[1], The Lost Dutchman's is perhaps the most famous lost mine in American history. [8] The mine was quite profitable, earning about $35,000 in less than one year; Blair described this as "an unusually good return" for such a small gold mine to earn in such a relatively brief period. Years later, a man called Dr. Thorne treats an ailing or wounded Apache (often alleged to be a chieftain) and is rewarded with a trip to a rich gold mine. [19][20] After this was unsuccessful, Thomas and her partners were reported to be selling maps to the mine for $7 each. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Thats just the name we use for the group of mining exhibits that youll experience when you visit the museum. The beginning and end of the tale will be told with ore. Gold ore has its own fingerprint, discernible from other gold ore. He even has a gravesite you can visit today in Arizona. In his 1945 book about the Lost Dutchman's mine. Perhaps this is why many of the legends involve people bringing gold to the mountain and leaving it hidden there. Intrigue Journal. Silver King Mine Superstition Mountains. It's also worth noting the mountains aren't known to have gotten their ironic name from any of the above legends. Now the Last Similarities There is a Company that claims there millions of tons of copper under a Area in the Superstition's. They tested that area, it just so happens to be a Area the Mexicans mined back in the day. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Blair suggested that this Waltz could be the same Waltz who later came to be regarded as the legendary Dutchman, and that he Americanized the spelling of his family name. 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. So, where is it then? According to some storytellers, in September 1848, a band of Apaches slaughtered the entire Peralta Family, except one (someone had to live to tell the tale). Bellhop Jesse Capen, 35, was obsessed with the legend of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. I also believe the mine was never lost. Another well-known Dutch Hunter, Jack San Felice, boldly made the case for the Pit Mine in his book. [3] Former Arizona Attorney General Robert K. Corbin is among those who have looked for the mine. Superstition Mountains - Ghost, lost mines, murder and mayhem. The location is generally believed to be in the Superstition Mountains, near Apache Junction, east of Phoenix, Arizona. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Tantalizingly, Ruth's checkbook was also recovered, and proved to contain a note written by Ruth wherein he claimed to have discovered the mine and gave detailed directions. Then the Apaches killed Jacob Weiser,or according to some, Waltz himself did it. Not only that, but some legends claim there were a number of shrines in the mountains filled with gold meant to be an offering to the Thunder God. Over the next few weeks and months I will share some photos that will not give away the location but will show things that until now have never been shown before. 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. He had acquired maps that he was sure would lead him straight to the gold. While walking thru the shaft holding a digging iron one day, I was tapping the floor to make sure it was solid. Two Pennsylvania Dutchmen, Jacob Waltz and Jacob Weiser, were prospecting for gold in the area, when, one night, they happened to save a mans life in a bar brawl. First, let's talk about the geology of the mountains. The soldiers are alleged to have presented some of the gold, but to have been killed or to have vanished soon after. In fact, Julia Thomas was the very first so-called "dutch hunter," combing through the mountains and seeking the lost gold. We have imaging taken, with Go-pros, Sony 7000s; Osmo stabilized film cameras and Dji Phantom and Bee-bop drones. Skeptoid Podcast. Not much silver was recovered in the 1979 time period and there was no mention of gold having been taken. George Flemming and Charles Enslinger filed claim on the Silver Chief mine in 1875. Waltz found it in the mountains and came to grab gold out of it as needed. 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. The legend of the Lost Dutchman's gold mine is a quintessential version of just such a story. He turned out to be the surviving Peralta, and, to express his gratitude, he gave them directions to his familys gold mine in the Superstition Mountains. There's no evidence they ever came to Arizona at all. It is generally accepted that the Peraltas and roughly 400 peon miners were massacred by the Apaches sometime around 1848. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at[emailprotected]. I always heard about the Lost Dutchman Mine in the Superstition Mountain. Reports of inexplicable sounds, sightings, and events have led to claims of supernatural beings and even aliens. Thomas admitted she drew the map herself but claimed she based it on descriptions given by the Dutchman, according to Skeptoid. Pingback: Legend of the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine Parts 2 & 3: Finally Found! A lack of historical records leaves uncertainty as to whether a Peralta family ever had possession of land, or mines, in or near the Superstition Mountains. Your browser doesn't support the HTML5 CANVAS tag. On 8 June 2019, a fire broke out in the Superstitions Wilderness area and soon spread across 26,000 acres. 9 May 2022. gold is where you find it. 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. In the weeks and months to come we will use much of the historical information, and show how it ties directly to what we have found. 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. 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. While this doesn't mean it's impossible there's gold to mine up there, it makes it far less likely. He'll tell you the ore assayed out to something like 10,000 ounces of gold to the ton. Hiking and camping are popular activities. However, Ruth ignored Barkely's advice, and set out for a two-week stint in the mountains. 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. Going on a year now. Closer than ever to the $200 million payday, Wayne and the team head into the heart of darkness where a cryptic find weaves an even bigger mystery, in Season. While he allegedly worked as a miner at numerous mines earlier in his life, eventually Waltz decided he wanted to prospect on his own. "Dutchman" was a common American term for a German ("Dutch" being the English cognate to the German demonym "Deutsch", and not a reference to the Dutch people). If these conditions do not exist, gold will not exist. Travis Tumlinson, a policeman, discovered the Peralta Stones on a roadside near the Superstition Mountains in the 1940s. It appears no one ever bothered to just ask the Native Americans in the area if the mountains were sacred. Then later the Mexicans including the powerful Peralta family made forays to the area from Sonora and are believed to have had 18 gold mines in the Supers. The hellhole supposedly also sends out tremendous winds, and these cause the infamous dust storms of the region. Ask any prospector and they will tell. Some carved stones in the area are referred to as "Peralta Stones" and Spanish text and crude maps on them are considered by some to be clues to the location of a Peralta family gold mine in the Superstition Mountains, although others believe the stones to be modern fakes. Then around 1692, the Jesuit padre father Eusebio Francisco Kino arrived. 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. The stories differ from here onward. 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. The legend goes that an immigrant named Jacob Waltz found the mine and then took his secret to the grave. I feel the information on the Peralta stones is most likely from a very old map of Jesuit origin. There are lots of similar tales of gold-hunting soldiers, too, from all over the southwest. The breathable air on some surfaces actually gets even hotter; this is the biggest killer in the Superstition Mountains and dont forget the rattle snakes, scorpions, tarantula spiders, Gila monsters plus huge mountain lions and dozens of other things that will take your life. There is a lot of speculation about Aaron Mason and his involvement, but one interesting fact is that the man became a millionaire during this time. 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. Thorne claimed that he was taken captive by Navajos in 1854, and that during his captivity he had discovered a rich gold vein. The man said Dr. Thorne could take as much as he could carry, at which point he was blindfolded again and led out. Arcana Exploration has been there on four separate trips the first in October of 2015. Blindbowman Bronze Member. We know today they're not actually sedimentary rock, but volcanic, according to Lost Dutchman State Park. The Superstition Mountains to the east of Phoenix, AZ reportedly hold a legendary motherlode of gold known as the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine. Towards the very south of the Silvermine Mountains is the highest peak in the mountains, Keeper Hill or in Irish Sliabh . [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". However, they eventually disappeared after a trip into the Superstitions. 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. Students 11-17 $4.00 Many of Ruth's personal effects were found at the scene, including a pistol (not missing any shells) and the metal pins used to mend his broken bones. The neighboursJulia Thomas, Rhinehart Petrasch, and Hermann Petraschspent weeks looking for the gold, but failed to find it. Much of the interior is so brutal with severe weather shifts (the Apache winds) that much of the interior is off limits for search and rescue. I have been lucky enough to uncover a few, which you will forgive me if I keep, at least for now. 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. [2] [3] It is rumoured that if the stones are put together in the right way, they are a map to the Peralta Familys gold deposits. Among the many legends to have emerged from the area, one of the most enduring ones is that of The LostDutchmansGold Mine. For the first time ever, Arcana Exploration has undeniable physical proof that the mine exists, proof that is to say, photographic physical documentation that many of the generally excepted clues, are in fact real and do exist and are physically present in one location. The clues themselves do not prove that it is the Dutchman. In some versions, he's not just a man but the chieftain of the Apache tribe. Here he worked at the Vulture Mine as a paid miner. Still, there is by no means a consensus among Dutch Hunters and many dismiss it entirely, regardless of scientific evidence. Magill's adventures were chronicled in the book The Killer Mountains, by Curt Gentry. As early as September 1, 1892, The Arizona Enterprise was reporting on the efforts of Thomas and several others to locate the lost mine whose location was told to her by Waltz. In an addition to this legend, it's claimed two soldiers came to the Superstitions after hearing of Dr. Thorne's story to see if they could locate the cache. 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. Apache Junction, AZ 85119-8409, Phone options: The Jesuit priests were the most educated and loyal orders to the King of Spain (and to the Pope). Kino is believed to have had a rich goldmine somewhere in the Superstition Mountains. Additionally, there is a partial tunnel, or drift, in the canyon below that moves in the direction of the main shaft and was crudely walled up. They removed his blindfold and let him take away as much as he could carry. of Mines and Mineral Resources Bureau of Mines and Mining Field Engineers Report Silver Chief 1979, 1980 as being among the mines to have been revisited during that 1979 silver boom. In 1847-1848 during the time of the Hidalgo Treaty when Mexico sold the territory to the United Sates the Peraltas, knowing they would lose access to their mines made one last trip bringing hundreds of miners from Sonora to mine as much as they could, but were attacked by Apaches. 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). Hanna-Barbara, Jean Giraud, and Don Rosa have incorporated the story in their cartoons. The Lost Dutchman Mine Part Eleven: The Stone Maps, The Lost Dutchman Mine Part Ten: The Dutch Hunters, Linda Hazzard: Seattles First Serial Killer. "The Lost Dutchman Gold Mine." The Chief Silver mine is completely dry except for one area. Some think this mine was first excavated by Mexico's Peralta family, then commandeered by Apaches or simply abandoned. Except perhaps not. Though the remains had been scattered by scavengers, they were undoubtedly Ruth's. But the map to the Peralta mine was said to be missing. The tests were initiated by Ron Feldman and also included what is known as the Kochera Ore, another sample believed to be from the Dutchman, though lacking the same provenance. A man named Harry LaFrance was said to have been hiking in the Superstitions, and when he took refuge in a cave from a sudden storm, he found a very large pile of gold bars. After he had spent many years in their midst, the Apache Elders decided to reward his selfless service with gold.
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