In 1748, the makings of a generational story began when Don Miguel Peralta, a Mexican cattle baron, garnered the rights to the Superstition Mountains.
This began the legend of the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine.
For 100 years, Peraltas mined Superstition gold. As the story goes, the family over the years brought wagons full of gold back to Mexico. The trips to Arizona were quick, as they were always in fear of Apache attacks.
Pedro de Peralta made a final trip to the mines in 1847 - 1848 in the winter. Supposedly, Peralta and his fellow miners blocked the portal for fear of discovery and an imminent attack. On the way back to Mexico laden with gold (about a 100-mile trip to the border) the Apache
killed them all.
About 20 years later, another Peralta family member wanted to return to the mine. With a contingent of 400 men, this Peralta again entered the Superstition Mountains. All were killed by the Apache save one, according to the popular narrative.
A few years later, in 1870, Jacob Waltz got some information from a Peralta family member regarding the location of the mine. Referred to as the dutchman, Waltz was actually German. In the day, the word Deutsch (in German) meant German, or German language. Hence, folks confused the word with "Dutch." The misnomer Dutchman Jacob Waltz was born.
Waltz's life spanned 83 years. Born in 1808 in Germany, Jacob came to the U.S. in 1848. He was probably 50 when he wound up in Arizona. It is said that he owned property (a farm) near the superstition Mountains, that would put him north of Goldfield, Az.
The information from sources supports the fact that Jacob was a prospector. From time to time, he would show up in town with plenty of gold. One story relates that he sold $250,000 of gold to the U.S. Mint in San Francisco in the 1880s. That would be worth $7,543,848.04 today!
On October 25, 1891, Jacob Waltz met his maker. A flood that swept through the Phoenix basin destroyed his homestead and farm. He contracted pneumonia, though his brothers Herman and Reinhardt Petrasch did save him.
As a last wish, Jacob asked the brothers to go to his homestead and look for gold he had hidden. The story goes that they came back with $15000 of gold.
As Jacob lay sick, his brothers gleaned clues from Jacob about the Superstition gold mine. Jacob's nurse, Julia, and the brothers used those clues to search for the mine but didn't find it.
Like the previous searches, folks today still travel the Superstitions searching for the hidden treasure. But as the local news sources relate (just Google Superstition Lost Hikers) and you will find that nearly every year, people wind up lost in the Superstitions (especially in our hot summer months) and are recovered, dead. And if Arizona's weather isn't enough reason to not hunt for the Dutchman's gold, many contributors to the saga have rumored the mine to be cursed.
Some recent history,
The Lost Dutchman Mine Part Nine: The Peralta Family – Jason Roberts (jasonrobertsonline.com)
For all the facts, see,
Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine - Wikipedia
A great story,
The Legend Of The Lost Dutchman And His Gold Mine Explained (grunge.com)
More on Arizona, Golden Legends: Tales of Buried Treasure: Pancho Villa's Reported Treasure Map in Douglas, Arizona? (goldlegendstalesofburiedtreasure.blogspot.com)
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