Explorer Paxson Hayes claimed in 1934 that he had discovered the burial ground of a blonde race of giants near unexplored regions of the fabulous Barranca de Cobre in old Mexico. The 'barranca' is a canyon deeper and wider than the well-known Grand Canyon of Arizona. It is located approximately 550 miles south of Nogales, Mexico, and is 20 miles wide and 7,000 feet deep. It contains semi-tropical flora and fauna.
Hayes decided to explore the Barranca de Cobre after listening to Yaqui Indian legends and stories about it. The Indians claimed there were indications of a vast ancient civilization in a great canyon to the south in Mexico. In relating his discovery, Hayes said:
We entered the canyon through the only known opening, a slot in the rock where a river once ran. Close inside the entrance we came onto the ruins of what once must have been a great city consisting of giant buildings. They were constructed of a cement-like masonry that was mixed with bamboo. One of the mosque-topped buildings still contained the stored particles of ancient grain. The grain was later analyzed by Mexican government authorities who said it fell into no classification known today. However, we found no other traces of this lost civilization... there were no burial grounds, and it is in such places that civilizations leave their true histories. I returned to the United States and one night heard a chief of the Yaqui tell of ancient caves that existed about 45 miles north of the 'barranca' where I had discovered the Lost City. The chief said vast burial grounds could be located in the caves. I headed south again with my Yaqui guide, Rafael Garcia, who said he knew the location of the caverns.
We traveled with mules for 90 miles until we reached another deep canyon with sides sloping upwards to a series of mesas. I noticed on the horizon a strange rock formation which resembled a great cathedral in ruins... it seemed symbolic of what we sought. The cave we found began as a tunnel and ended in a chamber about So feet high, 25 feet deep, and 20 feet wide.
We dug down through eight inches of cave deposits until we reached volcanic ash which extended for another twelve inches... beneath all of this we discovered numerous burial wrappings made of woven mats bound with twisted yucca fiber rope. In these ancient wrappings we found 34 mummified remains of men and women... they originally had been between seven and eight feet tall! These giants were blonds, and to complicate the matter, the last body we discovered was that of a pygmy!
We also found two small, four-legged stools, that had been carved from solid pieces of wood... as yet, the wood is unidentified. Our greatest experience, however, was finding the saffron-colored burial robes that were plain except for a beautiful light blue pattern of intricately woven pyramids and triangles. The latter contain tiny white dots... one to three... which recur throughout the pattern. Portions of our discoveries are now in museums in California and Arizona.
