The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine
The Superstition Mountains have swallowed over 20 searchers. The mine might not exist—but the gold might.
- Category
- buried
- Status
- lost
- Year lost
- 1890
- Region
- Superstition Mountains, Arizona
- Country
- United States
The dossier
In the 1870s, a German immigrant named Jacob Waltz—known as 'The Dutchman,' a common American misnomer for Germans—allegedly worked a rich gold mine somewhere in Arizona's Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix. He occasionally brought gold ore into Phoenix that assayers described as extraordinarily pure. He never revealed the mine's location. When he died in 1891, he reportedly whispered directions to a neighbor—but the directions were incomplete or were misunderstood. What followed was one of the longest running treasure hunts in American history. Dozens of searches have been mounted over more than 130 years. At least 20 people have died looking—some from falls, some from heat, some in ways that were never explained. The mountain range has a reputation for navigation anomalies; people get lost in areas they should know well. There are multiple competing theories. Some believe Waltz was working a mine originally discovered by the Peralta family, Mexican ranchers who operated in the area before Arizona became US territory. Others believe he was salting ore from elsewhere and there was never a mine at all. A third theory holds that the 'mine' is actually a cache—a hidden stash of Spanish colonial gold deposited in the mountains centuries before Waltz arrived. The Superstition Wilderness Area is protected federal land. Any mineral recovery requires a permit that is extremely difficult to obtain. But the search has never stopped.
Legal status
Superstition Wilderness Area under USDA Forest Service. Prospecting and digging prohibited without permit. Metal detecting illegal in wilderness areas. Historical research and non-invasive surface survey permitted.