The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

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The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

Post by oroblanco »

The OTHER Lost Dutchman Gold Mine in Arizona
<NOT the one in the Superstitions linked to Jacob Waltz!>

There are well over 1000 lost mines and bonanza ledges scattered over the western states, and nearly 300 in Arizona alone, so perhaps we ought not be surprised to learn that there is actually more than one Lost Dutchman mine legend including two in Arizona and one in Colorado, which has led to some confusion for treasure hunters and prospectors hunting for these lost mines.

The lost mine of Jacob Waltz, believed to be located in the Superstition mountains, almost certainly cannot be the same one as we are talking about here. I say this not only because of the region this other "Dutchman" was working in, nor the fact that it dates to a few years earlier than Waltz's story, <this Dutchman was well known in Wickenburg in the 1870's, Waltz's notoriety didn't arise until the 1880's> but because this Dutchman was found dead several years after Jacob Waltz had died.

One early version of this OTHER Arizona Lost Dutchman is this one; extract quote
One variety of the "Lost Dutchman" story concerns the operations of a German who made his headquarters at Wickenburg, in the early seventies. He had a very irritating habit of disappearing from the camp once in a while, going by night, and taking with him several burros, whose feet would be so well wrapped that trailing was impossible. He would return at night, in equally as mysterious a manner, his burros loaded with gold ore of wonderful richness. Efforts at tracking him failed. The country for miles around was searched carefully to find the source of his wealth, which could not have been very far distant. The ore was not the same as that at Vulture. The location of the mine never became known to anyone, save its discoverer. He disappeared as usual one night, and never returned. The assumption that he was murdered by Apaches appears to have been sustained by a prospector's discovery near Vulture in the summer of 1895 of the barrel of an old muzzle-loading shotgun, and by it, a home-made mosquito gun stock. The gun had been there so long that even the hammer and trigger had rusted away. Near by was a human skeleton, bleached from long exposure. The next find was some small heaps of very rich gold rock, probably where sacks had decayed from around the ore, and then at a short distance was discovered a shallow prospect hole, sunk on a gold-bearing ledge. The ore in the heaps was about the same character as that which had been brought into Wickenburg in the early days by the "Lost Dutchman," but it didn't agree at all with the ore in the shallow prospect hole, which was not considered worthy of further development.
End quoted extract
<from Arizona, Prehistoric, Aboriginal, Pioneer, Modern: The Nation's Youngest
by James H. McClintock - Arizona - 1916 pp 392, online at Google books free, public domain>

Now unless someone dug up old Waltz from his grave in Phoenix and set him up near the Vulture mine several years later, this can not be the same man or the same mine.

We can also rule out the very site where this Dutchman was found dead as the location of his mine, for the ore found in piles near his remains did not match the ore in the shallow prospect hole near his body, and gold ore is a bit like fingerprints in that no two ore deposits are identical; in fact a good geologist can identify which mine any ore sample came from just by a careful examination with a jeweler's loupe.

Speaking of geologists, studies done on the region around the Vulture mine, where this Lost Dutchman mine is located, have supported the contention that other very rich gold deposits are very likely to be found in the area. In fact the Arizona Geological Survey has a very interesting and informative article on the geology of the Vulture mine, free online at

http://www.azgs.az.gov/Mineral%20Scans/ ... 20Mine.pdf

DesertUSA has an excellent article on the famous Vulture mine at
http://www.desertusa.com/mag00/dec/stories/vulture.html

This mine produced approximately 340,000 ounces of gold and 260,000 ounces of silver, a very rich gold in quartz deposit first discovered by yet another Dutchman named Henry Wickenburg. (Seems those German pioneers were excellent prospectors and miners!)

The area around Wickenburg is a known gold region, with placer gold being found in the Hassayampa river, the famous Vulture mine not far away, and in the nearby Black Rock district which has the Oro Grande and Gold Bar mines, while the White Picacho district includes part of the Wickenburg mountains; to the north of town are the Weaver and Martinez gold districts. In the White Picacho district, the Golden Slipper mine in particular had very rich ore, which indicates that the potential for rich gold deposits in this region is very good indeed.

Grants Stage station in Wickenburg 1874, the period when this Dutchman was active
Image


Who was this other Dutchman? Could it be one and the same with the man Cal Madden? Madden discovered a rich gold quartz deposit not many miles from the famous Vulture mine in 1878 in the Vulture mountains. He would slip out of town and elude any trackers very like our Dutchman story, and his body was found near Vulture Peak, about 6 miles south of the Hassayampa river. I suspect this is the Dutchman of this lost mine legend.

Beth and I have never hunted this particular Lost Dutchman mine though we have done some prospecting up the Hassayampa and found it a very promising area. While we don't have a full set of "clues" as we do with some other lost mine legends, a careful and diligent prospector may be able to locate this lost mine, perhaps even with the aid of some of the satellite or aerial photographs that are available today. The mine cannot have been any great distance from the town of Wickenburg for it was noticed that the Dutchman could leave town and return not long after, loaded with gold ore. Of course the old timers could cover more ground than most modern people can today, but we have motorized vehicles so we can 'cheat' a bit. I believe this lost Dutchman gold mine of Wickenburg could be located and rediscovered with a little research, a lot of leg-work and a goodly portion of good luck.

For maps of the area, check out
http://www.desertusa.com/who/du_maps.html

So dear reader, I ask your opinions, experiences or any clues or tidbits you may have garnered on this Lost Dutchman which you would share with us. Thank you in advance,

Good luck and good hunting amigos, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.
Roy ~ Oroblanco
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Re: The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

Post by Guz »

Next time I go gold hunting I'm taking a dutchman with me :) They seem to have a knack for finding gold mines(and losing them) :)


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Re: The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

Post by oroblanco »

Guz wrote:Next time I go gold hunting I'm taking a dutchman with me :) They seem to have a knack for finding gold mines(and losing them) :)


Guz
HOLA amigo,
Doesn't it seem that way? Even here where we now live, one of the very richest gold mines was found by a Dutchman, who shipped several RR car-loads of incredibly rich ore and left a very rich man. Those pioneer Germans were good prospectors!
Roy ~ Oroblanco
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Re: The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

Post by Jim Hatt »

oroblanco wrote: For maps of the area, check out
http://www.desertusa.com/who/du_maps.html
WOW! Roy,

I didn't know we had all of that on this site. :?
Jim_b must have built that page when I wasn't looking. :oops:
Thanks for pointing it out.

Nice story about the "OTHER" LDM too! You are full of surprises!

Jim
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Re: The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

Post by oroblanco »

HOLA amigo and thank you for the very kind words! This "other" Lost Dutchman mine is intriguing (to me, anyway) for the area is a well known gold area so for someone to have his own secret gold mine there is not even argued by any Forest Rangers or enviro-fanatics. I suspect this is where those stories of Waltz having highgraded ore from the Vulture may have come from - someone 'connecting the dots' where it was un-warranted; after all, we have a Dutchman (name not known for certain) whom is active around Wickenburg where much of the activity surrounding the Vulture is also a known history; he is seen selling rich gold ore in town, sneaks away by night and even wrapping his burros feet with cloth etc so it is a reasonable assumption to make that "leap" to say well, this must have been Waltz stealing rich ore from the Vulture when it was totally unrelated.

I suspect that at least a few of the over 100 "clues" to find the Lost Dutchman of the Superstitions may in fact be linked to this Wickenburg Dutchman instead, especially those that just don't seem to "fit" and are not directly traceable to one of the principals. How this can happen is all too easy - just getting cross-linked out of confusion (also a logical if erroneous conclusion) however sorting them out would be quite a task.

The Cal Madden story is centered on Vulture peak, which may or may not be the right area for this lost mine. I wish we knew the spot where his remains were found (with the old shotgun) for at least that would give us a direction, but all I could dig up was that it was "out in the desert" and close to an old prospect pit of poor ore that did not match the rich ore he was found with.

I find it interesting that this Dutchman may be standing in that photo of the old stage station too.
Roy
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Re: The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

Post by RockyFrisco »

I'm curious about the triangular structure at 33°44'41.20"N Lat
112°37'58.77"W Lon not far from the Vulture Mine. Is that a military facility? The habitation nearby looks like a base or something.
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Re: The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

Post by oroblanco »

Boy I sure don't know what it is - I am still very much a greenhorn with the satellite images, had a heck of a time finding it <need to find my dad-burned glasses which would help a lot>. I can't even guess.
Roy
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Re: The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

Post by oroblanco »

Here is a map showing the foot trail to Vulture Peak;
http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/ ... eakMap.pdf

USGS topo map of Vulture Peak, notice several mines and prospects on the NNE flank;
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=12&n= ... =25&size=m

Good luck and good hunting amigos, I hope you find the treasures that you seek!
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Re: The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

Post by somehiker »

RockyFrisco wrote:I'm curious about the triangular structure at 33°44'41.20"N Lat
112°37'58.77"W Lon not far from the Vulture Mine. Is that a military facility? The habitation nearby looks like a base or something.
Hi Rocky:
Indeed.The triangle is part of the original Luke AFB,and was primarily used in training pilots for emergency landings.Built about 50yrs ago,it takes the form of a triangle in order to allow "closest into the wind" un-powered landings.
Regards:Wayne
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Re: The OTHER Lost Dutchman Mine of Arizona

Post by oroblanco »

Thank you Somehiker - pretty interesting! Ever go looking for some of the long-lost crashed airplanes from WW2? It is something I have never done, but as I hear it there are literally hundreds of planes that went down during and shortly after WW2, and a fair number of them have never been found.

Roy
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