Re: Lost Dutchman's Mine

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: Wow Caitlin! If that is what the Superstitions look like, I am definitely there. That is incredible. I'll have pretty much two days to work with so I'm sure I can get up there. To miss this would be a crime...
: And I'd love to see the Hopi reservations. Maybe I should stay a couple days longer if they'll have me. THANKS for the suggestions! 


: : Hi Ilse!
: : I'm doing great, thank you!
: : Seems like we didn't get a chance to catch up at all this Gathering. I missed talking to you! Next time the beer is on me! :-)

: : Now, the legend....
: : "During the 1840's the Peralta family of northern Mexico supposedly developed rich gold mine(s) in the Superstitions. Their last expedition to carry gold back to Mexico occured in 1848. According to legend, the large party was ambushed by Apaches, and all were killed except for one or two Peralta family members who escaped into Mexico. This area is known today as the Massacre Grounds.

: : A number of other people were supposed to have known the mine's location or even to have worked it. Numerous maps have surfaced over the years, only to become lost or misplaced when interested parties pressed for facts. Men who claimed to have found the Peralta mine were unable to return to it or some disaster occured before they could file a claim, all adding to the lore of a "lost mine."

: : In the 1870's Jacob Waltz, "the Dutchman" (actually a native of Germany) was said to have located the mine through the aid of a Peralta descendant. Waltz and his partner, Jacob Weiser worked the mine and allegedly hid one or more caches of gold in the Superstitions. Most stories place the gold in the vicinity of Weaver's Needle, a well known landmark. Weiser was killed by Apaches, or according to some, by Waltz himself.

: : In failing health, Jacob Waltz moved to Phoenix and died some twenty years later in 1891. He supposedly described the mine's location to Julia Thomas, a neighbor who took care of him prior to his death. Neither she nor dozens of other seekers in the years that followed were able to find the "Lost Dutchman's Mine." Subsequent searchers have sometimes met with foul play or even death, contributing to the superstition and legend that surround these mountains."

: : Legend has it that the Apaches still regard the mountains as a spiritual place and protect it. People still continue to look for the mine today and there are many ghost stories about their disappearances. 

: : The mountains are definitely aweinspiring. 
: : caitlin


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