One cannot neglect the immense effect on the imaginations of North
America made by the discovery of gold in California and later in
Alaska. Snively’s wild goose expedition up the Rio Grande in 1867 [30]
could hardly have been supported by the settlers of Texas before ’49.
There is evidence to show that popular interest in, and therefore
legends of, Texas lost mines blazed up synchronically with the
California gold excitement of 1848–1850. In 1849 Charles W. Webber
published a novel that makes much of the San Saba tradition. [31] In
the early fifties, Texas newspapers carried items on “Gold” as well as
on “Cotton,” etc., and there was a mining rush up the Colorado and its
western tributaries. [32] The time afforded occasion for the revival of
Spanish-Mexican and Indian traditions concerning Spanish mining
operations in Texas. Note should be made of the fact that the majority
of Texas buried treasure legends presuppose rich mines.