Click here for Part Eleven of The Lost Dutchman Mine 

When I started this series on the Lost Dutchman Mine, I opened with the claim that the mine had been found. The truth, like the legend, is complicated. Yes, I believe Jacob’s mine has been found, because it was never truly lost in the first place.

As I untangled the myths, conflicting stories, and rabbit holes, things just weren’t adding up. I began to believe that the reason the mine has not been located is because someone, or perhaps a group, doesn’t want it to be found. That the truth has been obscured by decades of misdirection, false expectations, and the weight of its own mythology. And, like most legends, when stripped down to its core, the truth is rarely as grand as the stories that surround it.

So where is it?

The site is called the Pit Mine, also known as the Silver Chief. It’s located a couple miles southwest of Iron Mountain, on a ridge overlooking a canyon, just as Jacob Waltz described it. If you were intent on hiking there, I would consider starting at the Rogers Trough Trailhead, but instead of following the established trail, backtrack along the ridge in the general direction of the road. If you were truly interested, a little internet sleuthing would reveal GPS coordinates. If you’re paying close attention, you should see more than a few of the Dutchman’s clues along the way.

Don’t get your hopes up though, as I understand it, the mine has been backfilled for safety reasons. Also, because it’s played out. It probably has been for years if not decades. That’s not to say that it hasn’t been worked. Evidence at the site suggests there has been activity there as recently as the late 90s or early 2000s. However, there is enough still there so you can compare it to the Dutchman’s clues and form your own opinion.

OK, great, where’s the proof?

I once asked an old Dutch Hunter where the mine was. He told me, “I don’t know where the Dutchman is, but I know a thousand places it isn’t!”

Unpacking this, he further explained that gold only forms under specific geological conditions. If those conditions are absent, gold simply will not be found. Geologically speaking, most of the western Superstition Mountains are unlikely to produce gold, yet legend insisted that it was there. The Pit Mine is not in the western Superstitions. It lies in the east, very near the Randolph Mining District, known for, among other things, gold and silver.

There are several features there that align with Waltz’s clues:
• A two-room stone structure built into a cave across the canyon
• The peak of Weaver’s Needle visible from the top of the mine
• The military trail visible below the site, but not vice versa
• A rock formation resembling a horse
• A “face in the rock”
• A distinctive “trick in the trail”
• A small east-west canyon inside a larger north-south canyon
• A sharp peak visible to the south

Skeptics rightly point out that many places in the Superstitions could fit these descriptions. Seeing faces or animals in rock formations is a form of pareidolia. These clues, while evocative, do not prove anything.

Silver King Mine

Then there is the history of the mine to consider. It was first put on the register in 1875, the claim filed by James Rogers and his partner, Aaron Mason. Aaron Mason was the foreman of the Silver King Mine that gave the grub stake to the two soldiers who later turned up dead while seeking their fabled mine. They worked the mine until about 1900, when the price of silver fell and the mine was abandoned.

The next time it enters the public record is 1957, when it was claimed by Quentin Ted Cox, a now legendary figure in Dutchman lore. Cox named it the Ridge Pit Mine. He also believed that it was one of the Peralta mines. Cox had six other claims on what he believed to be former Peralta digs, including one at Rogers Springs that was later verified to be of Mexican or Spanish construction by Ron Feldman’s Historical Exploration and Analysis Team (HEAT) expedition.

Ted Cox

Cox died in 1983, though it is believed that another group began mining the location in 1979. I believe it was 1984 when the Superstition Wilderness Area was expanded, making all mining activity illegal in the area. That did not stop other groups from continuing to work the site, though as you can imagine, they aren’t eager to speak about it.

While Cox’s case for the Peralta mines is compelling, it does not conclusively prove that the Pit Mine is the Dutchman. Neither does Aaron Mason’s involvement or two dead soldiers. So what then?

The gold. The ore itself. Each gold deposit has a unique chemical fingerprint. If gold from the Dutchman were compared to known samples from the Pit Mine, a match could be made. As it happens, there are known samples of Dutchman ore verifiably traced back to the gold Dick Holmes took from Jacob Waltz’s death bed.

Using SEM-EDS nondestructive analysis to compare the ore, it has been determined that there is approximately a 75 percent probability that the Dutchman ore originated from the Pit Mine. The test was initiated by Ron Feldman, whose previous research helped prove Cox’s theory about Spanish and Mexican mining in the Superstitions. Feldman has released his findings in his new book, The Lost Dutchman Mine: Evolution of a Treasure Hunter.

Seventy-five percent certainty is not one hundred.

That is true. But we don’t have to accept Ron Feldman’s word alone. The Pit Mine has never been a secret among serious Dutch Hunters. Jesse Feldman acknowledged the area in Jacob’s Trail, and Jack San Felice made a case for it in The Lost El Dorado of Jacob Waltz. Others have since followed suit. Additionally, if you peruse treasure hunting forums, you will find many lively debates on the subject.

Still, even with a mountain of supporting evidence, there is no consensus. Many remain skeptical. Perhaps the answer is too modest for the glorious ending one might hope for in a legend that stands as tall as Jacob Waltz’s lost mine.

For my part, I’m satisfied. Not every mystery has been solved, but they never really are. The Superstition Mountains still hold their secrets, in stone and silence. I am content that I was lucky enough to learn a few of them.

Throughout this project, I had the privilege of interviewing experts and historians and rubbing elbows with fellow seekers. And what I found, as cliché as it might sound, is that it’s not the gold, but the story itself that shines.