The Silver Madonna and Other Tales of America's Greatest Lost Treasures (5 page)

After securing permission to explore the private property on which Shafter Lake is located, at least two expeditions have employed metal detectors in an attempt to locate the metal. While bits and pieces of harnesses and other metal fittings were found, the gold eluded the searchers, suggesting that it had sunk beyond the range of the electronic equipment.

With recent advances in metal detecting and related technology occurring every day, it may be just a matter of time before Shafter Lake yields Pecos Bill’s long-lost treasure.

5

The Lost Dutchman Mine of the Superstition Mountains

In the minds of many, the most famous lost mine in the United States is the one called the Lost Dutchman Mine located somewhere in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. As a result of feature films as well as numerous books and articles, this lost mine has received a great deal of attention and has captured the imagination of the public. With the passage of so much time, it is often difficult to separate fact from legend, but the prevailing truth is that this mine, actually several mines, did exist. A further truth is that, according to research, these mines were played out and likely no longer yielded any ore. However, a great portion of the gold that was taken from these mines remains in the area buried in a number of secret locations, an amount that would be equal to many millions of dollars today. This ore has been found and lost, and continues to lure hopeful searchers to this day.

The mysterious setting of the Superstition Mountains seems an appropriate place for a tale of lost gold. Once a homeland for Apache Indians, this desert region manifests extremely rugged terrain, steep slopes, sharp ridges, extreme aridity, and populations of rattlesnakes, scorpions, and poisonous centipedes.

Long before this region came to the notice of the gold-seeking Spanish explorers during the early 1700s, the area’s Indian tribes believed the region to be inhabited by several different gods, all of which protected the gold. The Indians believed that the Superstition Mountains were ruled by a deity they called the Thunder God. They claimed he had the power to hurl rocks from cliff tops onto any and all who dared enter the region in search of the precious ore. It was from this, as well as other Indian legends, that the so-called Curse of the Superstition Mountains derived its origins.

In addition to the Apaches, the Pima Indians offered their own legend. They believed that when the Aztec leader Montezuma gathered up his followers along with his huge fortune, he journeyed from deep in Mexico northward into the Superstition Mountains. Here, claim the Pimas, Montezuma buried uncountable millions of dollars’ worth of gold, silver, and jewels. Montezuma selected the Superstitions because he believed that in the remote sanctuary it would be safe from raiders.

Montezuma had not expected the Spaniards. Under the command of Coronado, the Spanish explorers entered the region during the early 1500s. In 1539, one expedition led by Fray Marcos de Niza set forth from Mexico City in an attempt to locate a quantity of gold believed to exist somewhere in the vast region of the northern desert. Accompanying de Niza were miners, geologists, and engineers. For years afterward, prospecting and mining activity provided for the opening of hundreds of productive mines throughout much of the American Southwest. Gold and silver were discovered in several locations.

A number of successful shaft and placer mining operations were undertaken in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. Gold was processed, formed into ingots, and accumulated. Every two or three months, pack trains carrying hundreds of ingots plied the hazardous trails from the mines to governmental and church headquarters in Mexico City.

As the Spanish mining activity in the Superstition Mountains increased, so did Apache resentment of the intruders. The Indians long considered the range their homeland as well as a holy ground, and the growing encroachment of the newcomers was testing the patience of the tribe. In their quest for providing food for the miners and attendant populations, the Spaniards were decimating herds of deer and bison to the degree that little remained for the Indians. As time went by, the Apaches grew frustrated and began to retaliate. At first, small hunting parties were ambushed along narrow trails. As the ranks of the Spaniards were thinned over time, the Indians began attacking the mining camps. Daylong battles ensued with regularity, with the Spanish generally suffering the greatest losses.

In spite of the Indian threat, and with occasional reinforcements, the Spanish continued to work the mines until the mid-1700s. At that time, as a result of the gradual depletion of the large deposits of ore, along with the continued Indian raids, the Spanish began the gradual process of abandoning the area. Prior to leaving, the Spaniards, considering the possibility of returning to the area someday to resume mining operations, covered all of the entrances to the shafts in the hope that this would deter any who followed them into the range in pursuit of gold.

For years, the Superstition Mountains remained quiet and undisturbed. Few other than Apache Indians passed through the area, and they remained constantly on guard against the return of the intruding miners. Unknown to the Indians at the time, the Mexican Revolution of 1821 marked the end of the Spanish reign in the region, thus prohibiting them from returning to the mountains to extract more of the gold.

Many years later in Mexico, a man named Peralta learned of the rich gold mines in the Superstition Mountains that the Spanish had been forced to abandon. For decades, the Peralta family operated several successful gold mines in the Mexican state of Sonora as well as southern Arizona, which at the time was part of Mexico. They became intrigued with the possibility of extending their interests into the Superstition Mountains. After obtaining geological, geographical, and engineering information on the Superstition mines, Don Miguel Peralta II organized a party to travel to the isolated and still dangerous range with the hope of locating gold and reopening the existing shafts.

During the following months, Peralta employed geologists, engineers, and laborers as well as dozens of armed guards for protection against marauding Indians. By the time the Peralta expedition departed Mexico for the Superstition Mountains, it numbered over four hundred men.

On arriving in the range the Peralta Expedition, employing the Spanish maps, relocated several placer mines and reopened some of the more productive shafts. The laborers worked as long as eighteen hours each day, seven days per week.

As it turned out, mining gold in the Superstition range was as profitable for Peralta as it had been for the Spaniards, and an immense fortune in the ore had been mined and shipped from the range. During the 1840s Peralta, now in his sixties, learned of the impending Treaty of Hidalgo, an agreement that would grant that part of Mexico to the United States. The treaty was to take effect in 1848, so Peralta hurried to mine as much gold as he could before being forced from the area.

In addition to having to deal with the approaching deadlines of the treaty, Peralta also had to contend with the growing number of raids by the Indians. Miners, guards, and hunters often fell victim to Apache arrows. Over time, talk of the Curse of the Superstition Mountains occupied the conversations of the Mexicans.

As the time to depart the area approached, Peralta, like the Spanish before him, covered and camouflaged all of the mine shafts, believing it would serve as a deterrent to others who might come to the range in search of the gold. Peralta was hopeful he would be able to return and reopen the mines in the future.

After having tons of gold loaded onto mules, Peralta transported his wealth back to Mexico via a series of pack trains. Because time was limited, and because of the abundance of gold and the shortage of mules, Peralta was forced to bury millions of dollars’ worth of ore at a number of secret locations not far from the shafts.

One such pack train consisting of twenty mules, each carrying heavy leather sacks filled with gold ore and led by a contingent of armed and mounted guards, wound its way through the canyons and out of the range on its way to Mexico City. As mules and guards passed single file along a narrow trail that paralleled Camp Creek, they were ambushed by Apaches.

Panicked, the guards bolted, only to be overtaken by the Indians and slaughtered. Moments later, the excited and milling mules were rounded up. The Apaches considered mule meat a delicacy and were anxious to herd the animals back to their campground. On the other hand, the Indians cared little for gold other than for ornaments such as armbands and necklaces. Within minutes, they cut the packs away and scattered the gold in the creek bed. To this day, hikers along Camp Creek still pick up gold nuggets from the sands and gravels of this ephemeral stream.

Shortly after the Treaty of Hidalgo was signed, gold was discovered in California and the great gold rush was on. These two events eventually brought together Peralta and a German immigrant named Jacob Walz (sometimes spelled Waltz and Waltzer). Walz would soon become the most prominent figure associated with the Superstition gold mines.

Walz arrived on the eastern seaboard of the United States with many years of mining experience. He was immediately employed at gold mines in North Carolina and Georgia. Walz was living in Mississippi when he learned of the fabulous gold discoveries in California. Along with thousands of others, Walz packed his bag and headed west in hope of striking it rich.

Little is known of Walz’s activities prior to 1860. He was purported to be a recluse and for the most part shunned contact with other men. It is believed he worked several small but unproductive placer claims in northern California. Here he was known as the Dutchman, a nickname that stuck with him for the rest of his life.

According to legend, Walz was enjoying a beer in a tavern in some small mining town in California when he was distracted by a disturbance. At the opposite end of the bar, a drunk and angry gambler was beating on an elderly man. When the gambler plunged a knife into the stomach of the defenseless man, Walz stepped in and wrestled the weapon away. He picked up the bleeding victim and carried him to his hotel room where he treated the wound. Over the next few days, the old man recovered as Walz tended to him and brought him meals.

The old man introduced himself to Walz as Don Miguel Peralta II and the two became friends. When Peralta was fully recovered, he told Walz about his rich gold mines in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. At first, Walz did not believe the old man, but Peralta eventually provided him with directions as well as a map showing the locations of several of the still productive mines that had been covered over along with a number of the buried caches.

A short time later as the War Between the States gained momentum, Walz, using the map and directions provided by Peralta, traveled to the Superstition Mountains to search for the gold mines. He had difficulty interpreting Peralta’s map, but after several years of searching finally found gold. In the western end of the range near the normally dry Camp Creek, Walz found much of the ore earlier scattered by the Apaches following the ambush. In addition, he located a significant placer deposit.

Not far from Camp Creek, Walz encountered the ruins of several rock houses in which Peralta’s miners and guards once lived. Not far from these, he located two shafts that had been covered over. From where he stood near these shafts, Walz could see the sharply pointed peak off to the south that a number of researchers have identified as Weavers Needle, a prominent landmark in the area. Other investigators, however, are convinced that Walz was looking at Pinnacle Peak. After exploring the region for several days, Walz found at least two of the large caches of ore and ingots that had been buried by Peralta.

Once Walz determined that he had indeed found Peralta’s mining claim, he set about panning gold from some of the streams and reopening the mine shafts. As he panned and dug ore, he allegedly cached quantities of it alongside Peralta’s stashes in other places. According to research, the only time Walz ever left the range was to travel to Phoenix to purchase supplies.

While in town, Walz always paid for his purchases with gold. According to many, they were the purest nuggets ever seen in the region. When townsfolk asked Walz about the source of his gold, he refused to talk about it, saying only that no one would ever find his mines. As in California, he was known locally as the Dutchman.

When more people became aware of Walz’s mining successes, some began following him on his return trips to the Superstition Mountains. Walz expected such a thing to happen and he devised a number of ways to elude his trackers. It has been said that several men who set out on the trail of the Dutchman were never seen again. Many were convinced that Walz hid in ambush and killed them. Such tales added to the growing mystery about the Curse of the Superstition Mountains.

For twenty years Walz extracted gold from the mines and panned it from the streams. As he aged, his health began to fail and a variety of infirmities began taking a toll. During his last few years in the range, Walz dropped a few hints relative to the locations of some of his mines, but he shared precise directions with only one person, a woman he had befriended years earlier.

Julia Thomas owned a Phoenix ice cream parlor and was one of the few black women in the area. Most believe that the directions Walz provided Thomas were accurate because he would have no reason to deceive her. Paraphrased, the directions are as follows:

Follow the Salt River from Phoenix until arriving at a junction with a well-traveled trail. Take the trail to Sombrero Peak, and from this point continue to the eye of the Needle. From the eye, the mines lie almost due north. Continue to Blacktop Hill, thence to Blacktop Mesa. On the mesa can be seen an old stone corral left by the Spaniards. Cross the mesa and continue down the opposite side where a spring can be seen. Follow the trail northward until coming to another spring. Beyond this spring lies a canyon, and the mines are located at the head of it.