Book excerpt: One of the most fascinating folktales of New Mexico concerns a gold mine believed to lie near Truchas Peaks north of Santa Fe. Initially discovered by Spanish explorers, the mine is said to have been worked by three secretive German immigrants, who took its location to their graves. Some years later, so the story goes, the mine was rediscovered by a poor herder named Juan Mondragon, who died at the hand of his adulterous wife before he could make its location known.