The Other Lost Dutchman Gold Mine

Most treasure hunters are familiar with the famous Lost Dutchman gold mine of Jacob Waltz, supposed to be in the Superstition Mountains. Not so many are familiar with the OTHER Lost Dutchman gold mine of Arizona, which predates Waltz and was somewhere around Wickenburg.

One variety of the "Lost Dutchman" story concerns the operations of a German who made his headquarters at Wickenburg, in the early seventies. He had a very irritating habit of disappearing from the camp once in a while, going by night, and taking with him several burros, whose feet would be so well wrapped that trailing was impossible. He would return at night, in equally as mysterious a manner, his burros loaded with gold ore of wonderful richness. Efforts at tracking him failed. The country for miles around was searched carefully to find the source of his wealth, which could not have been very far distant. The ore was not the same as that at Vulture. The location of the mine never became known to anyone, save its discoverer. He disappeared as usual one night, and never returned. The assumption that he was murdered by Apaches appears to have been sustained by a prospector's discovery near Vulture in the summer of 1895 of the barrel of an old muzzle-loading shotgun, and by it, a home-made mosquito gun stock. The gun had been there so long that even the hammer and trigger had rusted away. Near by was a human skeleton, bleached from long exposure. The next find was some small heaps of very rich gold rock, probably where sacks had decayed from around the ore, and then at a short distance was discovered a shallow prospect hole, sunk on a gold-bearing ledge. The ore in the heaps was about the same character as that which had been brought into Wickenburg in the early days by the "Lost Dutchman," but it didn't agree at all with the ore in the shallow prospect hole, which was not considered worthy of further development.
<from Arizona, Prehistoric, Aboriginal, Pioneer, Modern: The Nation's Youngest
by James H. McClintock - Arizona - 1916  pp 392, online at Google books>

That this can not be Jacob Waltz is obvious from the fact his body was found several years after Waltz had passed away.  The Vulture mine is one of the richest gold ore bodies in Arizona, but this other Dutchman must not have been simply highgrading from the Vulture as the ore was noticeably different.  Highgrading was a major problem at the Vulture mine, discovered in 1863 by Henry Wickenburg but sold a few years later.  Men caught highgrading (stealing high grade ore) were often hanged, supposedly at least 18 men were hanged at the Vulture over the years.

The region around Wickenburg is well known for being mineralized, and the presence of the Vulture mine shows just how rich it might be (the Vulture is believed to have produced at least $200,000,000 in gold before shutting down in 1942) so there is every reason to believe that this Lost Dutchman mine was not too far from Wickenburg.

I would appreciate any details that anyone can add to the story, whether documented or not.  Thank you in advance. 
Oroblanco

Heh Oro:
  Maybe this guy?

The old dutchman walked his tired burro into Wickenburg one day. He'd been out in the desert for about six months without a drop of whiskey. He walked up to the first saloon he came to and tied his burro to the hitch rail.

As he stood there brushing some of the dust from his face and clothes, a couple of young gunslingers walked out of the saloon with a guns in one hand and a bottles of whiskey in the other. One of the young showoffs looked at the old man and laughed, saying, "Hey Dutchie, have you ever danced?"

The old man looked up at the gunslinger and said, "No, I never did dance. I just never wanted to."

A crowd had gathered by then and the gun-slinger said, "Well, you old fool, you're gonna dance now!"

The first young gunslinger started shooting at the old man's feet. The old prospector was hopping around and everybody was laughing. When the first gunslinger fired his last bullet,his sidekick added his own six rounds to the spectacle,whereupon they holstered their guns and turned around to go back into the saloon.

The old dutchman turned,reached over his burro, drew his shotgun and pulled both hammers back making a double clicking sound. The gunslingers heard the sound and everything got real quiet. The crowd watched as the two troublemakers slowly turned around, staring down both barrels of the shotgun.

The dutchman then asked, "Did you fellas ever kiss a burro's ass?"

Well, them young gunslingers swallowed real hard,then replied in unison----  "No---- But We've always wanted to."----

Regards:SH

[ROFL]

ROFL  heh heh yep that sure sounds like the right guy!

I found a couple other short paragraphs very similar to the version posted, except for the date when the skeletal remains were found, saying it was discovered in the late 1870's rather than 1895.

This story of a Lost Dutchman mine was in circulation at least in the 1870's, while Jacob Waltz was alive. <I found a newspaper article mentioning it which was published in 1879>  It is interesting that even the discoverer of the famous Vulture mine, Henry Wickenburg, was also a "Dutchman".  There are other interesting similarities too, for one the Vulture mine was found in a mountain range made up mostly of volcanic rhyolite and andesite, which are not known for being good host rock types to find gold deposits.  The quartz vein of the Vulture was multicolored, with several different layers (red, blue, black etc) and cropped out at the surface - so it is conceivable that other similar type ore deposits may occur in the same area.

I think it is safe to conclude this was a different Dutchman, firstly for the finding of the human remains, and the fact that he was active and known in Wickenburg in the early 1870's when Waltz was known to be in the Phoenix area.  Without better clues to track this mine down, it is still possible to try to locate it through prospecting diligently and methodically.  The Hassayampa river carries placer gold and several lode gold deposits are known in the Wickenburg area, most famous being the Vulture but also the Black Rock district (with mines north of Wickenburg, about 4.5 miles away on the E side of the river is the Oro Grande, with the Gold Bar around 15 miles NE of town, the Groom mine about 16 miles NE of town) the White Picacho district in the Wickenburg mountains, the Weaver and Martinez districts north of Wickenburg, and the Big Horn district SW of the Vulture district.  The Golden Slipper mine in the White Picacho district in particular has very rich ore and was discovered at an early date, which at least indicates that the potential for a rich gold vein in the region is VERY good.

A good article on the geology of the Vulture mine, which also has a (small) map showing the general geology south of Wickenburg is online (free) at

http://www.azgs.az.gov/Mineral%20Scans/Geology%20of%20Vulture%20Gold%20Mine.pdf

Thank you for your reply Somehiker!
Oroblanco

Could it possibly be the fella from Wickenburg was Waltz's buddy "Weiser" ?

Dude wouldnt give up the location of the mine.......Waltz killed him, took his gold/ore, stashed it in the super's then claimed he had a mine there to cover up the killing?

T.Parker wrote

Could it possibly be the fella from Wickenburg was Waltz's buddy "Weiser" ?

Dude wouldnt give up the location of the mine.......Waltz killed him, took his gold/ore, stashed it in the super's then claimed he had a mine there to cover up the killing?

Interesting theory, but there are some problems. Waltz was in Phoenix by 1868, this Dutchman was active and known in Wickenburg in the early 1870's.  Next, this Dutchman was found dead in the desert 1895, several years after Waltz's death, when Weiser was supposed to have died quite early in their partnership at the mine.  Then there is the whole problem of Weiser, for according to Doctor Walker's story, Weiser came out of the Superstitions mortally wounded and was brought to his home where he tried to save him but Weiser died there - Doc Walker lived on the Salt river south of the Superstitions, quite some distance from Wickenburg. We would have to discard the whole of Dr Walker's story, which is where we got the name of Weiser in the first place - Waltz did not tell the name to Holmes or Julia & Reiney. 

Might make for a great movie script - the evil killer Waltz murders his friend and partner for the gold, hides it in the Supers, etc. 
Oroblanco

ORO: You posted-->

Might make for a great movie script - the evil killer Waltz murders his friend and partner for the gold, hides it in the Supers, etc. 
Oroblanco
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't start getting any interesting ideas!  sheesh      "BETH"!!!!!!!!

Don Jose de La Mancha 

Writing a screen play right now.........
Will go with your story, My conclusion, Start a new legend, Will sell it to the mass's then we dont need no stinking gold !!!!
Will also leave out the other parts you mentioned   Dates/Times    That always gets in the way of a good story   

Hi TP:
   Was looking at the sat views last night,to see if I could spot Randy sleeping out there somewhere,and I came across this.You,knowing your rock petroglyphs,might recognize this fella.You might have to downsize it a bit,but I think that it looks a lot like the squarehead figure holding a heart aloft with his right hand.Maybe you can work it into your screenplay......

Regards:SH

T.Parker wrote

Writing a screen play right now.........
Will go with your story, My conclusion, Start a new legend, Will sell it to the mass's then we dont need no stinking gold !!!!
Will also leave out the other parts you mentioned Dates/Times That always gets in the way of a good story

My apologies for being a 'wet blanket' and there are others who do think this other Dutchman was either Waltz or Weiser. Of course a movie script may work out very well financially - not sure how it worked out for Barry Storm, but once Hollywood gets involved any problems with factual history are easily ignored/changed/butchered in the name of "dramatic license".

Don Jose' - sheesh a movie script - as if I have not made enough promises and compromises already!  Just as the light started showing at the end of the tunnel too!      NO gracias compadre!

Oroblanco