Jacob Waltz the "Lost Dutchman"
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Jacob Waltz Grave
Backstory and Context
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Jacob Waltz, The Lost Dutchman, was born in Germany about 1810 and immigrated to the United States in 1839.[1] He migrated to California perhaps like so many in the hopes of finding gold. In 1861 he was naturalized while living in Los Angeles.[2]
Jacob arrived in Arizona and was settled in Phoenix by 1864. He was described as a farmer on early census records.[3] Jacob pursued mining and farmed along the Salt River, selling eggs and poultry. His primary interest though was prospecting and he traveled frequently to the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix. Jacob would occasionally show back up in town with amounts of gold. Speculation of where Jacob obtained the ore only grew with time.
When a great flood occurred along the Salt River in 1891, Jacob’s property was destroyed. He himself was rescued from a tree. Wet and cold he was taken in by Julia Thomas’, a friend. Jacob was 81 years old by this time. Julia may have hoped for payment, but Jacob was without funds. Instead he supposedly described to her where to find his gold mine. Jacob died on October 25, 1891.[4] He is buried in City Loosley Cemetery at Pioneer and Military Memorial Park.
Julia now claimed that Jacob had told her where his mine was located in the Superstitions. She and others tried to find it without success. This began the mystery of the Lost Dutchman’s gold and the continued pursuit through time by others to find the mine. Many of those prospectors met violent deaths.[5]
Sources
[1] New York Passenger and Immigrations Lists, 1820-1850, Ancestry. January 1st 2003. Accessed November 11th 2020. www.ancestry.com.
[2] Arizona Voter Registrations, 1866-1965, Ancestry. January 1st 2015. Accessed November 11th 2020. www.ancestry.com.
[3] Arizona Territorial Census Records, 1864-1882, Ancestry.com. January 1st 2016. Accessed November 11th 2020. www.ancestry.com.
[4] Wilson, Maggie. "Famous Dutchman Merely a Wandering Failure?." Arizona Republic (Phoenix) February 7th 1975, C sec, 1-1.
[5] Weiser, Kathy. The Lost Dutchman Mine, Legends of America. January 1st 2019. Accessed November 11th 2020. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-lostdutchman/.
Pioneers' Cemetery Association