What did Waltz have ?

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What did Waltz have ?

Post by count »

There are many theories on what exactly Jacob Waltz had, was it a fabulous rich goldmine, a Mexican stash of gold, some ore he highgraded out of a mine, or was it some plunder hidden by some indians after a raid or attack on some miners ? I tend to think if it was a mine, someone would have run across it by now. But if it was a stash of some sort, hidden in a small hole, or buried somwhere out in the Superstition's, it could be almost anywhere and no one might ever find it. I don't know myself, I like to believe there is a mine hidden out there somewhere, but my mind tells me a stash of gold is more likely. ?
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Post by count »

There is much evidence that indicates Waltz had both - caches and a mine. Besides the fact that he always said there was a mine - to Thomas and Petrasch - as well as Holmes and Roberts - there is indirect evidence that suggests one existed during the time frame Waltz claimed to have worked it. These would be the stories of the Two Soldiers, Joe Deering, John Pipps, and a man named John Reed. All claimed to have stumbled upon or robbed the mine. The timings of these independent tales are important because they jibe with Waltz's own accounting of when the mine was worked, covered, etc. Not even counting a dozen or so reliable Indian tales that imply the existence of a mine, it is hard to question the actual existence of such a thing just from the sources mentioned. The ore testing Thomas Glover did also eliminates the possibility of high grading the ore from some other location. That plus the fact that other raw ore (the Kochera ore and the "camp ore") found in the Superstitions matched the death-bed ore indicates a unique mine somewhere in the mountains. In this case, where there's smoke, there's gotta be fire. I believe (IMHO) that Waltz had a mine - and worked it. He also - as he said - made caches. He probably made more trips to caches than to work the mine itself. But, the gold came from somewhere. I put my money on Waltz actually working a mine himself.
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Post by count »

One reference to this subject that has puzzled me is in Conaster's book. (pg 51-52). She claims to have knowledge of a cave in the Superstitions that was found in the 1940's. This cave was supposedly found by a group of men and contained a "king's ransom" in gold. The men secretly carried out the gold in several trips. <br> <br>I bring this up, because it's one of the more specific stories I've seen in print as to gold being found in the Superstitions, and actually being sucessfully recovered (as opposed to the typical stories of finding then losing the gold, or finding it then dying under suspicious circumstances.) <br> <br>I'm not sure what the general opinion of this story is, or of Conaster's book in general. But if this is to be believed, it would indicate that the gold is/was in a cache.
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Post by count »

One thing is certain: If you wanted to stash some gold, there aren't many better places to do it.
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