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 Peter’s
Mesa, a landmark in the heart of the Superstition
Wilderness Area, has fascinated many a lost mine
hunter over the years. The interest may or may not
be merited. Several old time lost mine hunters spent
time in the area. The names that come to mind are
John Chuning, Walter Gassler, Robert Jacob, John
Reed, Roy Bradford, George Miller, Abe Reid and
several others.
Another interesting name that is associated with the
area is John Kochera. John started prospecting the
area around 1962. Kochera wrote a letter to Robert
Jacob in the mid 1970s attempting to solicit his
support. He claimed to have found some high-grade
gold ore near Peter’s Mesa on Charlebois Mountain.
Kochera’s samples have been somewhat controversial
over the years, but have created a lot of interest
among Dutch hunters familiar with the story.
Of course many of these Dutch hunters settled for
different areas of the Peter’s Mesa geographic
region. I mention Robert Jacob because his search in
the area near Squaw Box Canyon was very well known
through newspaper publicity during the 1970s and
1980s. Several have claimed to have found gold ore
caches on Peter’s Mesa. It isn’t necessary to name
the successful discoverers gold ore caches on
Peter’s Mesa, but only to mention them in passing.
Did they actually find gold caches on the Peter’s
Mesa or is it pure speculation on their part? The
only way you can be positive about a gold find is
seeing its source. These tales would always depend
on who is telling the story.
Bob Corbin, Arizona retired State Attorney General
has made several trips to Peter’s Mesa over the
years. I recall a trip he and I made in the mid
1980s and spent four days camped near the old Salt
Grounds. We hiked out in every direction from the
Salt Grounds looking the area over. We visited the
Mescal pits, the natural arch, a mining tunnel with
a table in it, and of course I can’t forget the bee
hive along the Peter’s Mesa Trail.
 We
also visited the old washed out Rock Dam constructed
in Peter’s Canyon and also the concrete tank along
the trail that held water in those days. Over the
years I have been on Peter’s Mesa about ten times.
My first trip was in the mid 1950s when I worked for
the Barkley Cattle Company. I packed salt to the
Salt Grounds several times over the years. I hiked
into Peter’s Mesa from Tortilla Ranch in the early
1960s leaving my truck at the Tortilla Ranch under
the watchful eye of Elmer Pope, an Apache cowboy
working for Floyd Stone. I remember old Al Reser
leaving his truck at the ranch on a several
occasions also. Reser often worked Tortilla Mountain
around Hell’s Hole in Tortilla Creek. Al also parked
his truck east of the Quarter Circle U Ranch when he
worked the top of Bluff Springs Mountain and west
side of Peter’s Mesa.
There are two very interesting things I have found
on Peter’s Mesa. One is a triangle of pyramid-shaped
rocks and the other is a foundation of an old stone
cabin. Several years after I visited these sites
somebody tried to totally eradicate them by
rearranging the rocks. At least I took photographs
of them. I believe Bob Corbin and I visited the
Mescal Pits in 1986. A friend of mine, Monty
Edwards, believed these pits were silver smelters.
He once showed me a large chunk of silver (20 ounces
or so) he claimed to have removed from one of the
pits near Robert Jacob’s camp. Barkley always told
me these were Mescal Pits dug and used by the
Indians to cook the hearts of the Agave that grew
profusely in the area.
The next thing that has always solicited my interest
in the Peter’s Mesa area was the story that Adolph
Ruth once camped in the general area sometime during
1928. I am quite sure I read a letter written by
Adolph to Cal Morse or Gertrude Barkley relating his
experiences in the area. He apparently arrived in
the area sometime around April of 1928. Cal Morse,
of Mesa, supposedly guided him to a camp site. Cal
acquired permission from George Miller to drive all
the way into his claims. I am not sure what kind of
condition the Tortilla Road or trail was in at the
time.
Ruth and Morse hiked while a burro carried their
supplies. If this story is true, it puts an
interesting twist on the whole Ruth episode and
tragedy. If Ruth told Morse much about his Mexican
maps I am sure it fired his interest. To this day I
believe Ruth was looking for the cave that was
located in the upper box of La Barge Canyon. The
outline of this cave fits the Peralta Profile Map
almost perfectly. To the best of my knowledge Ruth
camped somewhere along the Hoolie Bacon Trail not to
far from the Upper Box area of La Barge Canyon. From
the end of the road on Miller’s claim it is about
3.5 miles to a good camp site above the Upper Box in
La Barge Canyon. Was this Ruth’s first effort to
locate the Peralta Mines in the Superstition
Mountains? Did he at first think Coffee Flat
Mountain was the S. Cima. This may have been the
reason Ruth never moved over directly on to Peter’s
Mesa from his base camp, but choose a site near the
Upper Box in La Barge Canyon. I will be the first to
say there is a lot of speculation on this theory,
however, the old saying where there is smoke there
may be fire.
Another interesting story to do with the area was
the death of Walt Gassler. Walt died of a heart
attack after leaving Charlebois Spring hiking toward
Peter’s Mesa. He died along the trail. His body was
discovered by Gene Baker and Don Shade on May 4,
1984. It is claimed he had some very rich gold
specimens in his backpack. These specimens
apparently disappeared when his backpack was
reclaimed at Sheriff’s Office. Walt had called me on
Sunday previous to his hike into the mountains. He
wanted Bob Corbin and I to accompany him. Neither of
us could take off from work on such short notice. I
told him if we given a little advance notice with
could accompany him. He was too impatient and
insisted that he was going early on Monday morning.
The morning he died, he visited with a local
horseman who had packed into Charlebois Springs for
an overnight camp out. He reported Gassler in good
spirits, but somewhat fatigued from his hike into
the mountains. Did Walt Gassler locate a rich vein
of gold on Peter’s Mesa? We will never know!
The Peter’s Mesa area is adjacent to Music Mountain
and Hermann’s Mountain. Of course the Upper Box of
La Barge separates Hermann’s Mountain and Coffee
Flat Mountain. A lot of stories have emerged from
this region over the past seven or eight decades.
These stories and tall tales continue to attract
treasure hunters, Dutch hunters, and the curious to
the region.
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