...
, beside a river and an abandoned
hacienda
A ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards ...
. Surrounding the site were groves of
oranges
The orange, also called sweet orange to distinguish it from the bitter orange (''Citrus × aurantium''), is the fruit of a tree in the family Rutaceae. Botanically, this is the hybrid ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis'', between the pomelo (''Citrus m ...
, hence the name El Naranjal, which means the orange grove in Spanish. Alternately, some legends point to orange-colored gold
ore
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...
from the mine as a source of the name.
Unlike other lost or legendary mines in this area, there is little hard evidence it ever existed, and may be purely a
legend
A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...
, taken from garbled accounts of the far more popular legendary lost mines of
Tayopa Tayopa is the name of a legendary lost silver mine in the Sierra Mountains of Mexico. Many stories, legends and myths surround it as well as articles and books describing the search for it. Folklorist J. Frank Dobie devoted part of his book "Apac ...
.
See also
*
Lost mines
The "lost mine" is a popular form of lost treasure legend. Although there are countless examples around the world, several common themes can be traced throughout the various legends. Usually the mines are said to contain valuable elements or min ...
Sources
* Dobie, J. Frank, Apache Gold & Yaqui Silver. Boston: Little, Brown. 1939.
External links
American Heritage Article
Mexican legends
Gold mines in Mexico
Lost mines
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