[27], Throughout the 20th century, various expeditions and individuals continued to search the Superstitions for the Lost Dutchman Mine. They found what they were looking for and then some, according to Lost Dutchman State Park. The story sometimes claims there were arrows all around, and so thus it must have been the Apache protecting their sacred mountains. Just to connect some dots, Mason was the fellow who staked the two soldiers who turned up dead while seeking their lost bonanza. According to Legends of America, the Native Americans in the area believed the Thunder God of their religion lived in the Superstition Mountains, and thus they were required to protect it with lethal force, killing any who might set foot on the mountain and disturb their deity. One of the most professional and serious-minded efforts was led by Oklahoma City private detective Glen Magill, who organized multiple expeditions in the late 1960s and early '70s, and claimed on at least two occasions to have identified the location of the mine, later to concede he was either mistaken or the locations were "played out," or bereft of gold. The Silvermine Mountains or Silvermines Mountains ( Irish: Sliabh an Airgid) [1] are a mountain range in County Tipperary, Ireland. He had worked as a miner but was an amateur prospector at best. When I was a young buck, I used to always visit my dad in Arizona. The legend of the Lost Dutchman's gold mine is a quintessential version of just such a story. They were supposedly dug up in the desert, in area east of Gold canyon and Tucson in the late 1940s byTravis E Tomlinson. People have been seeking the Lost Dutchman's mine since at least 1892,[2] while according to one estimate, 9,000 people annually made some effort to locate the Lost Dutchman's mine. Unfortunately, when a group followed the clues given in Ruth's letter, they found nothing. [volume], October 11, 1933, Page NINE, Image 9, "Arizona desert searched for missing Denver man seeking gold mine", "Mother of missing treasure hunter holds onto hope", "Body of man who hunted legendary 'Lost Dutchman's' gold mine believed found in Arizona mountains", "3 Utah men still missing on Arizona treasure hunt", "3 Search for men looking for Lost Dutchman's gold suspended", "More remains found in Superstitions; may be hiker's", "Escape - When The Man Comes, Follow Him", "The Lost Dutchman's Mine History and Bibliography", Arizona Mining Scams and Unassayable Ore Projects of the Late 20th Century, "Skeptoid #347: The Lost Dutchman Gold Mine", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lost_Dutchman%27s_Gold_Mine&oldid=1148479290, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from April 2023, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from July 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Surprisingly, he was a real man. The trails in the Superstition Mountains range from short, easy strolls in the desert to strenuous climbs of some of the most dramatic volcanic peaks and everything in between. The stories of conquistadors and Jesuits bearing gold are completely unverifiable without documentation or archaeological evidence. We have imaging taken, with Go-pros, Sony 7000s; Osmo stabilized film cameras and Dji Phantom and Bee-bop drones. In his 1945 book about the Lost Dutchman's mine. The Pennsylvania Dutch Country. The only thing slightly off the cuff, is that three of them do ride their Harleys from central Ohio to Sturgis and back on a regular basis, but more about them later. Elevation: 6,001 Feet (1,829 Meters) Primary Mineral: Copper Lat, Long: 46.3369, -113.26190 Map: View on Google Maps We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Without doubt the most controversial but easily the most studied, researched and written about of all the historical documentation involving the Superstition Mountains, are the famous Peralta Stones. Because of what we have discovered at the site, Arcana Exploration believes we have proof for the first time that there is a common link between Waltz and the Peraltas. So what about Jacob Waltz? The rest of his remains were found a month later about a mile away. The earliest Lost Dutchman's mine in Arizona was said to have been near Wickenburg, about 180km (110mi) north-west of the Superstition Mountains: a "Dutchman" was allegedly discovered dead in the desert near Wickenburg in the 1870s alongside saddlebags filled with gold. Eventually, the conquistador ordered his men to flee and he never returned to the mountains, which they called Monte Supersticin, thus giving the mountains the name of Superstition. Allegedly, people saw the Jesuits come up to the Superstition Mountains with their loads of gold, but when they were spotted again on the other side, the mules carried no loads. Still, there is by no means a consensus among Dutch Hunters and many dismiss it entirely, regardless of scientific evidence. The legend then states that, sometime later, the last Peralta survivor(s) were helped out of some kind of bind by Jacob Waltz, and in his debt, they gave him the only thing they had of value: a map to the Peralta family mine in the Superstition Mountains, according to Cowboys and Indiansmagazine. "Dutchman's Gold" was a chart hit in 1960 for, "When the Man Comes, Follow Him" episode of the, "The Peralta Map" episode of the CBS Radio series, The Lost Dutchman Mine ride was a popular attraction at, The Lost Dutchman's Mine features prominently in the, The Lost Dutchmans Mine is the subject of Season 6, Episode 10 of podcast Unexplained. In yet another version of the tale, two (or more) U.S. Army soldiers are said to have discovered a vein of almost pure gold in or near the Superstition Mountains. Waltz did claim to have a treasure, but he really didn't and was simply telling tall tales to make his life seem more interesting, then Julia Thomas believed him. [5] One Lost Dutchman's mine is said to be in Colorado, another in California; two are said to be located in Arizona. Great discoveries have been made in the name of hunting for hidden wealth, but much blood has been shed in those same pursuits, too. Two prominent landmarks here are the Weavers Needle and the Miners Needle. However, there were no directions to the conquest mentioned in his diary. This is very important! There are lots of similar tales of gold-hunting soldiers, too, from all over the southwest. 5: Museum Administration and Membership matters, E-MAILVolunteering questions: [emailprotected]Site rentals: [emailprotected]Membership questions: [emailprotected]Retail and event issues: [emailprotected]Accounting issues: [emailprotected]Administrative and other issues: [emailprotected]FAX(480) 288-6524, Closed: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Day and Easter. However, things started going wrong immediately as men began to disappear, later being found decapitated. But what they actually found has been a hidden secret that people have been trying to piece together for last 125 years. Superstition Mountain is located within the greater Superstition Mountains range 43 miles east of Phoenix, Arizona, in the fringe of the state's central mountain region. An alternate view which better fits the lost mine legend is that he periodically appeared with large amounts of gold, The Sterling Legend by Estee Conatser reports that a Jacob Walzer sold $250,000 in gold to the U.S. Mint during the 1880s and had $1500 when he died in 1891. Thus, it seems these Jesuit priests might have stashed their treasure somewhere in the mountains as they passed through, thus ensuring the Spanish empire couldn't get their hands on the Jesuit fortune. These trails traverse from the desert floor up into the edges of the mountains. While popular with campers, hikers, and adventure seekers, these mountains are also known for their exceedingly hot summers, freezing winters, harsh winds, unpredictable storms, treacherous terrain, and mysterious happenings. Apparently, Waltz began to hint he knew of a secret gold vein hidden in the mountains, even giving out a few clues to its location. The map is supposedly filled with clues, and there are many others purportedly given by Waltz at various points in his life according to legends, but it's hard to prove he actually ever said any of those things. The Pit Mine is located close to the Randolph Mining District, which is historically well known and produced vast amounts of silver. The highest peak of the range is Keeper Hill or Slievekimalta at 694 metres (2,277 ft) high. The weather in the Superstition Mountains is notoriously unpredictable, with storms seeming to come out of nowhere and accompanied by abrupt drops in temperatures. [26], Blair wrote that "the national wire services picked up the story [of Ruth's death] and ran it for more than it was worth", possibly seeing the mysterious story as a welcome reprieve from the bleak news that was otherwise typical of the Great Depression. Mine records show that one possibly two Peralta family members with possible links connecting them to the 1848 massacre, also worked at the Vulture mine during the same time period as Waltz. (2004). There was indeed a Jacob Waltz who emigrated to the U.S. from Germany. This land grant was the basis of the James Reavis Arizona land swindle (Reavis became Willing's partner and continued to try to prove the authenticity of the land grant for years after Willing's death). What really happened to Ruth? The legend goes that an immigrant named Jacob Waltz found the mine and then took his secret to the grave. On the east side of Phoenix in Arizona lies the spectacular range of the Superstition Mountains that straddle the Tonto National Forest and the Superstition Wilderness area. Intrigue Journal. There are secrets yet in those mountains, blood and gold in the most literal sense. The Lost Dutchmans Mine is featured in Season 1, Episode 21 of the television series Unsolved Mysteries. The episode first aired on April 12, 1989. This tale involves two German men, Jacob Waltz and Jacob Weiser. There's the thrill of the hunt, solving the clues, and what could be a better payoff than a big cache of riches? It's unclear if Waltz himself ever specifically claimed to have a secret gold mine in the mountains, but one woman said he did claim just that Julia Thomas, Jacob Waltz's friend and neighbor, according to Skeptoid. Some of you reading this may know a lot, about the Lost Dutchman Goldmine, others may be new to the story of the Lost Dutchman Mine, so before going much further, I will do a very quick overview. Combine these with the legends of the indigenous Pima Indians and the mountains live up to their name. Paperback $39.95 9 Used from $24.95 The Saga of the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine legend. Up on the mountain, if someone breaks a leg; it will take at least two on the team to get you down; it is dangerous for three healthy climbers, much less one with broken body parts. Both of these legends are sometimes set before the Dutchman arrived in Arizona, but some time afterward, and thus Dr. Thorne and the soldiers may have stumbled across the Lost Dutchman's mine. The Jesuits, who had been collecting the gold for many years from various sources, were said to be fleeing as they had been expelled from the Spanish empire, who owned most of the land that would eventually become the southwestern United States at the time, according to the Great American History Blog. He is blindfolded and taken there by a circuitous route, and is allowed to take as much gold ore as he can carry before again being escorted blindfolded from the site by the Apaches. While not unique features, they are extremely consistent with Jacob Waltzs descriptions. Legend tells of the Lost Dutchman's gold mine hidden somewhere within the 160,000 acres of brutal Arizona desert known as the "Superstition Mountains." The promise of a $200 million mother. Researchers point to an old beliefby local farmersthat the nearby Pima Native American tribe were superstitious about the mountains. It's impossible to know for certain, but there is one big clue. 3: Gift Shop and Event Manager Dave McElligott Over the decades, this tale was gradually absorbed into the Lost Dutchman's story. Supposedly, the Peraltas actually found a very rich gold vein and set up a mining operation. Still, this doesn't dissuade treasure hunters. Granger wrote that "fact and fiction blend in the tales",[3] but that there are three main elements to the story: In 1977, Granger identified 62 variants of the Lost Dutchman's story some of the variations are minor, but others are substantial, casting the story in a very different light from the other versions. The stories differ from here onward. Kino is believed to have had a rich goldmine somewhere in the Superstition Mountains. Let may say this; it is not important who engraved the stones, and if itwas Tomlinson and he being the maker or someone else being the engraver of the stones while historically interesting it is not the most important thing. After one hundred and twenty- five plus years incredibly, the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine has been found, proving that the legend is more than mere myth and as predicted by Jacob Waltz himself No miner will ever find my mine. Most likely because Pedro de Peralta had been the Spanish Governor of New Mexico (in the 1600s) his family name of "Peralta" was the inspiration for a number of legends in the American Southwest. To underline his great find, he had also written Veni, Vidi, Vici (I came, I saw, and I conquered) in his diary. Other storytellers claim that the Peralta Family escaped with gold, but another family died in the massacre. He pursued mining and prospecting, but seems to have had little luck with either. At the low elevations, you will encounter tall saguaro cactusand Ponderosa pines at higher levels, and these are generally near the streams. July 3, 1947 James A Cravey, age 62, a retired photographer, was reported missing after he had chartered a helicopter June 19, 1947 to drop him off in the Superstition Mountains to look for the Lost Dutchmans Mine. He really did die in 1891 of pneumonia. But the map to the Peralta mine was said to be missing. The mine is there to be seen, appraised, and judged in any way you see fit, but the story of how it got there is the real treasure. It's an entire genre all its own, from pirate maps to all the stuff Nicolas Cage got up to in the National Treasure movies. In this story (actually two interconnected stories), members of the Apache tribe are said to have a very rich gold mine located in the Superstition Mountains. The earliest documentation of him in the U.S. is an 1848 affidavit in which Waltz declared himself to be "about 38 years old". Arizona place-name expert Byrd Granger wrote, as of 1977, the Lost Dutchman's story had been printed or cited at least six times more often than two other fairly well-known tales, the story of Captain Kidd's lost treasure, and the story of the Lost Pegleg mine in California. This, of course, is how the Dutchman is supposed to havereally found his treasure. [3] Former Arizona Attorney General Robert K. Corbin is among those who have looked for the mine. STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. So who killed the Spanish treasure hunters that came to the land? According to their folklore, the mountain guards an ancient storehouse of precious metals and treasures, and anyone who ventures forth to get the treasure is likely to die. He died on October 25, 1891, after having been nursed by an acquaintance named Julia Thomas (she was usually described as a quadroon). Waltz died in 1891 of pneumonia, but before he passed, he gave a few final clues to the location of his mine and even provided a crude map to it. The one, tangible piece of evidence still in existence are the samples remaining from the ore taken by Dick Holmes, namely the matchbox. [4] Two prospectors saved his life and, in gratitude, he gave them directions to the gold mine, thus setting off a wild goose chase that continues to the present day. [25] Blair noted that the conclusion of the Arizona authorities was rejected by many, including Ruth's family, and "those who held onto the more romantic murdered-for-the-map story". In most variants of the story, the family of a man called Miguel Peralta discovered the mine and began mining the gold there, only to be attacked or massacred by Apaches in about 1850 in the supposed Peralta massacre. Many people took the landmark to be the Weavers Needle but had no luck finding any gold nuggets in its vicinity. Either way, she went to the mountains for a while to search. Full Moon Hike at Lost Dutchman. This beautiful program is designed to start with a famous Arizona sunset draping gracefully over the Superstition Mountains, and end under the light of the full moon. Going on a year now. This seems to have been made up solely for the various legends, according to Tom Kollenborn Chronicles. To paraphrase an old Dutch Hunter, I dont know where the Dutchman is, but I know a thousand places it isnt! The meaning here is that gold can only exist in a prerequisite set of geological conditions. Skeptoid Podcast. The Peralta Stones are a set of engraved stone tableted works that are approximately 18 inches long and weigh about 25 lbs. While walking out of the horizontal shaft, you will walk over a 2' x 8' walkway. While this theory did not ignore the two holes in the skull, it did fail to explain how Ruth had managed to remove and bury the empty shell, then reload his gun, after shooting himself through the head". The search has been a profound one and I discovered that it wasnt the mine I was looking for, but the story. In December, 1931, The Arizona Republic reported on the recent discovery of a human skull in the Superstition Mountains. [12] The three soldiers set out to find the gold, but without success. They removed his blindfold and let him take away as much as he could carry. Of course, one obvious argument against this being the Dutchman is the fact that The Silver Chief was a silver mine, not a gold mine. In 1875, James Rogers made a claim there and dubbed it The Silver Chief. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at[emailprotected]. Also, there's no documentation showing he ever filed a claim for a mine in the Superstitions or any paperwork showing where he allegedly sold mass amounts of gold. He really did emigrate from Germany, though this seems to have occurred decades before the legends claim, because there are verified documents showing he filed to become an American citizen in 1848, long before he supposedly arrived in 1860, according to the Superstition Mountain Museum. The 500-year-old mines of Bolivia's Cerro Rico mountain produced the silver that once made the Spanish empire rich. Don Miguel Peralta was the head of a powerful and wealthy Mexican family from Sonora, and they were either ranchers or operated mines or did both. These are rectangular, cross-shaped, and heart-shaped stones with etchings of a horse, a priest, a dagger, a trail, topographic features, and Spanish inscriptions. (However, in some versions,[14] the 'mine' is actually a cache put there by the Peraltas.). The two Jacobs found the gold but refused to tell anyone else where it was. [42] The park was expanded to 320 acres (130ha) in 1983. It next surfaced in history in 1957 when it was claimed by a man named Quentin Ted Cox. However, Ruth ignored Barkely's advice, and set out for a two-week stint in the mountains. What really matters, though, is that Waltz the namesake Dutchman, or "Deutsch" (German) man wouldn't reveal the mine's location. (Latin Heart Reader / Wikimedia Commons). But there's no evidence he was any sort of engineering or mining genius like some legends claim. A few folks who had claims prior to 1983 were allowed to continue to work them for a time, but I don't believe any of those claims are still being worked today. [7] A man named Miguel Peralta and his family did operate a successful mine in the 1860s but near Valencia, California, not in Arizona. To recoup the costs of the search, Julia Thomas actually began to make handmade copies of Waltz's map and sell it to others. None of this rules out that he simply found a cache of abandoned gold, of course, and when he died, he did have in his possessions some high-grade gold ore, though its value is unclear and it may have just been for attracting potential investors in his prospecting operations. (Doug Dolde / Wikimedia Commons). It appears no one ever bothered to just ask the Native Americans in the area if the mountains were sacred. The Pit Mine IS the Silver Chief Mine. Shrouded in mystery, the mine is not only allegedly rich in gold but is also said to have a curse upon it, leading to a number of strange deaths and people who mysteriously go "missing" when they . Rogers was partnered with Aaron Mason, foreman of the Silver King mine. That is not to say that it was hidden in plain sight, defying discovery under our very noses, but rather that it was concealed by the collective expectations of generations of Dutch Hunters, veiled in legend. Nov 19, 2003 #8. It is believed that all were killed except for two Peralta family members who were severely wounded but managed to escape. TheSuperstition Mountains, furthermore, are the abode of the Thunder God, and he causes the frequent regional thunderstorms. When is the documentary goimg to start back up? People off his Mine that he cover up with a ironwood tree :The books give me my Front View of the Peralta Stones. In the version in which the Apaches killed the Peralta Family, the surviving member then went on to get embroiled in a brawl fight years later. Finally The Lost Dutchman Gold Mine Is Found!