Tumacacori Mission in Arizona by Carol Highsmith.
Tumacacori Mission, an 18th-century Catholic Church, was once manned by Spaniards in the hopes of converting the pagan Opata and Papago Indians. It is about 45 miles south of Tucson, Arizona.
The missionaries had a second goal when they discovered silver in the area in 1766. Quickly, they put the Indians to work mining the silver in several mines throughout the area.
The Opata Indians preferred working in one particular mine more than the others, and the missionaries allowed this, as the mine was highly profitable. At the back of this mine was a giant room where all of the silver was stored in a pile in the center of the room.
Despite their best efforts at converting the Indians, the Opata utilized the big room, piled with silver, during the night to perform their old pagan religious rites. However, they must have absorbed some of the preachings because when they saw a Mayo Indian Princess traveling in the desert, they were convinced she was the next Virgin Mary.
Kidnapping her, they took her to the big room piled with silver and told her that she would marry their chief to produce a child savior. The princess refused, saying that she would rather die. The Indians retaliated by deciding that if she did not marry their chief, they would sacrifice her for their gods.
One Sunday, when the Indians had the day off, they tied the princess to the mound of silver in the center of the room. The chief gave her one last chance to marry him or die, and she chose death. The chief then cut her hands, rubbing poison into her blood and telling her that she would die when the sun touched the wounds. As a small ray of sunlight beamed through a hole in the center of the room, the Indians began to dance and sing around her.
Tumacacori Mission Cemetery in Arizona by Carol Highsmith.
When one of the missionaries heard the commotion coming from the mine, he investigated and found the dead princess still tied to the silver and the Indians dancing around her. Appalled that their preachings had been violated, the missionaries shut the mine entrance, leaving the princess and all of the silver inside.
According to the legend, both the silver and her skeletal remains still lie hidden somewhere near the Tumacacori Mission. Old Spanish records place the Opata Mine halfway between the Guadalupe Mine and the Pure Conception Mine, just waiting to be found.
The Tumacacori Mission and the surrounding area is now a national park.
© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated September 2022.
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