Treasure hunting in North America
Hells Backyard
If history, legend, lore, and a huge untapped source of treasure is what your looking for, this is the North American Motherlode. The undiscovered Lost Dutchman Mine lies somewhere within a rather small mountain range known as the Superstitions. While now under the protection of numerous Federal agencies that have curtailed any and all mining and mineral removal activities within the Superstitions, the opportunity for fame and fortune still exist aplenty! Negotiated finders fees, books, television spots, and lecture tours all await the individual who locates this historic landmark. To illustrate this point the undiscovered location remains Arizonas second most popular tourist attraction falling short only to the Grand Canyon. Imagine the monetary value to the State of Arizona in tourism alone if the location was discovered!
Strong evidence exists that the Dutchman is nowhere neared "played out" and consists of a near surface vein of gold two feet wide and over four hundred feet long.
Can the Lost Dutchman Mine be found?
The resounding answer to that question is YES! The key to it's discovery lies within a a set of maps created by a family named Peralta. Unlike Jacob Waltz who wanted to hide the locaton of the mine, the Peraltas were a mining familiy from Mexico who wanted to pass the location of the mine to future family members. Unfortunately, they encrypted their maps and only other members of the family were privy to the encryption methodology. The "not so simple" answer to finding the mine is this: Discover the encryption medthodology and discover the Lost Dutchman mine!
When and Where to search.
Any search for the Lost Dutchman Mine should begin on your computer with research that produces copies of the Mexican maps that are connected with the mine. (Don't worry, the maps are readily available.) My personal favorite is the Ruth / Peralta Map, AKA: The Lost Dutchman Mine Map, AKA: The Profile Map. From there it's probably going to be a lot of hard work and creative thinking about the maps encryption methods.
Make no mistake, the Superstitions aren't called the "killer mountains" and "Hells backyard" for no reason. They have richly earned and continue to earn to this day their ominous reputation and nick-names. Any off-trail searches for the mine should be conducted from November 1st. to the beginning of March when the weather is more than cooperative for rugged terrain off-trail hiking. Your equipment should include a good quality back-pack, a gallon of water, protection from wildlife, and a good reliable, brand name hand-held GPs unit. For those of you who choose, a quality metal detector may provide interesting finds, don't forget, there's been a lot of human activity in the Superstitions since the mid 1800's and many items from that era may be only a steady beep away.