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Well I am going to be rather short and sweet here. There is no Lost Dutchman Mine. There may be a Lost Dutchman Cache. Why do I say this...?

Well first off let's get the Dutchman part right. His name was Jacob Waltz. He was a German immigrant so it should be the Lost Deutschman Mine. Ok technicalities aside...He was a night foreman at the Vulture Mine near Wickenburg, AZ. He was accused of stealing. The ore from his supposed mine was very similar to some of the ore in content (mineral type with gold) as gold from the Vulture. Is that possible that two very similar veins with very similar mineral content could exist, yes. Is it probable, yes.

Let's be a little bit realistic, he worked at the Vulture, was accused of stealing, and his ore matched that of the Vulture's very closely at some point in the Vulture mine's host rock. Not a strong case for him just being a lucky guy. A very strong case he was removing ore in some quantities at sometime and stashing it somewhere between the Vulture and the Superstitions then appearing far away from the Vulture (in those days) and saying "Lookie what I found!". Most likely not more than few hours night ride form the Vulture is where his cache was/is. And back in those days it was not so easy to put the pieces together quickly, or was it?

I think it's a great story that sells a lot of books. I personally know a guy who is near 80 (Larry Jordan, now passed on - father of Dave and Dennis Jordan of the now defunct Mesa Gold Diggers) and Larry grew up playing in the Superstitions. He does not believe the legend either, but he has found Spanish artifacts in the Superstitions and a skeleton of a dead Indian from a long time ago with a turquoise necklace.

I personally believe the Lost Dutchman's Mine (cache) is not too far from the Vulture. Strip away the romance, the adventure, look at the facts.

Just my opinion...Rod