Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine
The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine is, according to legend, a rich gold mine hidden in the Southwestern United States. The location is generally believed to be in the Superstition Mountains, near Apache Junction, east of Phoenix, Arizona. There have been many stories about how to find the mine, and each year people search for the mine. Some have died on the search.
The mine is named after German immigrant Jacob Waltz, who purportedly discovered it in the 19th century and kept its location a secret. "Dutchman" was a common American term for a German.
The Lost Dutchman's is perhaps the most famous lost mine in American history. 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. People have been seeking the Lost Dutchman's mine since at least 1892, while according to one estimate, 9,000 people annually made some effort to locate the Lost Dutchman's mine. Former Arizona Attorney General Robert K. Corbin is among those who have looked for the mine.
Other Lost Dutchman's mines
Robert Blair wrote "here have been at least four legendary Lost Dutchman's gold mines in the American West, including the famed Superstition mine of Jacob Waltz". One Lost Dutchman's mine is said to be in Colorado, another in California; two are said to be located in Arizona. Tales of these other Lost Dutchman's mines can be traced to at least the 1870s. The earliest Lost Dutchman's mine in Arizona was said to have been near Wickenburg, about 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. Blair suggested that "fragments of this legend have perhaps become attached to the mythical mine of Jacob Waltz".Stories about the mine
Granger wrote that "fact and fiction blend in the tales", 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.
Lost Apache gold or Dr. Thorne's story
In this story, members of the Apache tribe are said to have a very rich gold mine located in the Superstition Mountains. Famed Apache Geronimo is sometimes mentioned in relation to this 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. Years later, a man called Dr. Thorne treats an ailing or wounded Apache and is rewarded with a trip to a rich gold mine. 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. Thorne is said to be either unwilling or unable to relocate the mine.The truth about the Peralta Mine
Most likely because Pedro de Peralta had been the Spanish Governor of New Mexico his family name of "Peralta" was the inspiration for a number of legends in the American Southwest. James Reavis tried to assert that the Peralta family had a Spanish land grant and a barony granted by the King of Spain, which included a huge swath of Arizona and New Mexico, including the Superstition Mountains. The Peralta Massacre is a legend that Apaches supposedly ambushed a mining expedition the Peralta family sent into the mountains. 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. 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.Blair insisted that the Peralta portion of the story is unreliable, writing: "The operation of a gold mine in the Superstitions by a Peralta family is a contrivance of 20th century writers". A man named Miguel Peralta and his family did operate a successful mine in the 1860s – but near Valencia, California, not in Arizona. 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. As of 1975, ruins of the Peralta mine were standing.
However, the Peralta Mine eventually became unprofitable and after the money was gone Miguel Peralta turned to fraud. Dr. George M. Willing Jr. paid Peralta $20,000 for the mining rights for an enormous swath of land – about in southern Arizona and New Mexico – based on a deed originally granted by the Spanish Empire in the 18th century. Trouble came after Willing learned that the deed was entirely bogus. Despite his efforts, Willing was never able to recover the money he gave to Peralta. This land grant was the basis of the James Reavis Arizona land swindle.
Blair argued that this Peralta story was eventually incorporated in the Lost Dutchman's story, in a severely distorted version, following the renewed interest in the Lost Dutchman's mine in the 1930s.
Since James Reavis, "the Baron of Arizona", was convicted of fraud when the Peralta family genealogy and other documents to support the land grant were determined to be forgeries it also raises questions about the original purchase of the land grant by Dr. George M. Willing Jr.. Willing died in 1874 before there had been a thorough investigation of the documents or opportunity to cross examine him on the stand as was later done with Reavis.
The truth about Dr. Thorne
Another detail which casts doubt on the story is the fact that, according to Blair, there was never any Dr. Thorne in the employ of the Army or indeed of the Federal Government in the 1860s. According to Blair, the origin of this story can be traced to a doctor named Thorne who was in private practice in New Mexico in the 1860s. Thorne claimed that he was taken captive by Navajos in 1854, and that during his captivity he had discovered a rich gold vein. Thorne related his claims to three U.S. soldiers in about 1858. The three soldiers set out to find the gold, but without success. Over the decades, this tale was gradually absorbed into the Lost Dutchman's story.The Lost Dutchman's story
This tale involves two German men, Jacob Waltz and Jacob Weiser. However, Blair argued that there is a strong likelihood that there never was a second man named Weiser, but rather that a single person named Waltz was, over the years, turned into two men as the legend of the Dutchman's mine evolved. Blair contended that this story can be divided into "hawk" and "dove" versions, depending on whether the German are said to behave violently or peacefully. In most versions of the tale, Jacob Waltz locates a rich gold mine in the Superstition Mountains. Waltz is attacked and wounded by marauding Apaches, but survives at least long enough to tell a man called Dr. Walker about the mine. Waltz is also said to make a deathbed confession to Julia Thomas, and draws or describes a crude map to the gold mine.John D. Wilburn in his book Dutchman's Lost Ledge of Gold, wrote that the Bulldog Gold Mine near Goldfield, Arizona, fits very well the description Jacob Waltz gave as the location of his 'lost mine'. Furthermore, Wilburn stated that geology indicates that there is no gold in the Superstition Mountains, which are igneous in origin.
Stories of the soldiers' lost gold vein
In yet another version of the tale, two U.S. Army soldiers are said to have discovered a vein of almost pure gold in or near the Superstition Mountains. The soldiers are alleged to have presented some of the gold, but to have been killed or to have vanished soon after.This account is usually dated to about 1870. According to Blair, the story may have its roots in the efforts of three U.S. soldiers to locate gold in an area of New Mexico, based on an allegedly true story related to them by Dr. Thorne of New Mexico; see above.
The historical Jacob Waltz
Blair cited evidence of the historical Jacob Waltz and suggested that additional evidence supports the core elements of the story – that Waltz claimed to have discovered a rich gold vein or cache. But Blair suggested that this core story was distorted in subsequent retellings, comparing the many variants of the Lost Dutchman's story to the game of Chinese whispers, where the original account is distorted in multiple retellings of the tale.There was indeed a Jacob Waltz who emigrated to the U.S. from Germany. The earliest documentation of him in the U.S. is an 1848 affidavit in which Waltz declared himself to be "about 38 years old". A man called Jacob Walz was born in September 1810 in Württemberg. 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. Note that tombstone pictured shows birth year as 1808.
Waltz relocated to Arizona in the 1860s, and stayed in the territory for most of the rest of his life. He pursued mining and prospecting, but seems to have had little luck with either. 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. In 1870, Waltz had a homestead of about near Phoenix where he operated a farm. There is a theory that although Waltz never worked at Henry Wickenburg's Vulture mine, he could indeed have been a "fence" for those who did work at the Vulture.
There was a catastrophic flood in Phoenix in 1891, and Waltz's farm was one of many that was devastated. Afterwards, Waltz fell ill. He died on October 25, 1891, after having been nursed by an acquaintance named Julia Thomas. Waltz was buried in Phoenix at what is now called the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park.
Blair had little doubt that Waltz related to Thomas the location of an alleged gold mine. 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. After this was unsuccessful, Thomas and her partners were reported to be selling maps to the mine for $7 each.