Posted on 07/27/2006 8:27:56 PM PDT by Marius3188
Mike Johnson slumped his big frame onto a rock formation in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains, pulled off his baseball cap and ran a hand through his long, sweaty hair.
“Wicked,” he said in a thick New England accent.
Johnson and his companions took a breather Monday morning, exhausted from the 95-degree heat and the hike up the looming fortress of stone. After a few minutes, he dug a battered walking stick into the dirt and continued the ascent.
The hikers intended to press deep into the mountains in search of a fortune some say is only legend: The Lost Dutchman’s gold.
The 45-year-old and his brother, Bill Johnson, 46, were lured to Apache Junction by the prospect of finding the hidden treasure of Lost Dutchman Jacob Waltz.
They had visited the area several times when they lived in Gloucester, Mass., and in 2003 moved to Apache Junction, setting up a base of operations in a mobile home at the foot of the mountains.
Every year, countless treasure hunters make their way into the Superstition Mountains, often returning with tales of riches found — sometimes not returning at all. Despite these hopeful accounts, the treasure has never turned up. And some experts doubt it ever will.
According to Superstition Mountain Historical Society records, nearly 150 treasure hunters claimed to locate the Lost Dutchman’s gold since his death in 1891. To date, no one has produced the gold.
George Johnston, president emeritus of the Superstition Mountain Historical Society, said he’s seen the prospect of gold lure many a treasure hunter into the mountains. But, as far as he can tell, none of Waltz’s gold has made it back down.
“The problem is, when someone says they found it, we ask for the gold,” the 86-year-old Gold Canyon resident said. “Then they say, ‘I don’t have any yet.’ ”
Johnston said he’s lived in the shadow of the Superstition Mountains since 1950 and he’s never known anybody to turn up with the gold. He hopes it will remain undiscovered.
“To me, I think the mystery is the story,” he said. “I think if someone finds it or proves where it is, it will lose some of its interest.”
Mike Johnson, who said his bad knees keep him out of work, hunts treasure full time. His brother, who works in the manufacturing industry, also is a treasure hunter.
The brothers have compiled an extensive archive of their findings that includes blurry photos and newspaper articles, saved on a computer Mike Johnson salvaged from a trash bin. They said they even found proof: A fragment of what they believe to be a human skull from some unlucky character in the Lost Dutchman saga.
They turned the fragment over to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. An official in the department said the fragment has not been identified and the case is not being investigated.
Yet the Johnsons were undeterred.
“Nobody who found what we found has lived to tell about it,” Bill Johnson said. He stood perched on a cliff about two miles into the mountains, scanning the area for landmarks and other clues showing the way to the treasure.
The temperature had surged to 105 degrees by the time the Johnson brothers located a cave hidden by a paloverde tree. The ceiling of the cave was layered with soot from a campfire, and an old shovel leaned against the rock wall. But the Johnson brothers, now five hours into the trek, were subdued.
Most of the water was gone. And Mike Johnson, now pale and his breathing ragged, said he was lightheaded and worried about his heart condition.
“I take 19 pills a day,” he said.
But he’s not the only one who’s had trouble in the mountains.
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office responds to about 120 rescue calls every year, most of them in and around the Superstition Mountains, officials said. In the past 21 days, the all-volunteer Superstition S earch and Rescue has retrieved five people. Three of them were dead, and two were immobilized and near death.
Deputy Ben Cook, who coordinates efforts between the search and rescue team and the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, said it’s too easy to overlook the danger of entering the Superstition Mountains. It’s so strenuous that rescue volunteers first must demonstrate that they can hike three miles in one hour, while carrying a 35-pound backpack uphill.
“I think it’s so close to civilization that people think it’s safe out there,” he said. “It’s not. It’s as remote and wilderness as you can get.”
The Johnson brothers survived the excursion Monday, which included zigzagging across a two-mile route into the mountains and climbing nearly 2,000 feet in altitude. They made it back safely, but none the richer.
Clay Worst, a 78-year-old Apache Junction man who’s sought the gold for the last 58 years, said treasure hunting takes a toll on a person. The longer the search, the harder it gets, he said.
“Sometimes, it gets to be 15 or 20 years before they realize it’s not as easy as they thought,” he said. “But they’re having the time of their life.”
Back in Mike Johnson’s airconditioned mobile home, the brothers sipped ice tea and pored through files they said prove the location of the Lost Dutchman’s gold. Mike Johnson had almost recovered and said he could never make the trip if he were weighted down with the fabled riches. They just want credit for the discovery, he said, and maybe a book deal.
“I can’t picture myself hauling out a big bag of gold,” he said. “I’d rather go for the other part — it pays the same.”
Amusing. On the other hand, the source of the Jade from the various Central American empires was found after a hurricane last year - A valley full of boulders of the stuff. The hurricane washed away the mud that'd covered the boulders for centuries.
It's nice to see that at least one old romantic legend has survived the technological age.
Yep, the middle of summer is a REAL good time to go wandering around the Arizona desert. Nice 'n cool. Lots of water and shade available.
Yep. All the while with bad knees so he "can't work" and taking 18 pills a day. I think he has a rich "Uncle".
I agree. We are losing too many of our legends as it is now.
They are not just "legends", they are a way of conveying the wisdom of the past to a new generation...as has been happening in all civilizations throughout history.
Families preserve the real history...not liberal journalists trying tp get their fractured ideas in print.
Bad knees AND a bad heart, AND humpin' the Superstition Mountains in 95 degree heat.
A friend is an expert on the history of non-ferrous mining in the American West, one of the top experts on the subject in the world.
There is no gold in the Superstition Mountains worth mining. The geology is all wrong.
In a State dotted with gold, silver and copper mines, there are many places you could dig and find gold. But the Superstitions is not one of them. Any real geologist or prospector who knows the place will tell you that.
There is some of the finest amethyst in the world in the Superstitions, in a heavily guarded mining camp, accessible only by helicopter.
But the Superstition Mountains are mean, brutal, with no water and just generally a fine place to get killed.
The Lost Dutchman Mine is a tale for tourists.
There is a second bogus gold mine myth in the area that it only half-wrong, however. A landmark called "Weaver's Needle", which is a verticle volcanic tube standing erect.
The greedy dig around its base for gold, but they are digging in the wrong place. The needle is like a buried wooden top, with only its twirler exposed. If you dig straight down, you will only hit the volcanic rock, like the wood of the top, but if you dig right where the sides of the top meets the soil, *that* is where the concentrations of gold *might* be.
The bottom line is that no prospector ever hit it rich, and few miners ever did. The people who made the big bucks were those who owned the mines, and who sold supplies to the mining operation and the miners.
The real gold was in retail.
Bingo, it was also a way to lure the innocent (lol) into buying a old 'prospector' a few beers in hopes he would reveal something. "Shorty" Harris played that on a minor scale and Death Valley Scotty was the master of course.
But still........?
I've always wondered if the gold was in the Four Peaks area. The Superstitions used to be know for geodes and such but not so much quartz. IIRC Superstition Mountain is actually the leftover base of a volcano. The entire area was geologically active and gold may be present, but as you said, not specifically in the Superstitions. It's a well known place to get easily lost in.
Later
Acording to some of the Ductchman mine history I have read, the gold brought in was so pure it was sent straight to the mint.
This makes me think the gold may have been from the robbery of a gold shipment, then melted down into new "nuggets" for disposal and claimed to come from a "secret" mine.
And of infusing mundane existence with a sense of mystery and awe, of something that endures beyond the blink of an eye.
White Sands Missile Range -- Victorio Peak Stories
And from a more typical gold legend website:
Four Peaks has some of the finest amethyst in the world, and can almost be seen with a telescope from Phoenix proper.
However, the people who mine amethyst have found probably the best mine up there, and do not like visitors a whole lot. They carry machine guns, and are mindful of being robbed. It is almost impossible to get to with other than a helicopter, which carries supplies up and gem quality stones down.
I knew an older couple who had a mine up there years ago, but it played out around when they retired and closed their amethyst store.
But again, the Superstitions have very little gold. Even the small amounts they might have had once would have been long since eroded away.
The bottom line is that Arizona is full of minerals, including gold, so why prospect where prospectors will tell you there isn't any gold? Like looking for apples in an orange grove.
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