Lure of the Dutchman's Gold Mine

[nuggethunting]

Hello All,

It seems like every couple of years you will hear about stories of treasure hunters and prospectors searching for the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. Regardless if the story is even true, hundreds if not thousands have searched for it. I have my doubt that this group of three guys will turn up alive.

Is it the gold, adventure or both that causes people to believe it's really out there?

[adam]

Its the lure of riches and adventure Rob Like minded people of the east always envy the lure at the southwestern tales of riches, treasure, and of course ....Gold... Adventerous minds just cant resist the possibility hitting the mother load if you will. Arizona, the legend, the challenge, the fantacy that actually could come true....We live a good life out here.....

[Uncle Ron]

Damn, there are so many richer prospect areas out here than the Superstitions ... It's almost always uneducated dummies that goout after the Dutchman's gold ... Oh well the romantic lure keeps the claim prices up... Cheers, Unc

[JimGilmore]

Damn, there are so many richer prospect areas out here than the Superstitions ... It's almost always uneducated dummies that goout after the Dutchman's gold ... Oh well the romantic lure keeps the claim prices up... Cheers, Unc

Many have wasted their lives in the pursuit of Haminnaptr....Some have never returned.

[AZNuggetBob]

Ron I have to say many have pursued the Dutchmans treasurers and followed stories of the riches including myself but I don't have much hope for the guys Rob is referring too. Some don't consider how brutal the az desert can be this time of year and foolishly wander out unprepared on a mission you could say..The lure of easy gold and wealth can cloud a persons judgment. Dont get me wrong, there is plenty of wealth in minerals waiting to be found but Its been my experience that they are where, not a lot of people are looking for them. AzNuggetBob

[Reno Chris]

Damn, there are so many richer prospect areas out here than the Superstitions ...

Man, thats the truth!

I personally think that just like a large percentage of other "lost mine" tales, the dutchman story is about 99% BS.

Chris

[kamikaze]

Gold fever....

[Allen in MT]

Man, thats the truth!

I personally think that just like a large percentage of other "lost mine" tales, the dutchman story is about 99% BS.

Chris

Whaaaat, now I suppose someone is going to tell me that there is no easter bunny

Allen

[Gold Seeker]

Whaaaat, now I suppose someone is going to tell me that there is no easter bunny

Allen

Allen,

There is no Easter Bunny!!!

Skip

[AZNuggetBob]

I agree that many treasure stories are just that but you should keep in mind that many serious treasure hunters usually never tell what they find. I also think that many treasures (so called lost mines) are discovered but never recognized as having a treasure story behind them. Here is an example of what I'm talking about. A few treasure/nugget hunting buddies and I were hunting in Arizona back in the 1980's. the area we were in was not known to many nugget hunters at that time at least, but we had been hunting it for a few months. I'll make a long story short. We were sitting in camp after a long days hunt in the upper reaches of the canyon just shooting the breeze and comparing nuggets that we had found and one of my hunting buddies came back to camp with a rusty cap and ball pistol in hand. because the upper area had been pounded pretty hard by then he decided to venture out by the mouth of the canyon looking for new less hammered ground. He said he found the still loaded and cocked pistol sticking up out of the ground barrel down right under a bush. I'll never forget at that moment I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck, We all looked at each other and at the same time said "The lost six shooter mine!? I asked him to show us were he found the pistol and when he took us over there I noticed someone had crudely chiseled their name on a boulder "JENKINS" now you may be thinking the lost six shooter mine is supposed to be near Quartzite, but if anyone really knew were it was than it would not be lost.... right?

BTW the area is now known as the Rich Hill area..

True story? maybe.

AzNuggetBob

take care out there

[Huego 1]

People & history keep legends alive. Some with TALL tales, some true.

When I see that picture posted by Rob, I wanna believe it, wanna get out there & look. "It" (someone’s Eldorado or dream reef) probably is out there, somewhere. If it makes some get offa our buts to look for it, good on them. They may find something else of value in the search, we often do. Helps clear the mind, re-set the clock & values.

We have a fable here of “Lasseter’s Reef” based on a legendary rich, inland reef of outcropping, visible gold in central Australia. Many have looked for it but it remains to be found.

Like the Easter Bunny Allen, if you believe in it, it may serve another purpose. For me a source of inferior chocolate!

Huego

[Uncle Ron]

Holy Cow Bob...So how did you do in that area? ... Very interesting... Cheers, Unc

[AZNuggetBob]

Ron that was back in the days when gold nuggets were a little easier to find and the trash was plentiful. Someday I'll show you my bullet and shell collection, its extensive. Take care AzNuggetBob

[montana]

The whole thing about the dutchman having a poke of nuggets drives people nuts. So what? There were prospectors all over the west with a poke of nuggets which they took to town to cash some in for supplies. Why the Dutchman story drives so many people nuts is a mystery to me. Out of state greenhorns who aren't desert savvy who venture into that country in the summer are sure to die. When those guys set out on their adventure there hadn't been any rain for months so there wouldn't even have been a stagnant pool to drink from . I'd say 3 days max and they were dead or so close to it that they couldn't walk.---Bob

[JimGilmore]

The whole thing about the dutchman having a poke of nuggets drives people nuts. So what? There were prospectors all over the west with a poke of nuggets which they took to town to cash some in for supplies. Why the Dutchman story drives so many people nuts is a mystery to me. Out of state greenhorns who aren't desert savvy who venture into that country in the summer are sure to die. When those guys set out on their adventure there hadn't been any rain for months so there wouldn't even have been a stagnant pool to drink from . I'd say 3 days max and they were dead or so close to it that they couldn't walk.---Bob

After all is said and done there are reasons for the stories.

Stories drive interest which sells supplies. The suppliers often make more than the miners.

There may be a grain of truth to every story but much of the stories as told by the orginal miner might have enough disinformation in it to protect his location, for himself. And unless your packing in a mule with 40 gallons of water,food and equipment.

[kamikaze]

Kind foolish on their part to get in trouble when there are so many modern resources available to us like GPS. Sat phones, emergency beacons...

[highbanker58]

Or could it be that they parked the car there, got in another car and drove away. Maybe they just wanted to disappear.Stranger things have happened.

[AZNuggetBob]

You may be correct Highbanker58 Ive done a lot of research on Jacob Waltz aka the Dutchman and some have disappeared without a trace in the superstitions supposedly hunting for the Dutchman's mine.. Is it an identity dumping ground for some that just want to disappear? many have died from a gun shot wound to the head and that has started a lot of rumors, but if you think about it many people carry weapons when they hunt treasures or prospect especially with a preconceived notion that the place is spooky and it seems logical to me that they may have decided to die by there own hand rather than from dehydration. I think most of what has happened there is easily explained but there are those that just dont want to believe it. AzNuggetBob

[Bunk]

The whole thing about the dutchman having a poke of nuggets drives people nuts. So what? There were prospectors all over the west with a poke of nuggets which they took to town to cash some in for supplies. Why the Dutchman story drives so many people nuts is a mystery to me. Out of state greenhorns who aren't desert savvy who venture into that country in the summer are sure to die. When those guys set out on their adventure there hadn't been any rain for months so there wouldn't even have been a stagnant pool to drink from . I'd say 3 days max and they were dead or so close to it that they couldn't walk.---Bob

I remember something about the Dutchmans gold looking like the gold from the Vulture. I don't remember ever reading about anyone finding more than minor amounts of gold in the Superstions. Everyone wants to belive in something!

Bunk