Tales of Treasure in the
Anza Borrego Area

There is one tale of this area that is very well known of concerning a lost ship in the desert. The lost ship has been placed in areas that go from Joshua Tree National Park, to the Salton Sea and to Anza Borrego State Park. This story initiates in the days of the Indians during the times that the lands were still covered with water. It was said that a ship was able to sail up from the Gulf of Mexico at that point. When the Spanish were raiding Mexico, a ship that was loaded with gold a pearls sailed into the area and was supposedly searching for the seven cities of Cibola with its gold paved streets and the magnificent Laguna de Oro. Records have been shown of the Spanish ships sailing up the Gulf searching for an outlet to the Pacific. As the years went by, a great number of people were able to see a ship sitting on the dunes. There was a young guy, who was known as Manquerna, was said to have been the one who found and took a fortune in pearls from the ship that had been abandoned in the desert. Some others have also stated they found what they thought looked like a Viking ship on a high canyon wall in the mountains that were close by. It’s not impossible for a ship to have sailed into the area and it could be that one of these ships could have broken down in the sea that was receding. Who knows? Perhaps there are still treasures to be found in the area.