Valley 101 podcast: Is there a Lost Dutchman Mine? What to know about the lore and legend
The lore of Arizona includes everything from Native stories to supernatural occurrences to tales of desperados.
There's one style of story that gets told more than any other — that of hidden troves of gold. And nowhere does the lure of a forgotten mine echo more than in the Superstition Mountains.
Jacob Waltz, commonly called "the Dutchman," came to America from Germany. Along the way, he developed an interest in prospecting in the western United States.
It's here in Arizona where it's said he struck gold. Literally. Stories vary on how he found it, but Waltz supposedly discovered a mother lode of gold ore in the Superstition wilderness. Though he died more than a century ago, no one has found the Lost Dutchman Mine.
Valley 101 explores the history and current state of the search for the mine that has been the subject of numerous myths and legends.
This topic came to us from one of our listeners, who asked a simple yet poignant question: Is there a Lost Dutchman Gold Mine?
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Does Lost Dutchman Mine exist? Valley 101 explores the Arizona mystery
