Walt Gasslers Notes on Dutchman Legend

azdave35

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Dec 19, 2008
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The HISTORY of the BULL DOG MINE

Some searchers for the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine of Jacob Waltz believe the Bull Dog mine may have been where old Waltz got his gold. The history of this mine however removes any serious thought that the Bull Dog was Waltz's mine.
The Bull Dog mine location was first noticed by John B. Montgomery while prospecting in the area about 1865 but the location according to Montgomery only showed a little surface color and he moved on to richer diggings. Montgomery spent little time investigating the site as the Apache were frequent visitors in the area and very hostile.

In the fall of 1891 and again in the summer of 1892 heavy rains flooded all the washes around Superstition Mountain causing devastation and cutting deep gullies. On November 5, 1892, Orren Merrill, Collins R. Hakes, Orlando Merrill and James R. Morse were prospecting these washes when they located and later filed claim on the "Bull Dog" mine. According to Orren Merrill, the site was located after the group had noticed rich color in a wash and an extensive investigation of the entire area was made. No previous excavations were noted at the Bull Dog site by Morse, Hakes and the Merrill brothers. Lacking the funds at the time to exploit the mine the owners bonded the mine to two Phoenix businessmen, Charles Ellis and Gus Hirshfeld for $50,000. In 1894 a down shaft was sunk on the vein and produced free-gold down to the 100 foot level. A ten ton stamp mill was erected at the Bull Dog site and $70,000 of gold was recovered by 1896.

The Bull Dog was a single vein deposit in quartz and calcite that ran north and south for about 400 feet in length and about two feet wide. The gold ran an average of 3 to 10 ounces per ton but high grade pockets of up to 100 ounces were recovered. At 105 feet the vein pinched into iron sulfides and all work stopped. Samples that survive from the Bull Dog mine do not match known samples from Waltz's Dutchman mine (matchbox, cuff links, stick pin).

By 1917 the mine was sold to Ralph Shill and his brother Milo. The brothers hired geologist and mining engineer Alfred S. Lewis and the group worked the mine dumps and recovered some $100,000 in gold, more than was taken from the original effort. Al Lewis later worked a small pocket of rich ore which quickly played out.

The mine was sold in 1927 to Elmer Boyle who acting on a tip from Alfred Lewis, discovered another rich pocket that produced $2,000 and an off shoot that eventually yielded $150,000. Following that effort Boyle sold out his interest to Milo Shill who once again tried his luck at the mine.

In 1942, Alfred Lewis made the last serious attempt to mine gold from the Bull Dog. He and a few other miners extracted a small amount of gold but nothing substantial and the men abandoned the claim.

In the 1970's a renewed effort to open up the lower levels was made but with very little results. It was at this time that Curtis Chapman took over the mine site and used it as a sand and gravel operation. About 1997, Hank D'Andrea and Ernest Savino acquired limited rights to work the mine, the Bull Dog was flooded by this time and pumping did little to lower the level in the shaft and tunnels.

In its history, the Bull Dog mine produced a recorded 6,700 ounces of gold. The second highest producer in the Goldfield District behind the Mammoth Mine.

In the late 1960’s Beatrice Lewis, the wife of Alfred Lewis was living in a small house at the Mammoth mine site, about where the Goldfield Ghost town sits today. She still had some gold samples taken from the Bull Dog's richest ore and her husband’s mining notes and diagrams of the Bull Dog mine and ore deposit.

Hank D'Andrea and Ernie Savino gave up their efforts to reopen the Bull Dog. The entire surface deposit (vein) of the Bull Dog has been worked down to the 120 foot level where only iron sulfides were present. The mine was flooded and further attempts at winzeing to find the vein were useless. Just because the vein pinched out however does not mean there is no gold lower down. In fact the richest part of the Bull Dog vein may lay at the 200-300 foot level which were some of the richest elevations of the Mammoth Mine before it too was flooded and abandoned.

My personal opinion would be the fact that first John Montgomery, and later Hakes, Morse and the Merrill brothers found no previous mining of the Bull Dog site would leave out the possibility of the Bull Dog being the Lost Dutchman Mine of Jacob Waltz.

Matthew Roberts

i'm pretty sure hank and ernie buried the bulldog mine....the site is now unrecognizable
 

EarnieP

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Jul 20, 2015
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Excellent historic info on the Bull Dog Mathew, thanks.
 

cactusjumper

Gold Member
Dec 10, 2005
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Arizona
March 2. 2pm Ron is giving a talk the the smldm Subject. Is the mammoth mine the ldm

Frank,

I was told that a reporter asked Randy for information on the LDM. He told him the man to interview was Ron Feldman. The reporter said he had already interviewed him, and Ron told him that they had found another vein in the Mammoth and the ore looked very similar to LDM ore. Wonder where this story is going?:o Sounds like March 2nd. may be chapter 2.

Take care,

Joe
 

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