Quite possibly the most important photograph to survive concerning Jacob Waltz and the story of the Lost Dutchman Goldmine.
The photo belongs to Paul Pettit of Orange County, California. Pettit is the sole heir of the Petrasch- Zwiener families and is responsible for almost all the photographs we have of Hermann, Rhinehart and Gottfreid Petrasch.
The photo is the inside of the Emil Thomas bakery, ice cream and confectionery business on Washington street in downtown Phoenix. The same business as in the previous photo of the outside of the Thomas business. The photo was taken in 1888 and on the occasion of a publicity photo which would appear in the city business directory. The photo was not an impromptu snapshot, it was a scheduled photo taken to showcase the business and staged as to the members in the photograph.
The interesting thing learned from Pettit is that everyone in the photo is somehow related to the Thomas business. He can identify his relative Rhinehart Petrasch as the man standing in the foreground on the right. Emil Thomas stands behind Rhinehart leaning on the counter.
The man standing on the left is Joseph Gilmore, an employee of Thomas and was the man who went into the mountains searching for Waltz's mine with Gottfreid Petrasch and Hermann. An article on this search appeared in the Phoenix Gazette not long after Waltz's death.
The men sitting are identified as James Lee sitting in the forefront. Alexander Steinneger is sitting on the last seat farthest away. And the man sitting in the middle, the older man with the beard may very well be Jacob Waltz.
Emil Thomas did not own the store his business was located in. His brother-in-law Alexander Steinegger owned the building and rented the store to Emil and Julia. James Lee was a busines partner with Steinegger in Steinegger's hotel, restaraunts and other enterprises around Phoenix.
According to Hilda Steinneger - Kramer ( daughter of Alexander Steinneger ), Waltz did not supply Emil and Julia directly with produce and eggs as is commonly believed. Waltz supplied all of her father's restaurants, hotel and business establishments around Phoenix with produce , eggs and occasionally milk. The association of Waltz and Emil and Julia was actually through Waltz's business arrangement with Alexander Steinegger.
Everyone in the photo can be linked somehow to the Thomas-Steinegger business.
The old man sitting in the middle seat is the only person who cannot be positively identifed by another photo.
Is the man in the middle seat Jacob Waltz ? No one can say for 100% certain but
in my opinion, yes, it is Waltz. It would have to be. He fits the profile as being in Steinegger's circle of business as are all the others in the photograph, he is the right age ( in 1888 Waltz was 78 years old ) and that man appears to be in his 70's or 80's.
No one can say for 100% certain though. It is the best chance of all photos of Waltz that this is the actual Jacob Waltz, the dutchman.
Matthew K. Roberts
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