Jacob Waltz unknowingly created one of the most popular legends of the American Southwest. Storytellers say he spun yarns and gave clues to a lost gold mine in the Superstition Mountains. Historians claim he was a very quiet and secluded individual keeping to himself most of the time. These clues and stories attributed to Waltz continue to attract men and women to these mountains in search of gold from around the world. The search for gold in these mountains was pure fantasy to many. Yet others believe this legendary gold mine is as real as the precious metal itself. Who was this man that left this lingering legacy of lost gold? The story of his mine remains a legacy to this old German prospector.

Jacob Waltz was born near Oberschwandorf, Wurttenburg, Germany, some time between 1808 and 1810. The precise date of his birth has not been documented with baptismal records. His childhood was quite obscure therefore few records remain about his early life in Germany. There is no information or documentation that indicates Jacob Waltz had any formal education. There is certainly no record that proves Waltz a graduated mining engineer as claimed by some writers. Many men named Jacob Waltz lived in Germany during the time of our Jacob Waltz of Lost Dutchman Mine fame. This is the reason for so much confusion when his named is researched.

Some historians believe Jacob Waltz sailed from the Port of Bremen on the ship Obler for America on October 1, 1839 arriving at the Port of New Orleans on November 17, 1839. Waltz name appears 97th on the list and his age is given as 28. His home town was Horb, Wurttenburg, Germany according to the ship’s manifest. It is said he worked in the gold fields of Meadow Creek, North Carolina and Dohney, Georgia for awhile, but there are no records to support this claim. Jacob Waltz filed a letter of intent to become a citizen of the United States in the Adams County Courthouse in Natchez, Mississippi on November 12, 1848. This is one of the first actual documents Arizona’s Jacob Waltz’s name appears on in America.

It is believed Waltz traveled overland to California around 1850, probably through Texas from Natchez, Mississippi. He spent eleven years working in the gold fields of California. Waltz’s name appeared in some early California census records. He did file papers to become a citizen of the United States in the Los Angeles County Court House. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States on July 19, 1861, thirty years prior to his death in Phoenix on October 25, 1891. The events surrounding Waltz’s life during his twenty-seven years in Arizona Territory is what created his legacy and the legend of the Dutchman’s Lost mine.

Waltz traveled to Arizona Territory with the Peeples- Weaver Party in the May` of 1863. The Peeples Party discovered gold in the Bradshaw Mountains along Lynx Creek. While these early prospectors were busy staking out claims Waltz and three other men staked out a claim called the Gross Claim in the Walnut Mining District on September 21, 1863. Waltz would stake out two more claims in the Bradshaws before eventually moving down to Phoenix in 1868. Waltz gained much of his knowledge about prospecting and mining while working in California. This man came to the Bradshaws as an experienced prospector and miner. Waltz, while in the Bradshaws, signed a petition to Territorial Governor Goodwin to raise a militia to stop the predatory raids of the local Native Americans on miners and prospectors in the Prescott area.

It is highly unlikely Waltz spent anytime around Wickenburg. He did settle on a homestead on the north bank of the Salt River. He filed papers on the homestead in March 1868. Waltz farmed a little and raised a few chickens. He also prospected the surrounding mountains until about 1886. Some believe, if Waltz had a rich mine, he found it between years of 1868-1886.

There are so many stories about Waltz and his mine in the Superstition Mountains it is impossible to separate the true stories from the fictional stories. Waltz had few friends. Julia Thomas and Rhinehart Petrasch appear to be a couple of Waltz’s friends according to what information that is available today. Julia Thomas traveled into the Superstition Mountains looking for Waltz’s mine in August of 1892, about ten months after Waltz’s death. Thomas found nothing. It is believed by many Arizona historians Thomas drew and sold maps to Waltz’s mine to help recoup her losses after selling her business and going on a wild goose chase in the Superstition Mountains looking for his mine. Thomas may have sold her story about Waltz and his mine to P.C. Bicknell, a free lance writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Bicknell published a story about Waltz in that paper on January 13, 1895. Many Arizona historians believe this is the origin of the Lost Dutchman Mine story.

If Waltz indeed had a mine, there are those that are totally convinced his mine was the old Bull Dog some two miles west of Superstition Mountain. The Bull Dog had an eighteen inch vein, a significant clue in the story of the Lost Dutchman Mine. Waltz could have easily worked the Black Queen, Mammoth or Bull Dog mines in the Goldfields. It is also difficult to believe Waltz worked a mine in the Goldfields because there were numerous prospectors in the area between the years of 1879-1892. It would have been difficult to work a gold deposit in the area without being observed by somebody. The mystery as to the location of Waltz’s Mine is what legends are made of.

Jacob Waltz died in Phoenix, Arizona Territory at Julia Thomas’ home on Mohave Street, on Sunday morning, October 25, 1891, and he was buried the next day, October 26, 1891, in what is known today as the Phoenix Pioneer’s Cemetery. There are those who would like for us to believe, old Waltz was a cold-blooded murderer. Nothing in Arizona records or early newspapers indicate this. The West may have been a little wild, but not near as wild as many people would like to lead us to believe. This old German immigrant left quit a legacy behind. The separating of truth from fiction is what keeps this old legend alive.

Each year near the end of February the community of Apache Junction celebrates the story of the old Dutchman and his mine as part Lost Dutchman Days. Lost Dutchman Days has been celebrated in Apache Junction since 1965. Join in on the festivities of Lost Dutchman Days and enjoy the legacy of this old prospector.

This relatively new information on Jacob Waltz in this article should be accredited to Kraig Roberts, who did most of the original research in the 1970s.