Homar:
Losing a post in progress is a pain, isn't it !
I've started to use notepad for composing longer posts, and saving it at frequent intervals.
I agree with some of your ideas, particularly the lack of evidence within the Waltz chronology, of any connection to the Stone Maps. I had written this some time ago on another site:
" None of the stories about the LDM, as told by Julia, Rhiney or Richard Holmes made mention of any maps carved in stone. Nor did any other gold finds described by others who searched for Waltz's mine include anything other than paper or hide maps, to the best of my knowledge. Even the story of the Peralta Massacre made no reference to stone maps. It could be, that the publication of these articles planted the seeds for the belief that the Stone Maps were made by the Peraltas and lost at the time of the massacre. But this theory seems only to have taken root after the publication, in 1964, of the Life Magazine article about Tumlinson's stones."
There are a number of reasons why I do not believe the Peraltas fabricated the Stone Maps.
First, by all accounts, they and the other Mexican families were prospector/miners. In other words they were in the region, not just the Superstitions but other areas such as the Bradshaws as well, to look for and exploit deposits of gold and silver. That was the basis of their family wealth and their area of expertise by most accounts.There areseveral maps attributed to them, which may be genuine, but these were drawn on materials other than stone. These also show mine locations with
a dot, a circle or an X also labelled "mina", so it seems they had no reservations about identifying the reasons for these maps.The stories/legends surrounding them all describe their efforts as yielding concentrated gold ore, which they transported back to Mexico for enrichment. The Stone Maps on the other hand, do not have the word "mina" upon them,even amongst the fainter markings. The Stone Cross (map) has two dots with the word ORO below, which correlates with the two small holes to the right of the heart pocket IMO. But I believe these to be caches, rather
than mines.Everything written on the Stone Maps and Crosses, while done in Spanish, does appear to have been done by someone with a lesser command of the language and spelling than any of the Peralta's would have had.
Secondly, no "Peralta" map includes words or phrases in latin.
"MEUS", a latin word meaning belongs to me, rather than a hole in the ground, appears in three corresponding places on both the Latin Heart and the "Perficio" map. Other latin words appear on the L/H which also correspond to the words and symbols on the Perficio, in many cases being
in the same relationship to each other. The Perficio Rock which matched the drawing was discovered in the mountains by Abe Reid in the 1910-20 period, long before any of the other stones and was unknown to those who found the other stones. Reid's Perficio carving has never been called into question, nor has Abe ever been accused of forgery by any of the old-timers who knew him. Not one of those who rabidly proclaim the Stone Maps as modern fakes, and the only one who owned the original set, Tumlinson, a con artist, refuse to even discuss to Perficio Rock or the Jesuit Book of Psalms with it's drawing. That speaks volumes to me.
A third reason would be the simple fact that these maps are relatively large and carved on slabs of stone. Many have pointed out the difficulty of transport and use such maps would bring, and the notion that they were hurriedly made by the Peralta's just prior to their flight from the mountains does not make any sense either. We all have good copies of the known maps, just as good as the ones on stone, to find our way. They would have only needed the same.
These Stones were meant to be concealed (cached) and left in place for a long time, perhaps an unknown length of time, by someone who had no hope of being able to return in the short term.
They simply do not fit within any scenario involving the Peralta's mining activities, other than the possibility that they were aware of and were looking for these Stone Maps as well.
Regards:Somehiker