Weaver’s Needle is one of the most beautiful and dramatic geological features in Arizona, but as a clue that can help you nail down the location of old Jacob Waltz’s lost mine, I feel it has been and continues to be more of distraction and less of a reliable tool when searching for the Lost Dutchman Goldmine.

For many years, many people have believed that what the earliest Mexican miners were referring to as their La Sombrero or El Sombrero was really Weaver’s Needle. I believe Weaver’s Needle and La sombrero to be totally different and apart?? land features. In my opinion this is one of the biggest misnomers of the assumed facts surrounding the lost Dutchman Goldmine, and that for 100+ years it has led hundreds and possibly thousands of Dutch Hunters on wild goose chases and is a classic example of mistaken identity. I will give you my reasoning a little later in the post, but first let’s take a short break.

Before explaining my reasons and sharing my thoughts on this red herring issue, I would first like to offer a brief historical overview on Weaver’s Needle. This should be helpful, especially to the newer readers who are trying to make some sense of the Lost Dutchman saga.

Weaver’s Needle tops out at 4,555 feet above sea level, with a prominence that rises to 993 feet. It is named after the frontiersman Pauline Weaver (Powel Weaver 1797-1867). Weaver led an amazing life and could be thought of in many ways as a kind of a western version of Danial Boone and would make an interesting research subject. It is believed he first laid eyes on Weavers Needle in 1831, and many geological features throughout Arizona are named in his honor. Even though it sits just at the edge of the Superstition Mountains proper, it can be viewed from many areas within the Supers and is surely the most identifiable land feature in the area. For that reason, it is the most used moniker when sources write or talk about this feature of the Superstition Mountains.

Pauline Weaver was a mountain man, trapper, military scout, prospector and explorer. He was born to a white father and a Cherokee mother in White County, Tennessee. He is believed to be the first white American to lay eyes on the Superstition Mountains. (Prior to 1831, of course, indigenous Indians and the Spanish along with other groups were the very first). He is considered to have had a great influence on both the early Taos, New Mexico area and early Phoenix.

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Clue 22: Weaver’s Needle, El Sombrero/La Sombrero.

There are two entities that I feel are valid clues and pertain to Weaver’s Needle: 1) From above the Dutchman’s mine you should be able to see a tall peak; 2) it should be to the south. Most people believe it to be Weaver’s Needle, and I agree with that. And yes, from above our site you can see Weaver’s Needle to the south.

But those two clues pale in worth when compared to the chaos and confusion created by believing that La Sombrero and Weavers Needle are basically the same thing.

For many Dutch Hunters, Weaver’s Needle and La Sombrero are one and the same, but in my opinion, they are two totally different entities. One is named after Pauline Weaver, the frontiersman, and therefore historically—and correctly—labeled as Weavers Needle. The second entity, La Sombrero, is what the early Mexicans referred to as the mountain they had to pass under on their way to their mines; they also referred to it as their Sombrero Mines. Since they kept the location a secret, people have assumed that they must be describing Weaver’s Needle. Interesting to me is that the mines in the proximity of Weaver’s Needle have also been labeled—and mistakenly—as the Sombrero Mines. Since both La Sombrero and Weavers Needle are in the same general mountain range, it has dragged La Sombrero into a classic case of mistaken identity, perpetrated by a classic example of guilt by association.

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KEEP THIS IN MIND! THIS IS MY INTERPRETATION. IMO, IT IS NOT A STATEMENT OF FACT BUT WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE THE MOST LIKELY SCENARIO. WE HAVE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, BESIDES WHAT I AM SHARING IN THIS POST, THAT WILL REINFORCE MY CASE. I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT AND WILL NOT SHARE THIS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION UNTIL LATER. IT WOULD GIVE AWAY THE LOCATION.

For the new readers about the Lost Dutchman Mine story, keep in mind that there is very little first-person information when attempting to ascertain anything for certain. Therefore, one must take established facts along with new facts (which we have), apply deductive reasoning, present your case, and then let the facts make your case. It will either be accepted, or it will not.

Please keep in mind I am putting things out there for people to consider, and as we share more information, keep putting those into the memory file and in the end, you can come to your own conclusion about what we have presented. This sharing of information will continue until the end 2019. In 2020 we will reveal everything that we have.

To the new Dutchman followers who ask, “So what is the big deal about La Sombrero and Weaver’s Needle not being the same thing?” Good question! There is a simple answer. Most Dutch Hunters believe that La Sombrero or El Sombrero (sometimes called), is the focal point, and that for many Dutch Hunters the clues start at Weaver’s Needle, because they believe incorrectly La Sombrero and Weavers needle are the same. I know I am reiterating this again, but this one of many key elements as to why the mine has not been found. So, for many Dutch Hunters this is where their search with both written material and boots on the ground first begins to take shape. And again, another classic example, this time the example is literally, Starting off on the wrong foot.

So, let’s review what we have so far. The ones who believe that Weaver’s Needle and La Sombrero are the same thing, therefore believe that the focal point is Weaver’s Needle. This would mean that hundreds of Dutch Hunters have been going on the greatest Wrong Way Charlie, Gong show, bass- awkward wild goose treasure hunt in history.

Boy, I bet old Jacob Waltz is laughing in his grave. Hell, maybe he’s the one that started the whole damned thing. Keep in mind they have been looking for a 135-150 years. Do you think there might be a problem? Do you think?

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Take a good long hard look.

As far as what we at Arcana Exploration have so far accumulated to support my belief, that we are on target……I would like to quote what the 1999 Ryder Cup captain, Ben Crenshaw, said the night before an epic, record-breaking comeback on Sunday: I’m going to leave yawl with one thought. I’m a big believer in fate. I have a good feeling about this”. As do I.

So, if Weaver’s Needle is a Red Herring …. ok, but how could this have happened? Well, no one really knows, but let me give you a couple of examples of how things can sometimes go awry. The first example is just me having a little fun. The second example is more to the point and is about as good as an explanation as we may ever have. Without any substantiated facts as to when, where and how the whole Weaver’s Needle thing might have jumped a rail and gone off track is anybody’s guess, but the second example I will give you is about as good as it gets, and might be the closest to reality. These are only scenarios, not facts, although second possibility should be researched.

Think of when you were growing up and you were in the third grade and you were a shrimp; the other kids thought you might be a dwarf. Even your best friends called you shorty. As you got older you played on your high school football team and everybody still called you shorty. The thing is, by this time you were a lanky, six feet-four and one-half inches, and nobody had any idea that your proper name was really Edward Sombrero Wolinkowski II. Heck, your own cousins didn’t even know your real name; to them you were Shorty. Shorty Wolinkowski. And since you were the tallest kid on the football team everybody at school thought the team gave you the nickname Shorty. The only ones who knew your real name were your Mexican parents, who were just fine with letting everyone think you were Shorty the Needle Wolinkowski? Later in life, after your parents had both died, there is no one left who knows your one and only real name, which is really Edward Sombrero Wolinkowski.

So, here is one way it could likely have gone wrong in the beginning. I have researched and I cannot find one statement of fact, where there is an example of any Mexican (first or second person) referring to Weavers Needle as La Sombrero.

A lot of folks have given hearsay third person and that means nothing, they do not understand, for something to be historical fact, there are specific parameters that must be met, and so far there are no known documented facts that establishes any Mexican individual, or group linking Weavers Needle to their La Sombrero.

In the mid -nineteenth since there were no known candidates, for La Sombrero most people felt it must surely be Weaver’s Needle. The Superstitions are vast and there are places, even today, where people have not been. Furthermore, in the Super’s if the sun is not just right you can miss things, or even see things that really are not, what they appear to be. Even today there are areas that no one has been in the last 100 years, so it is possible for some land features to be missed. And they have been.

The following is not fact but rather one example of how something could have occurred and in turn could have led to a case of mistaken Identity.

The closet I have come to a possible explanation might, have occurred when an early army surveyor first mapped the Superstitions for the United States government. Before he went into the Supers to map, he would have had a guide; the best guides back then were cowboys who were the mainstays as guides into the mountains. At that time there were only a few trails, and there was no way the engineer would have gone it alone.

After a couple of days, the Army surveyor and the cowboy guide, late one afternoon, came up and over a ridgetop, and the surveyor got his first full frontal view of the Needle. The cowboy was in front, leading the pack horse. He stopped, took off his hat, wiped his bandana across his brow and said, “Yep there she is. Weaver’s Needle. Ain’t she somethin’? The early Mexicans called her La Sombrero. Yeah, she’s a right pretty one.” Later that night the surveyor was in his tent finishing off his day’s handy work.

Nightfall comes early in the deep mountain canyons. The desert gets cold at night, so he had the kerosene lamp cranked up so he could see the delicate details good and proper. The extra heat felt good and warmed his hands; it was just enough to take off the high desert chill. He got to a place on his map, and he paused. He saw that he had heavily printed Weaver’s Needle, and just behind that he had lightly made a notation: “Weaver’s Needle “ain’t she somethen ”. He chuckled to himself while he carefully erased it. In dark bold lettering he penciled in Weaver’s Needle, (La Sombrero).

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Google Earth: a useful tool but not the final answer.

Even , many people claim they have found the LDGM. Dutch Hunters, who are intelligent and going about it the right way with their feet on the ground, sadly get lumped together with the low IQ folks from the Big Foot sites who travel over to Dutchman sites, and then proclaim they know where the lost Dutchman mine is. They show a view from Google Earth looking straight down from twenty miles above the earth. Hell, even the Dutchman couldn’t make sense of it He never saw his mine from 22, miles above the earth. Do not misunderstand me. There is a lot you can see with Google Earth, but you need to know how to tool up and go down on the ground and travel around in a two-dimensional mode, (almost).

I have spent hundreds of hours during the last five years, deinking and doinking???, on Google Earth and I have learned a lot of the tricks. Make no mistake; the most important stuff you cannot see with Google Earth. Even things you should be able to see do not show up, no matter the angle or how you tool it. One last comment: The thing I am emphasizing is that for some reason, in the same general area you can see something that is maybe 20 x 20 feet, and pretty clear, but directly across the valley you can have something that is eight hundred-feet tall yet invisible on Google Earth. I will talk about this in a later post.

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The real, “La Sombrero”.

“Before leaving the subject of mountains and their relationship to the gold of the Superstitions, it should be mentioned that in many stories pertaining to the original discoveries of gold in the Superstitions, a mountain called La Sombrero marks the vicinity of the gold deposits .Many maintain that this too is Weavers Needle, but it is doubtful. The name itself, La Sombrero, implies that the mountain was hat-, or sombrero -shaped and Weavers Needle simple does not fit this description when being truly objective. There are two mountains in this section of Arizona that do bear this name…The Mexican’s could be either of these two or a mountain that is presently nameless. (Estee Conatser)

The Sterling Legend, Estee Conatser, p.43, Chapter 2 7th revised printing, 2002. Gem Guidebooks Co.

There is a long list of reasons why this mountain surely must be La Sombrero. For one thing, it matches perfectly with our site. When the time is right, we will share multiple facts that will establish this as being what the Mexicans were referring to when they said they traveled by or under La Sombrero.

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Our next post will show one of the arrow trail markers we have discovered at the Alpha site.
This will open a lot of eyes, I am sure; please don’t miss it. There will be images that have never been seen publicly.

I would like to address a couple of things quickly before I go. First, I want to thank everyone for all the support and interest and input. This is what makes it worthwhile. Second, I would like to specifically thank Wayne R. Mickelson for his input. He has an interesting take on some things, and this makes it more fun for all of us. You never know when somebody may stumble across something. Thanks Wayne.

On the other side of the stone there is a small headstone. When you look at the skyline in the distance, and you realize how much the Legend of this early pioneer has contributed to the economic development of the greater Phoenix area and yet here he lays all but forgotten and disrespected. It’s Just not right.

I have felt for a long time that Old Jacob, needs to be honored properly. Other than the head stone it is a pauper’s grave, and the head stone is not much.

I have spoken with the guys and they agree that if things come to bear fruit for us, Arcana Exploration will make sure that there is funding to move the Dutchman to a better resting place—maybe the Dutchman Museum on Rte. 88. He said no miner or cowboy would find his mine. If he was right, maybe he knew all along some bearded biker guys from Ohio would give him a more appropriate grave site. He is, after all, not just an Arizona legend but an American legend. It is called Tonto National Forest.