Question: What Texas county is home to the “lost San Saba mine”?
Answer: Llano County. The Los Almagres Mine, named by Spanish explorers after the cerro de almagre (“hill of red ocher”) mentioned by local Indians, was hailed as the site of “a tremendous stratum of ore” by Lieutenant Governor Bernardo de Miranda y Flores, who promised “a mine to each of the inhabitants of the province of Texas.” The captain of a presidio on the San Saba River near present-day Menard transported 75 pounds of ore from the mine, which yielded about 1.5 ounces of silver.
After the presidio was abandoned, later treasure seekers found the slag heap and supposed the mine was nearby, while it was actually more than 70 miles away. It wasn’t until 1909 that the mine was rediscovered after historian Herbert Eugene Bolton examined Miranda’s journal.
