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 The
Lost Dutchman Mine was named after Jacob Waltz, an
old German prospector mistakenly called the “Old
Dutchman.” He allegedly discovered a rich gold vein
in the Superstition Mountain region east of Phoenix.
Hermann Petrasch was probably one of the most
persistent seekers of Waltz’s mine. You might say
Hermann was the “father of all modern Dutch
hunters.” Hermann and his brother Rhinehart began
their search for the mine with Julia Thomas in the
summer of 1892.
The heat and humidity was stifling, but the three
adventurers continued walking and leading their pack
animals. According to Hermann Petrasch they camped
the next evening in Needle Canyon, at least he
thought it was. Years later Hermann said they might
have camped in East Boulder Canyon on the western
side of Black Top Mountain that third night. The
next morning they were up at sunrise again and
climbed a steep ridge to a pass and walked down into
a deep canyon. They could see the pointed peak old
Jacob had talked about. It was here they set camp
for the next three weeks as they searched the area
with their clues.
Spirits were high among the three very amateur
adventurers. But the tortuous summer heat and
humidity soon took its toll. Toward the middle of
the second week it was impossible to search accept
in the very early morning or late evening. At the
end of the third week the three explorers collapsed
from exhaustion and lack of food and water. The
search for Waltz’s mine was abandoned and the three
returned to Phoenix exhausted, defeated and
unsuccessful. A local newspaper, the Arizona Weekly
Gazette, noted the expedition with the following
excerpt on September 1, 1892, “A Queer Quest,
Another Lost Mine Being Hunted by a Woman.”
This prospecting venture reduced Julia Thomas to
financial ruin. She and the Petrashes were
destitute, having no source of income or a place to
reside. Julia soon departed company with the
Petrasches and married a farm laborer named Albert
Schaffer on July 26, 1893.
At Schaffer’s encouragement Julia produced maps
using what information she could remember. She
became very resourceful and began producing
excellent maps illustrating how to locate the lost
gold mine of Jacob Waltz. These fraudulent sheets of
paper were probably the first maps to the Dutchman’s
Lost Mine.
It is also quite apparent that Julia Thomas gave
reporter Peirpont C. Bicknell an interview about the
Lost Dutchman Mine. Bicknell wrote of the mine in
the San Francisco Chronicle on January 13, 1895,
making reference to most of Thomas’ clues. Now the
story was out nationally that there was a lost gold
mine in the Superstition Mountains.
The abandonment of the Petrasch brothers by Julia
Thomas left them on their own. Rhinehart worked
around Phoenix for awhile and eventually moved up to
Globe. He worked as a caretaker at an archaeological
site in Globe for many years before committing
suicide on February 5, 1943. Rhinehart was known as
“Old Pete” around Globe and Miami.
Herman had many odd jobs working for different
cattlemen around the Superstition Mountain area. He
was an excellent carpenter and worked at the old
Reavis Ranch house for the Clemans Cattle Company in
the 1930’s. Hermann also repaired waterholes and
windmills for the Clemans. He was seriously injured
when a packhorse pulled his riding horse over
backward along Hewitt Canyon in 1938. Hermann
eventually settled near the bank of Queen Creek in
the area of the Martin Ranch. The Martins looked
after Hermann for many years. The Martins would take
Hermann to the dances in Superior where he would
play his fiddle. Old Hermann could really play the
fiddle. Hermann had a host of friends including my
father.
Newspaper reporters, authors, and magazine writers
visited him from time to time and many articles were
written about Hermann and his search for the old
“Dutchman” mine.
My father and I visited old Hermann Petrasch on
Queen Creek in October of 1952, during my freshman
year in high school. I was more interested in
baseball than I was lost gold mines at the time. He
told us he was ailing a bit, but was still willing
to talk with us. Hermann never complained about his
aches and pains, he just endured. Herman Petrasch
passed away on November 23, 1953.
I would like to clear something up about an old
photograph taken of Hermann Petrasch in Queen Creek
with a gold pan and shovel. The photograph appeared
in Barney Barnard’s book, giving credit for the
photograph to him. The person who actually took that
photograph was Robert L. Garman, one of Hermann old
friends.
The awful irony of the Petrasch- Thomas episode is
that their journey into the Superstitions in the
blistering hot days of August 1892 led them directly
over the Black Queen and Mammoth mines that were
discovered later that year. Julia Thomas and the
Petrasch brothers were not successful in finding
gold, however, they began a legend that will live
forever.
It was in April of 1893 that four men discovered the
famous Mammoth mine. This mine produced two million
dollars in gold bullion when gold was worth only
twenty dollars a troy ounce. Some historians believe
the Bull Dog or Mammoth mine was the source of
Waltz’s bonanza gold ore.
But that is another story of the Superstition
Mountain Wilderness.
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