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 Oren
Arnold has been gone for more than twenty-seven
years, but his community involvement and writing has
left an impact on Arizona and the Apache Junction
area. One of Arnold’s first books was a novel titled
Ghost Gold. This book was published by the Naylor
Press in El Paso, Texas in 1934. He also published
another pamphlet titled, Superstition’s Gold in
early 1934. Arnold was truly a noted author of the
American Southwest and Superstition Mountain.
Arnold was born in Henderson, Texas in 1900. He
attended high school in Henderson and then Rice
Institute in Houston. He first worked at the Houston
Chronicle, than became editor of the Harlingen Texas
Star. He married his college sweetheart, Adele
Roenach in 1926. Shortly after his wedding he took a
job with the El Paso Times that only lasted six
months before he moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Arnold
served as Sunday Editor for the Arizona Republic for
two years and then worked for the Arizona Farmer.
 After working for the Farmer he struck out on a
literary career. This was quite a challenge in the
mid-1930s. He was a very independent individual.
While working for the Phoenix newspapers Oren Arnold
became very active in community affairs. He was
president of the Kiwanis Club when they sponsored
the Salad Bowl football game for handicapped
children. Arnold was also a recipient for the
National Junior Chamber of Commerce Award “for
distinguished service to his home town community.”
Early in 1933 Arnold became involved with the
organizing and forming of the Don’s Club of Phoenix.
He became the club’s first president. The annual
Don’s Club Superstition Gold Trek eventually led to
the proposal of a monument dedicated to the
“Dutchman”. The president of the club, James Murphy,
assigned two men, Louis Tisdale and Rhes Cornelius,
to organize the effort. When the monument was
finally constructed in Apache Junction, Oren Arnold
was ask to write a special piece for the plaque on
the monument.
This was the inscription that Arnold wrote up: “Here
lies the remains of Snow Beard, the Dutchman who in
this mountain shot three men to steal a rich gold
mine from Spanish pioneers, killed eight men more to
hold its treasure, then died in 1892, without
revealing its location. Dozens of searchers have met
mysterious deaths in the canyons there, yet the ore
lies unrevealed. Indians say this is the curse of
the thunder god on white men in whom the craving for
gold is strong. Beware lest you two succumb to the
lure of the Lost Dutchman Mine in the Superstition
Mountains.”
At the dedication of the Dutchman’s Monument in
Apache Junction on April 8, 1938, at 3 p.m. Oren
Arnold was the opening speaker, by this time he was
a noted Western author.
Arnold said, “In those mountains, people say, is the
fabulous wealth that was claimed by Waltz, but
searcher’s have failed to locate any trace of it and
many of these searchers have disappeared, never to
be seen alive again. This monument is not a tribute
to one man or one group. It is a symbol, a reminder
that on this vast and colorful stage known as the
Southwest, some extremely interesting characters
have played dramatic parts.”
This plaque was eventually stolen from the monument
and then replaced in the years that followed with
something else. The monument still stands in Apache
Junction on the exact site where it was constructed
some seventy years ago.
 Arnold became a very good writer over the years that
followed. He broke into the literary market by
writing articles and stories for Saturday Evening
Post, Collins, Better Homes and Gardens, Coronet and
Esquire magazines. Arnold further developed his
literary talent by writing eighty novels about the
colorful old West. Books such as Savage Sam, Ghost
Gold, Hidden Treasures of the Wild West, Arizona
Under the Sun and many other titles. His final book
about the Superstition Mountains was The Mystery of
Superstition Mountain.
Oren Arnold was a fantastic storyteller and his
career began with stories and tales about the
Superstition Mountains. Arnold spoke to a literary
group at Signal Peak Campus of Central Arizona
College in 1972. He noted during this talk that
novel
preparation required the use of fantasy with a good
helping of fact. He said, “One should never allow
the truth to stand in the way of a good story.”
Oren Arnold has left behind a legacy with his
literary work. His book reflected the West as it was
with a little fantasy just to fill in the empty
spaces. Arnold’s weaving of the Peralta story in and
out of fantasy changed forever the story of the Lost
Dutchman Mine. Pedro, Manuel, and Miguel have become
everyday names in the legend of the Peralta Mines in
the Superstition Mountains. Late in 1933, Oren
produced a pamphlet titled Superstition’s Gold and
published it early in 1934.
The Don’s Donas colored two hundred of Arnold’s
pamphlets for the Don’s Superstition Gold Trek in
1934. These hand-colored pamphlets are highly sought
after as collector’s items today. Oren Arnold left a
legacy in his writing, and his community service.
You might say he was also one of Frank J. Dobie’s
“Corondado’s Children.”
At the age of seventy, Oren Arnold and his wife
Adele moved to Laguna Beach, California in 1970,
after living in Phoenix for 44 years. Arnold grew to
love the ocean and took swims daily. A swimming
mishap on Wednesday, August 27, 1980, in the Pacific
Ocean cost Oren Arnold his life. He died on
Saturday, August 30, 1980, at the age of 80. A
legacy of Arizona, Apache Junction and the Southwest
had passed on.
The monument he was involved with still stands in
Apache Junction at the intersection of State Route
88 and the Old West Highway (old U.S. Highway 60).
This monument continues to represent the legacy of
the Prospector, the Dutchman’s mine, and the dreams
of many. |
