I was asked to post information here regarding the 2010 Dutch Hunter Rendezvous which is scheduled for late October.

"The 6th annual Dutch Hunter rendezvous is scheduled for October 22nd 23rd and 24th at the Dons camp just off Peralta road on the 109th anniversary of Jacob Waltz's death. Our Guest speaker for Saturday night this year is Author Jack San Felice. Jack will be giving a presentation on J.D Walker. The gate to the camp should be open Thursday afternoon for our out of town guests and other early arrivals. Remember there is no water available at the site, but there are rest rooms on site. All fires must be contained and horses should be kept in the upper camp area adjacent to the entry gate.

Our Saturday night campfire has seen such guest speakers as Clay Worst, Dr Thomas Glover, Jesse Feldman, Bob Corbin, Jack San Felice and others. The Friday night campfire will be open to any and all speakers.

Saturday morning we will be taking a hike to Geronimos cave. For those interested we will be leaving early and in 2 groups. The more adventurous will follow up Cardiac and take the cave trail to Devils slide. For those who are looking for something less challenging, there will be a 2nd group hiking the Peralta trail to the cave.

As there are 3 separate sites with active forums concerning the LDM, I have asked Paul Shimek to provide information on the Desert USA forum, Joe Ribaudo on the Treasure net site and Randy and I will post and field questions on the Lost Dutchman site.

Several years ago Kraig mentioned that it would be fitting to have some sort of award or recognition of Dutch Hunters at the rendezvous. We have never been able to make something workable but did provide recognition each year in the way of our guest speakers and/or coffee cups. I would like some ideas on how to rectify and incorporate this in a better way. I hope we also can give some recognition to the surviving families of those who came before us in this way. I have an outline of what I think would work, but would like to hear from everyone on their thoughts and suggestions before I move forward on this.

One last note here is that I will be sending follow up emails up until the week before the rendezvous with additional information and reminders.

Any questions, comments and suggestions are welcome and you can give me an email at this address or call me at 602-501-2898 on my cellular.

Wayne and Randy
Wayne e-mail: ZenTull@aol.com
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This will be the 4th one I've attended, and they're really a great chance to meet folks all sharing the same interest - the Lost Dutchman and the Superstition Mountains.

It's a real informal gathering of people who get together to hear stories, share theories, exchange information, look at photos, etc...

The only main rule they have is to leave grudges and tempers outside the gate - if you really have an issue with someone, they ask that you take it outside the camp area to work out.

We've had opportunities to visit the QCU Ranch a couple times, had relatives of Tex Barkley join us as well as a Peralta family member last year.

Like I said - it's really informal - you can sit around shootin' the breeze all day with folks, you can go for organized hikes or just go off exploring on your own, whatever you want - it's just a nice opportunity to get together and meet some of the people who you see post on these forums and get to know one another a little better.

Let me know if you have any questions, or contact Wayne by phone or e-mail.
Paul

The 6th Annual Dutchman's Rendezvous was held at Don's Camp below the magnificent Dacite Cliffs near Peralta Trailhead October 22, 23, and 24.
This was the first rendezvous Sharon and I attended. Bob Corbin and Joe Ribaudo have been encouraging me for several years to attend. My wife and I enjoyed the gathering very much. Everyone was friendly and cordial. Jack San Felice gave a nice presentation on John D. Walker Saturday evening. I would guess attendance for the three day event was around one hundred individuals from all over the United States. We had people from the East Coast, Oklahoma, Texas, California, Utah and I don't know where else. Wayne, Randy and Greg did a great job organizing the event. Our hats are off to those three for their effort. Campfire chats appeared to be the heart of the event. I loved listening to Bob Corbin, Rick Gwynn and others tell their adventures and stories in the Superstition Wilderness Area. I talked to many people I had seen in many years including Roger Newkirk, and others. Roger took my CAC class "Prospecting the Superstitions" in the early 1980's. Richard Walp was there and I enjoyed chatting with him. Jack Carlson, Bob Schoose, Greg Davis, Randy Wright, Wayne and also Beth & Roy. I sorry but I didn't catch everyone's last name. I donated a leather-bound edition of "In The Footsteps of the Dutchman." It was my last leather-bound copy. Ralph Johnson from Tulsa, Oklahoma won the book in the drawing they had. It would have been nice if there had been more raffle prizes. Maybe the other authors that were in attendance will donate books next year. I'll try to come up with something unique next year for the raffle. I enjoy supporting this event and wish its organizers the greatest success. The most popular camp at the Rendezvous this year was Joe Ribaudo. Joe and his charming wife Carolyn furnished food and I must say very good food. We had fantastic stew, pasta and meatballs, and steaks over the three evenings we spent out at the Rendezous. One night Sharon brought Salad and Italian bread. We took home a lot of photographs and some wonderful memories. Anyone who did not attend missed a great opportunity to hear some interesting stories about the Superstition Mountains, the stone maps, the Lost Dutchman Mine and the Jesuit treasures.

I recommend the event to anyone who has a sincere interested in the Superstition Mountains, its people and stories. I will post some photos later.

Please excuse any typo or spelling errors.

Tom K.

HERE IS A PHOTO FROM THE RENDEZVOUS... l. to r. Gary Knapp, don't know, don't know, Bob Schoose, Paul and Connie

It was indeed a good time once again. I'm really happy I had an opportunity to meet you Tom and your wife Sharon (and of course Bucky!).

It really is pretty much just an informal gathering of people with like-minded interests - be it Superstition Mountain History, the LDM specifically, the Stone Maps or even just treasure hunting or prospecting/mining in general. The formal speakers and "events" are really nice, but the meat of the gathering is all the mingling, story telling, theories and listening.

I usually spend more time sitting around talking with folks and exchanging ideas, however it was important to me this year to make sure Connie felt comfortable and didn't feel "out of the loop." I really appreciated everyone making her feel welcome, and the good news is that by the time we headed back to the airport after a couple days in Sedona, she was already interested in starting to get a feel for real estate prices and the kinds of areas she would like to live in, so one Rendezvous may have convinced her .

I hope I have an opportunity to spend more time talking to you in the future Tom as every story you told seemed to bring up 3 more questions I wanted to ask. Connie mentioned to me numerous times that out of all the folks she met and saw out there, you were the one that stuck in her mind as the "REAL" cowboy - she said that your looks, dress, attitude, history and mannerisms reminded her a lot of what she imagined John Wayne was like in his western movies .

I haven't even begun to go through my photos from this trip, but I don't think we have too many from the Rendezvous itself - if I find some good ones, I'll post them here though.

The 2 folks in your photo that were unidentified were:

1) Von Kidd (bearded fellow sitting) - don't know much about him except that he's quiet but friendly, and that he rode a bicycle out to the Don's camp both last year and this.

2) Ellie (man standing behind Von) - I don't know his last name, but he posts on other forums as Ellie Baba.

I encourage anyone interested to come out next year (it should be around the 3rd weekend of October). It's really a good time, and people genuinely make an effort to set aside any differences they may have personally just to enjoy a little comaradarie and say hello to old friends and perhaps meet some new ones.

Paul:

It was a pleasure meeting you and your wife Connie. We enjoyed our visits very much and thanks to Bob and Joe I made it out there this year. Thanks for identifying the two I didn't know. Tell Connie I am honored by her comments. I worked on the Quarter Circle U Ranch and ran it for almost a year in 1959. Actually I worked for the Barkley Cattle Company off and on from 1955-1960. Tell Connie the silver screen cowboys were always my heroes when I was growing up. Here is a little tidbit of information. Just beyond where the store stands on the road to the Quarter Circle U Ranch there use to be a movie set on state land. This movie set predated Apache Land by many years. Part of the film "Partners" starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis was filmed there. Also other old time cowboy movies were filmed there and my boss and owner of the ranch actually had some bit parts in the films. There is a lot of history associated with the area. Audie Murphy last film, "A Time To Die" was filmed at Apache Land and up near the old U Ranch. Of course you probably knew El Charro was filmed at Apache Land. I actually delivered horses to Apache Land that was used in one of the Death Valley programs and narrated by Ronald Reagan. I had the honor of meeting Reagan, and while still President of the United States he wrote me a wonderful letter thanking me for a book and times at Apache Land. I thought maybe Connie might this these tidbits of history interesting. It is amazing what the Rendezvous does for the human spirit and makes humans a little bit easier to understand. Take care Paul & Connie.

Tom Kollenborn

Paul here is a photo of that old movie set that was torn down about 1965. This was the old barn. I have a few other photos of the movie set somewhere.

Thanks for the movie history Tom!
I was able to find them all on eBay, and ordered them for my library.



Best,

Jim

I received my copy of "A TIME FOR DYING" in the mail today.

I am glad I bought it for the scenery at Apacheland, rather than because I am an Audie Murphy fan. Audie has a very small part in the movie (1 scene about a minute and a half long).