This is the Sequel to National Treasure: The Boston Tea-Party. You don't have to read it, but I'd like it if you did.
National Treasure: The Lost Dutchmans Mine
...
Prologue
The Superstition Mountain, located in Arizona is actually a collection of rough terrain that has gained the name of a single mountain. The region takes in thousands of cliffs, peaks, plateaus and mesas. Even today, much of it remains uninvestigated. It has been misnamed as a mountain region, but in fact, it is only one mountain. It isn't the highest mountain, but it's probably the deadliest. Perhaps the 'superstition' in the mountain even caused a madness in prospectors that has encouraged them to kill each other.
Apache Indians were probably the first to see the mountain, and believed that it was the "Thunder God's" place, and they would be killed the second they stepped on the mountain.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado came seeking the legendary "Seven Golden Cities of Cibola." The Apache would not help him explore the mountain, because they were too scared. The Spanish tried to explore the mountain by themselves only to find that some vanished mysteriously. The bodies that were found were mutilated and their heads cut off, with their heads, laying in a completely different place. Terrified survivors refused to return to the mountain, and named it Monte Superstition.
The first man to discover the gold was Don Miguel Peralta, who's family owned a ranch by Sonora Mexico. He discovered gold in Arizona, while searching for a treasure described in Colorado, in 1845. He named the mine, Sombrero mine. Peralta gathered men and material to work the mine, as it was clear that this was a gold strike like no other.
The Apache were upset over that Spanish presence on the mountain and attacked and massacred the entire troop on the Spaniards. They set all of the mules free, and the gold flew everywhere. The area, nicknamed "Gold Field" became a favorite spot of outlaws, looking to strike it rich.
The next discoverer was Dr. Abraham Thorne. He became a doctor with an officer's rank. In 1865, the fighting between whites and Native Americans was fierce. President Lincoln made a compromise and the Apaches moved to a place along the Verde River, known to locals as the "Strip". Thorne came to live and work amongst the Native Americans. He earned respect and cared for the sick and injured. In 1870, the elders of the Apache said that they would find a place where Throne could find gold. They blindfolded him for about 20 miles of the journey. The Apache brought him to Mount Superstition, and at the base of the canyon wall (as if it was placed there for him) was a stack of pure gold nuggets.
Jacob Walz (or Waltz), was not actually a Dutchman. He was born in Germany, and came to America in 1845. He soon heard the riches that were waiting on the West Coast, so he traveled to California and Nevada, always looking for his fortune. He worked the Sierra Nevada foothills for about ten years, never striking it rich. In 1868, Walz began searching in the Rio Satillo Valley (which is on the northern side of Superstition mountain), and he heard storied of the Mountain, of the fierce god... and the vast deposits of gold. Walz spent the next 20 years prospecting for gold around Arizona. He met Jacob Weiser in 1870, who helped Walz on Superstition Mountain. Walz and Weiser saved Don Miguel Peralta, descendant of the original discoverer of the mine from a certain death in a knife fight. As a reward, he gave them the map to the mine. At some point, Weiser disappeared without a trace. The Apaches could have killed him, or even Walz killed his partner.
But Walz? He was always around, at least part of the time. He would not be spotted for a long period of time, but then he'd be in Phoenix, paying for drinks with gold nuggets. Walz supposedly had the richest gold ore that anybody has ever seen. He vanished back and forth, always coming back with saddlebags full of gold. Many tried to follow him, trying to find the mine, but Walz could always lose his followers.
In the winter of 1891, Julia Elena Thomas befriended Jacob Walz. He promised to take her to the mine in the spring, but she never saw it. Walz died October 25, 1891, with a sack of gold under his deathbed.
Julia went to the mountain with the map Walz had given her, but never found a thing. For money, she copied the map, and sold it tourists. She also made false maps to sell to tourists, because they wouldn't know the difference.
Many men have searched the mountain. Hundreds of prospectors have gone into the Superstition Mountain... only never to come back home.
Countless numbers of people died looking for the mine. Some people have just simply disappeared, some may have gone in secretly, and are listed missing somewhere.
The Peralta Massacre death count could be as few as 100 or as great as 400. Jacob Walz supposedly killed two men, and pinned it on Weiser. He may even of killed Weiser.
But there are other deaths. Some which are not easy to explain. Bullets in the head, are common finds. But bullets in a head, and the head lying away from the body? Not so common. Some heads have been two feet away. There was even one head laying three fourths of a mile away.
Barney Barnard, expert on the Lost Dutchman Mine, claims that there are five rules on searching for it.
1. If you are a citizen of the United States, you have the legal right to search for the mine.
2. Do not buy any maps that claim to show its location. There is no map in existence.
3. Do not go onto the mountain alone. Go in pairs at least and go armed. Shoot only to protect your life.
4. Take plenty of water and carry only light, condensed food.
5. Establish a central camp and work in every direction from it.
Jacob Walz left clues. But fact has been mixed with fiction, and fiction has been mixed with the vivid minds of authors. The clues are these-
"Such rough country that you could be right in the mine without seeing it."
"Shaped like a funnel with the large end up."
"The ledge is eighteen inches wide with pure gold high on a ledge above a gulch and it is well concealed by brush."
"A short distance back from the western end of the main Superstition Mountain"
"If you pass three red hills you have gone too far."
"Go find Wiesner's grave. I buried him near the mine."
Is the Lost Dutchman's Mine still out there in the hills of Arizona? Is the gold still be waiting to be found? But is there something else too? Something that watches over the mountain, or even the mountain itself waiting for a person to walk on what the Apache thought was a holy place?
It certainly is a haunted spot. Haunted by the energy that had taken the lives of men and woman? Or does Jacob Walz watch over his mine?
As Joe Dearing described it, "the most God-awful rough place you can imagine... a ghostly place."