Hi there buckaroos. This is Ken Minters with the Diamond Cave.
And that was Tarzan joining me in saying hello. About this time we get to looking
forward to seeing you drop around to the tack room for a bit of palaver and a
story about hidden gold, some lost mine, or about some colorful character of the
West. It's mighty interesting how gold and buried treasure have become associated
with the Southwest, but then you're apt to find a lost treasure most anywhere.
Might be one in your backyard for all you know, but don't get out of the
shovel and start digging. I don't think your mother and dad would like finding a
lot of new holes in a petunia bed or under that new fence. I'll give you an
idea of how this whole treasure business started as soon as we've had a word from
my announcer. From the tack room of Ken Minard's Diamond Cave Ranch we're
bringing you stories of adventure, stories of circus life, fascinating
transcribed tales of the old West where cowboys still follow the cattle trails,
stories of rodeos and parades, colorful legends of the red man, hidden gold and
buried treasure. The exciting tales from the Diamond Cave are told by a Hollywood
champion of Western stars, internationally famous Ken Minard. Now Ken has a real
thriller in store for you today, Baccarouz, just like he said a minute ago.
And speaking of thrills, can you imagine Ken coming right into your living room
and saying hello to you personally? Boy what a thrill, and that's not all. No sir.
After Ken speaks directly to you he'll tell you two of his favorite stories
about the Wild West. Now of course many of you know I'm talking about the Ken
Minard personalized record album that you can have for your very own. Now you
can't buy it in any store, no sir. This is Ken's own Diamond Cave brand record
album. It's all in color with a big picture of Ken and Tarzan right on the
front and a wonderful story about Ken on the back too. And inside are two big
eight-inch unbreakable phonograph records made of expensive pure vinylite.
Ken and Tarzan's picture is right on the record too, and here's the best part of
all. When you put the record on your phonograph you'll hear Ken talking
right to you with a personalized message. Why Ken will say, hello Erastus, or hello
Moes, or whatever your name is. This Ken Minard album will be your very own and
nobody else's. And here's all you do, just put a dollar bill in your name and
address in an envelope and send it to Records in care of this radio station.
Isn't that amazing? Why you get two wonderful records with two real Western
stories all in a beautiful colored album for only one dollar. Send in right now
kids and just wait till you see how surprised your friends will be when you
play the records and Ken speaks right to you personally. Their standard 78 rpm
speed records, ask mom and dad about it to play on the regular kind of
phonograph that everybody's used for years. So send your name and address now
to Records in care of this station and enclose just a little old one dollar
bill. Be the first in your neighborhood to own a real Ken Minard personalized
record album. Now Ken. Back about 1536, a long long time ago, let me see, that would
be well over 400 years back. The party of Spanish were exploring some of the barren
lands down along the Gulf of California. These Spanish had found plenty worth
hunting for in Mexico and they were investigating new possibilities. They
hadn't seen anybody for days, so you can well imagine how surprised they were
when they saw some folks approaching. They were prepared in case those coming
weren't friendly and when they got near they saw one of the strangest sights you
could imagine. There was an old man, practically no clothes on, but his long
hair and beard served as some cover. They wouldn't have known he was a white man
until he started to talk and with him was a moor, an African fellow called Esti
Ben or Stephen. They had about 10 or 12 Indians with him too. The white man said
his name was Cabesa de Baca, said he was a Spaniard and that his ship had been
wrecked off the coast of Florida. You can see, Buccaroos, that that was a long way
off, for here he was now clear on the other side of the continent at the
Pacific Ocean. Well as you can imagine, this Cabesa de Baca fella had quite a
story to tell about trekking across the country, living with and fighting off the
Indians and almost starving to death. A lot can happen in eight years and that's
what it had taken him, eight long years to get across. Well now here was a fellow
who had surely done a lot of scouting and the Spaniards realized he might be of some
help to them, a great deal of help. So they went out of their way to be
accommodating, offering him food and drink and being as polite as you please.
Among all the places he's passed through, this Cabesa de Baca seemed to have been
the most impressed by a group of seven cities. Of course they couldn't compare
in size with what we'd call a city today, but I guess they were pretty crowded the
way he talked. Anyway he said the people there wore fine clothes, lived in great
palaces and the sapphires and turquoise as they had, not to mention the gold. Well
there was just no limit to the stuff. You can well imagine how interested the
Spaniards got. They began pumping Baca for fare about what he called the seven
cities of Cebola. Well believe me that surely started a rush, but to do the
thing right an expedition had to be organized. The first was led by a fine
looking adventurer by the name of Francisco Vázquez-Carnata, probably one
of the biggest and most elaborate expeditions ever made in the whole of
North America. While according to reports it included about 300 Spaniards, a
thousand Indians and about a thousand or more extra horses. They took along whole
herds of sheep and swine for food, driving them along behind the main group
so the smell wouldn't be so bad. Of course they had the best guns available
at the time, but more important in case of a fight they had about the blood
thirstiest band of cutthroats you could imagine. Yes sir, they were prepared for
anything. Carnata chose as his chief Scouts Stephen or Esteban, the same
fellow who had been with Baca. He should know the territory if anybody did.
Carnata told Stephen to let him know how he was making out through a series of
secret signals. Stephen was to send back a small black cross if the reports of
the wealth in the cities was not exaggerated, and the cross was to be
proportionally larger if things were better than expected. I'll tell you what
Stephen sent back in just a minute. Well let's just come along a fast 400 years
to today, and while we rest just a minute let me interrupt the story to tell you
about something I'm mighty proud of. Have you heard about my K-shirt? It's a real
Western shirt that a friend of mine designed especially for me. It started
like a t-shirt you know, in nice cotton about the color of desert sand with a
flaming red diamond K brand centered on the front, and it's got a picture on it
too, me and Tarzan. Well the kids in my neighborhood took a fancy to it and
wanted one like it, so my friend made them up special. Kid said I ought to tell
you about them so that's what I'm doing. If you figure you'd like to have a K-shirt
like I wear when I'm practicing tricks and fooling around, I'll see that you get
one if you drop me a note. A fellow said he'd fix you up with one for only a
dollar, and that sure surprised me. Just name your size, two, four, six, eight, ten, or
twelve, and if you want a K-shirt like mine just send me your name and address
and the size and slip a dollar bill in the envelope too and send it to K-shirt
in care of this station. You remember I was telling you how Coronado was waiting
to hear from your scout Stephen. The size of the cross sent back was to give an
idea of the wealth they could expect to find in those seven cities. A word finally
came back that the message was on its way and everybody was out peering in the
distance, each wanting to be the first to catch sight of the messenger. Well,
buckaroos, you can just imagine what Coronado said when he saw what the man
was bringing. A cross as tall as a man, as a tall man at that. The order was
given at once to advance with all speed on and on. The great expedition moved
across the desert and into the mountains and across the desert again. There's no
small task moving that number of men and all that equipment, not to mention the
sheep and swine back there in the rear. And although Coronado was hoping to get
some more detailed information from Stephen, none came. Still on and on they
went, driven as one can only by that lust for gold. Well, they'd been moving for
some time and they didn't begin to find those golden cities. The men started
grumbling and fighting among themselves and Coronado was hard-put, maintaining
order. Remember, he had a tough bunch of ombres to handle. At first, Coronado kept
the real meaning of the cross from the men, letting them believe it was just good
news. But when he told them what it really meant, it didn't have the effect
he'd hoped for. The men began deserting, wanting first pickings. But do you know
Buccarus? Though Coronado searched and searched, all he found was the mud-walled
cities of the Zuni Indians in what is now Arizona, and never a trace of the seven
golden cities of Sibola, with the streets paved with sapphires and turquoises. When
his guides and interpreters asked the Indians about the fabulous cities, they
would nod their heads and point to the horizon. There was also talk of the Grand
Quivira, a place where the plates, the jugs, and bowls, and even the water jars
were made of gold. So Coronado went on and on and on. A thousand miles across the
mountains and cracked lands where the water was so scarce the ground surface
broke into huge cracks, like the lips of a man dying of thirst. And the Grand
Quivira turned out to be a mirage that melted into the desert, like the stray
drops from the dripping canteen. Yes, sir Buccarus, Coronado searched and
searched, but he found nothing. Not even a trace of Stephen, who had led him on with
this fabulous province. And no one has ever come upon the answer. Was the whole
story of Cabeza de Baca a false one, dreamed up in the mind of a man,
possibly crazed by eight years of hazardous wandering? Maybe he believed it
himself. The mind plays queer tricks on the fellow now and then. Or maybe he
thought it was the only way to keep from being killed by the Spaniards who found
them. And it's just possible that Stephen, afraid of being killed too, if they found
out the truth, had to keep up the falsehood. But why, when he was safely
away, did he send back such a huge cross? Was that his final joke on the Spaniards,
or what? But believe me, Buccarus, no matter what happened, it surely hasn't
kept folks from looking for that wealth ever since. And that's one of the reasons
why the southwest is one of the most dug-over places in the world. It seems
these folks just won't stop looking for the seven lost cities of Cibola, where
the streets are paved with gold, and the sapphires and turquoise are so numerous
the boys play marbles with them. Well, that seems almost a little incredulous,
if you don't mind my using a big word, Ken. You know, I've learned a lot of
history from you today that I never got in school, I must confess. You know, that
was really a humdinger of a story. I felt like I was really there during all those
far-off years, in the days of Coronado, in his search for the seven cities of
Cibola. And say, kids, how would you like to have Ken really there, right in your
living room, anytime you want? Why, it's just like having Ken in person when you
own one of his wonderful Diamond K record albums made especially for you.
You remember what I told you earlier? You got a whole record album. There are four
sides, that's two complete Ken Main and Western stories, in a beautiful album for
only a dollar. What do we mean by four sides? Well, we mean there are two records
and each record has two sides, and two and two makes four, that's pretty simple,
isn't it? Yes, sir, you get these two wonderful, beautiful vinyl-like records
for only a dollar. And both the album and the records have colored pictures of Ken
and Tarzan blazing right across the front. Now, don't forget, these records are
personalized with a message from Ken, just for you, and he'll call you by name.
Or, if you want to give these records to a friend as a gift, send us the name of
the friend and Ken will say hello to the friend the same as he will to you. Now, as
we said, these are real high-quality records made from pure vinyl-like, the
finest material that money can buy. It's impossible to break one of these
wonderful records and you can play them over and over as many times as you want.
So, be sure to send your name and address right now to Records in care of this
radio station. Enclose a dollar bill. The records in the album will be sent right
to you, postage prepaid from Hollywood. Hurry now, the quicker you write, the
sooner you'll have your Western record album to hear and enjoy. Now, let's get
back to Ken and have him tell us what his next story is going to be. Well,
buckaroos, maybe you know now a little more about the early beginnings of
treasure hunting in one of my favorite sections of the country. Of course, that
includes Texas.
Mustn't forget Texas, huh, Tarzan? Anyway, I hope you'll be sending for your K-shirts
and personalized record albums and we'll be showing up here at the tack room with
a diamond K next time I get the mood for yarn spinning when I'll tell you the
story about unburied treasure. This is your old saddle pal, Ken Maynard and
Tarzan. Saying so long. You've been listening to Tales from the Diamond K,
stories of adventure told by Ken Maynard and the nationally famous cowboy and
Hollywood's champion of Western stars. We hope you're one of the regular visitors
to Ken's tack room. You know the door is always open here at the Diamond K Ranch
every weekday at the same time. Invite your friends to come along for a trip
into the adventures of the wild wild west and we bet mom and dad will enjoy these
stories too. Ken is a real riding, roping, shooting
cowboy who's traveled all over the world looking for excitement and lost treasure.
Starring in circuses, rodeos, and motion pictures and he's chock full of root and
tootin' stories. He'll be looking for you. Tales from the Diamond K was transcribed
and produced in Hollywood.