After one hundred and twenty- five plus years incredibly, the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine has been found, proving that the legend is more than mere myth and as predicted by Jacob Waltz himself “No miner will ever find my mine”. In fact, after five years including thousands of hours of research and then four expeditions’ starting in 2015, “The Lost Dutchman Gold Mine” has been found by Arcana Exploration and Discovery.

Arcana Exploration is made up of a group of five friends and supporters, from central Ohio, who until five years ago knew very little if anything about the LDM. As predicted by Waltz none are miners, they are in fact like most folks that are reading this post, just regular hard-working everyday folks with normal jobs, going to their kid’s ball games, playing a round of golf, and in the fall deer hunting and going to Blue Jackets NHL games.

Arcana Exploration

The only thing slightly off the cuff, is that three of them do ride their Harleys from central Ohio to Sturgis and back on a regular basis, but more about them later.

For the first time ever, Arcana Exploration has undeniable physical proof that the mine exists, proof that is to say, photographic physical documentation that many of the generally excepted clues, are in fact real and do exist and are physically present in one location.

Over the next few weeks and months I will share some photo’s that will not give away the location but will show things that until now have never been shown before. Arcana Exploration has been there on four separate trips the first in October of 2015. We have imaging taken, with Go-pros, Sony 7000s; Osmo stabilized film cameras and Dji Phantom and Bee-bop drones. The photographic evidence taken at the site along with a selection of maps combined with historical documentation together, links the most generally accepted and related informational evidence too present day boots on the ground reality.

We are currently in the process of planning for a return trip to further document our findings. Over the next few weeks we will provide some images and photos taken at or very near the site.

Some of you reading this may know a lot, about the Lost Dutchman Goldmine, others may be new to the story of the Lost Dutchman Mine, so before going much further, I will do a very quick overview. Later I will give more details and then begin providing information on how things fit together. Keep in mind for security reasons for now I have to be selective on what we divulge.

The lost Dutchman Gold mine is generally believed to be somewhere near or in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. The Supers are east – northeast of Phoenix. First you drive to the outskirts of Phoenix and find Apache Junction, then pick up the old Apache Trail (route88) and go about 35 miles to Tortilla Flat, site of the old stage coach – Pony express stop, along the Apache Trail. This is considered to be the starting and gathering point for most Dutch Hunters.

The Superstitions Mountains lie within the Tonto National wildlife refuge and consist of 242 square miles not counting other designated and preserved area’s that boarder the Tonto National Forest and wildlife refuge. Within the refuge are 14 trail heads that cover 190 miles. These trails traverse from the desert floor up into the edges of the mountains. It is here were you will reach areas that are barely penetrable, this is where most trails stop abruptly for safety reasons. This is trails end; this is the domain of the Dutch Hunters. This is their turf and only the highly experienced and prepared should venture forward.

Much of the interior is so brutal with severe weather shifts (the Apache winds) that much of the interior is off limits for search and rescue. In many areas they cannot, and will not for any reason land, and actually have designated no fly zones. If you need rescued, they will land two miles away and hike in to get you. OH, I almost forgot there is no cell phone service absolutely none. ZERO – ZIP – NADA!!  If you get it hurt you better have your own team. You need at a bare minimum, at least a three- man team. Up on the mountain, if someone breaks a leg; it will take at least two on the team to get you down; it is dangerous for three healthy climbers, much less one with broken body parts. When and where we can get a direct line of sight, we use high tech Walkie – talkie’s, to communicate with each other.

Here amongst this vast maize of volcanic interior, fixed and clinging to the mountain side, flanked on one side by a very small almost invisible ledge is the “Lost Dutchman Gold Mine”, like a small bird’s nest perched in the middle of a forest of giant oaks, concealed by the natural elements it obscures itself from all beasts of prey, especially man.

The US National Forest service considers Tonto National forest to be the most severe and dangerous of all designated wildlife areas in the United States.

The record high temperature is 128 degrees. The average high temperature in June, July and August, is 104 degrees. On our may trip in 2016 one day it reached 108 degrees, that same day up on the mountain, climbing on a surface of Granite and sandstone ours guys’ Trek watches read what they were breathing at an actual 119 degrees. The breathable air on some surfaces actually gets even hotter; this is the biggest killer in the Superstition Mountains – and don’t forget the rattle snakes, scorpions, tarantula spiders, Gila monsters plus huge mountain lions and dozens of other things that will take your life.

Early on during the Spanish Conquest, Conquistadors such as Francisco Vazquez de Coronado (1535) came to the American southwest (New Spain) in search of gold trying to locate, Montezuma’s Seven Cities of Cibola. Later on came a long list of early and newly appointed Dons of Spain who also made forays into the Prima Alta looking for riches.

Then around 1692, the Jesuit padre father Eusebio Francisco Kino arrived. Padre Kino founded many missions including Mission San Xavier del Bac near Tucson. Kino is believed to have had a rich goldmine somewhere in the Superstition Mountains.

During Kino’s time other Missionaries’ in California and Mexico were jealous and suspicious of Kino because, while they were poor and struggled his missions were rich and flourished, they said he had a secret gold mine from which he took rich gold and funded his missions and rancheros amassing 50 thousand head of cattle making him the Southwest’s first mega – rancher.

Kino’s – Mission San Xavier del Bac near Tucson unlike other missions in California was both massive and opulent, and still stands today. From this base he easily could have worked a gold mine in the Superstition Mountains.

Then later the Mexicans including the powerful Peralta family made forays to the area from Sonora and are believed to have had 18 gold mines in the Supers. The early Spanish the Peralta’s the Jesuit’s and many others all came to the Superstition Mountains looking for legendary gold. But what they actually found has been a hidden secret that people have been trying to piece together for last 125 years. Much of the truth has laid obscured in old Spanish, Jesuit and Catholic Church documentation, including maps, expedition journals, and diaries and in many cases with those buried in long ago lost and forgotten graves.

Without doubt the most controversial but easily the most studied, researched and written about of all the historical documentation involving the Superstition Mountains, are the famous Peralta Stones. Both fabled and mythical, they have helped to drive the legend of the “Lost Dutchman Mine.” Even though some have said the stones story is much older (it is true the source information is likely much older) than the Dutchman’s time and therefor there is no connection, they are going to be slapping themselves in the face trying to overcome their denial when they realize the stones lead to the same birds nest.

The Peralta Stones are a set of engraved stone tableted works that are approximately 18 inches long and weigh about 25 lbs. each. They were supposedly dug up in the desert, in area east of Gold canyon and Tucson in the late 1940s by Travis E Tomlinson.  Many people have dismissed them as a hoax. It does not matter if Tomlinson engraved them or someone else did, exactly when they were made is not important, what matters is what is on them.

I have felt for a while that his family had old maps that were Spanish copies of an older map taken from the Jesuits.

This is only speculation, what I do know is that, people who have dismissed the information on the stones, no matter who carved the stones, those non – believers have been badly mistaken.  Let may say this; it is not important who engraved the stones, and if it was Tomlinson and he being the maker or someone else being the engraver of the stones while historically interesting it is not the most important thing. What is important is the informational content recorded   on the stones.  And is that information relevant? – And the answer is absolutely yes!  I feel the information on the Peralta stones is most likely from a very old map of Jesuit origin. This is very important!

I have factual collaborative information for the first time that the information on the stones leads us to the site.

So let me say it again, the documentation found  “ON”  the stones is the most important thing   not so much “who” carved them.  And importantly I have hard facts that the Stones are linked to other historical information.

In 1847-1848 during the time of the Hidalgo Treaty when Mexico sold the territory to the United Sates the Peralta’s, knowing they would lose access to their mines made one last trip bringing hundreds of miners from Sonora to mine as much as they could, but were attacked by Apaches. It is generally accepted that the Peralta’s and roughly 400 peon miners were massacred by the Apaches sometime around 1848. It is believed that all were killed except for two Peralta family members who were severely wounded but managed to escape. Today along route 88 is a pull off gravel road, that leads out behind the “Lost Dutchman Museum,” you follow it to a designated area, here you will find marked trail signs † with trails simply marked as the “Massacre Grounds.”

Around 1860 a German immigrant named Jacob Waltz moved into the Wickenburg Arizona area about 80 miles from Phoenix. Here he worked at the Vulture Mine as a paid miner. Mine records show that one possibly two Peralta family members with possible links connecting them to the 1848 massacre, also worked at the Vulture mine during the same time period as Waltz.

Many believe there is a connection and   that they sold their families mine to Waltz and his partner. Supposedly “one” of their 18 mines was very rich and they considered it their alfa mine. We at Arcana Exploration believe we can show that this was later worked by Jacob Waltz, and after his death came to be known as the “Lost Dutchman Gold Mine”.

Because of what we have discovered at the site, Arcana Exploration believes we have proof for the first time that there is a common link between Waltz and the Peralta’s. In the weeks and months to come we will use much of the historical information, and show how it ties directly to what we have found. For instance, about six of the maps are relevant, others may be relevant, but for now do not appear to be.

We will share as much as we can for now, but as I stated earlier we are preparing for a return trip, and the location has to remain secret. Next week I will list some clues that are absolutely relevant to what we have physically on site. Over the next few weeks I will share some images that are safe for us to show.

I will make a statement in the near future that will surprise a lot of Dutch Hunters it surprised me.  Arcana has had the luxury of having had the site location for over three years, and for this reason we have been able to reverse engineer, historical information and  put many of the pieces together.

The story of the Peralta – Stones is that they lead you to a small almost invisible ledge, like a small bird’s nest perched in the middle of a forest of giant oaks concealed by the natural elements, it obscures itself from all beasts of prey especially man. – Arcana Exploration

Peralta Horse Stone

Image property of Arcana Exploration, photo taken at the – Lost Dutchman Museum – Apache Junction, Arizona.