|
 The
story of Jacob Waltz’s gold mine became nothing but
controversy after his death. I am going to attempt
to present the facts here as best as I know them.
The old “Dutchman” Jacob Waltz died in Phoenix at
the residence of Julia Thomas at about 6 a.m. on
Sunday morning, October 25, 1891. The circumstances
associated with his death are as follows. Julia
Thomas and Rhinehart Petrasch were attending to
Waltz during his final hours. Pneumonia and
silicosis had complicated his breathing and Waltz
was struggling for air early that morning. Thomas
and Petrasch were awakened by the sounds of his
struggle and knew the end was near. Julia and
Rhinehart rushed out to look for a doctor. Why both
of them left Waltz’s side in a moment of crisis is
not known. As they exited the house, Richard J.
Holmes and Gidon Roberts were walking up the street
and Julia asked Holmes to look after Waltz until
they returned with the doctor. When Thomas and
Petrasch returned with a doctor, Waltz was either
dead or succumbed shortly thereafter. Holmes
immediately explained the situation to Julia Thomas.
He said Waltz had given him the materials in a
candle box beneath his bed. Holmes gathered up his
newly acquired possessions and left the Thomas’
residence. Holmes’ acquisition of Waltz’s candle box
outraged Julia Thomas. According to Holmes and
Thomas the box contained about forty-eight pounds of
high-grade gold ore. It was estimated the gold
contained within the candle box was worth about
$4,800.
Julia Thomas accused Holmes of being a thief.
Roberts swore Waltz had given the candle box to
Holmes. The local courts did not see it Thomas’ way
and Holmes ended up with the candle box of gold ore.
This created a schism between the Petrasch and the
Holmes families and this schism has survived for
more than a hundred years among storytellers of the
Dutchman’s lost mine.
Holmes sold the forty-eight pounds of ore to Goldman
Mercantile in Phoenix. The Goldman brothers sold
most of the gold to the San Francisco mint. Joe
Poterie, an assayer at the Vulture Mine, once
examined some of the ore. He said it was the richest
bonanza ore he had ever studied closely. He said it
was far richer than the Vulture Mine or Rich Hill.
William “Bill” Cage had also examined Waltz’s ore
and agreed with Poterie about the richness of the
ore.
 The
Goldman’s sold a few samples of the ore to the
Smiths, Rosenwiez, and Jacobson families. Richard J.
Holmes ended up with a gold matchbox, which was
handed down to his son George “Brownie” Holmes. This
treasure eventually ended up in the hands of a local
resident.
Some of the Smith specimens were handed down or sold
to the first owner of Knoxberry Farms near Anahiem,
California. It is believed this was the source of
Robert L. Garman’s samples of the Dutchman’s gold.
The samples acquired by the Rosenwiez family were
made into a beautiful matching necklace and bracelet
set. Troy’s Gallery of Scottsdale eventually
acquired this set.
Reading this brief account of what happen to the
gold beneath Waltz’s death bed would certainly
convince many people that a rich gold mine was
hidden somewhere in the mountains of Arizona. Old
time prospectors were often known to keep a cache of
high-grade ore hidden to carry them through in a
time of need. So, the possession of such a rich
cache would have been no verification Waltz had a
rich gold mine in the Superstition Mountains. It
would merely indicate he saved his richest ore for a
rainy day. Often these caches were handsampled to
increase the gold content and discard the gangue.
The existence of the Lost Dutchman Mine or the
Dutchman’s Lost Mine has never been verified,
primarily because the mine has never been found.
Several years ago several individuals were somewhat
convinced the old Bulldog Mine could have been the
Dutchman’s so-called lost mine. There are some
interesting accounts about two men who prospected
for gold in this area during the winter of 1864- 65.
They claimed the discovery of a very rich outcrop of
quartz bearing visible gold just west of
Superstition Mountain. John Wilburn, another local
author, was quite convinced the Bulldog was the
source of Waltz’s gold.
There are many characteristics about the Bulldog
that would lead one to believe it could be the
Dutchman’s mine. The Bulldog had an eighteen-inch
vein of quartz. The vein was rich with visible gold
in white reddish tinged quartz. Speculation still
continues as to whether or not the old Bulldog was
the Dutchman’s Lost Mine. In March, 2003, the old
historic Bulldog Mine was completely obliterated by
heavy equipment. The old crosscut and shaft had
existed for more than a hundred years and was one of
the most historic mining sites in the area.
Researchers have been able to trace Waltz’s journey
from Germany to America. Helen Corbin published in
her book, “The Bible on the Lost Dutchman Mine and
Jacob Waltz,” revealed for the first time in print
Waltz’s exact departure date from Germany at the
Port of Bremen and his arrival date in America at
the Port of New Orleans. Corbin also found documents
to substantiate previous hearsay with fact about how
Waltz traveled with the Peeples-Weaver party to the
Bradshaw Mountains in May of 1863 from California.
For more details on this information I would
recommend you read Helen Corbin’s book.
There has been considerable discussion among Dutch
hunters as to the source of Corbin’s information.
She was the first person to put the information in
print. This alone establishes her as an important
contributor to the history of Jacob Waltz and
the Lost Dutchman Mine. The original source of
Corbin’s information is not available, like many of
the clues to the Lost Dutchman Mine.
The story of the Dutchman’s Lost Mine is filled with
mystery, intrigue and endless clues that lead
nowhere. If the mine did exist, why didn’t Waltz
tell his caregiver, Julia Thomas? Oh, I forgot, he
did! According to a newspaper account, Julia Thomas
and the Petrasch brothers searched for Waltz’s mine
in August of 1892. Their trip into the Superstition
Mountain region during the hot humid month of August
was convincing enough that Thomas and the Petrasch
brothers believed Waltz had a rich gold mine in the
area. They found no mine nor gold for their effort.
Thomas and the Petrasch brothers returned to Phoenix
broke and unemployed. At this point, William “Bill”
Cage believed Julia Thomas sold her story to
Peirpont C. Bicknell, a free lance writer for the
San Francisco Chronicle. Bicknell’s story appeared
in the newspaper on January 13, 1895. Lost Dutchman
Mine stories can be traced back to this newspaper
article.
Cage also made another point very clear to my dad.
He always said no one had really ever heard of Jacob
Waltz until Bicknell’s story appeared in the
newspaper. The Silver King had boomed and died by
this time and the Mammoth Mine at the Goldfields was
producing bars of gold bullion for its Colorado
investors. Lost mines and gold bullion were on the
minds of many people during this period of
Goldfield’s boom. Bicknell took advantage of this
condition with his story, and his story about a lost
gold mine was very acceptable for the period. As
most of us know, the Mammoth Mine failed by 1897,
just about two years after Bicknell’s story
appeared.
Contemporary storytellers and Dutch hunters talk
about surviving samples of Waltz’s ore. They talk
about comparison tests and the documents associated
with these tests. There has been a tremendous amount
of credence placed on the comparison of samples
supposedly belonging to Jacob Waltz or those
allegedly to have been found in the Superstition
Wilderness Area. The stories and their source are
based on faith. If facts are to be based on
subjective information, at best then, objective
information is generally lost. The question still
remains, is everyone telling the truth? When an
honest man accepts the story of another person and
he bases it on trust this is still subjective
information. Is this why nobody has found the
infamous Dutchman’s Lost Mine? Basically this has
always been my thesis.
The reason I presented thisquestion is because I
have known good men and women who have spent a
lifetime and a fortune looking for the Dutchman’s
lost mine and have not found it. Their only resolve
being, “maybe somebody else will find the mine
someday and vindicate all of those who have believed
in its existence.” Ludwig G. Rosecrans may have said
it best when he said, “There is a great deal of
interest in the mine, but there is little
substance.”
Tonto National Forest representatives for most part
unequivocally deny the existence of a rich gold mine
in the Superstition Wilderness Area. The government
basis its theory on extensive geologic research
within the vboundaries of the region.
I can only make this statement because my father
began his search for the old Dutchman’s mine in the
early 1930’s with the help of an old Arizona pioneer
blacksmith named Bill Cage. Bill had worked the
major mines of Arizona since the 1870’s and was a
highly respected individual.
Just maybe the candle box of rich high-grade ore
under Waltz’s death bed was nothing more than a
prospector’s cache for hard times, not proof of the
existence of a fabulous gold mine in the
Superstition Mountains. |
