Hello again,
I am a fan of Dobie, his stuff is always a good read. Never heard of Waltz being a KGC operative, in fact the evidence seems to point to his once being a member of Union state militia. (CA, one rumor) There is a "tale" of Waltz having met and worked for the Peraltas, one of the reasons why he was "hired" being that he had been a soldier in the Confederate army - however I have never found any evidence that Jacob enlisted or was drafted for the CSA. He was too old even for most state militias in any case at the time of the Civil War. His travels took him from NYC to CA and ended up in AZ, and it is strange that he would "take up" with known Unionist camps in the Prescott area if he were even a southern sympathizer.
Jacob Waltz was born in 1808 in Oberschwandorf Germany (so would have been 53 years old!!! at the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861, 57 by 1865), he arrived in the US probably in 1839 (most sources say he arrived in 1846 with his whole family, but records show he arrived sooner) and soon headed for the gold fields of the Carolinas and Georgia, where he had little luck. By 1848 he had made it to Natchez Mississippi where he filed a petition for citizenship, but the petition was not granted at the time, and Waltz got wind of the big gold strike in California in 1849 he set off for the golden state. It is not known for certain how he got to CA but he is documented as working at various gold mines in the 1850's there. In 1861he again applied for citizenship (which would allow him to file claims in his own name) in Los Angeles and this time it was accepted, and he headed for the gold fields of the Bradshaws in Arizona territory. There are a number of documents signed by Waltz during the period of the Civil War, which do not allow enough time for him to have served in any military unit, and Waltz never left Arizona after having arrived there. In 1868 Waltz moved to the Salt River area (near Phoenix) where he farmed in a small way and occasionally hired out as a worker. His wanderlust never extinguished and he made frequent prospecting trips, going off into the un-promising Superstition mountains where wild Apaches were still very real and a white prospector could die very quickly or very slowly. He had someone in Florence build him a small drywasher, which he then took on his expeditions. The best guess as to when he discovered his mine is sometime between 1872 and 1877 - witnesses saw him pay for goods he purchased using gold with white quartz still attached. He wrote to a relative (Jacob Weiser) to come and help him work his mine, and the other Jacob arrived. The two men worked the mine for a while, until Apaches attacked while Waltz was away obtaining supplies and severely wounded Weiser. Waltz came back to find the mine had been attacked, no sign of his relative but a bloody shirt and assumed the worst. (Weiser had in fact escaped to reach a ranch eventually, where he was treated but died of his wounds later.)
His age was catching up with him however and he decided to retire and live on his farm, using the gold to pay his way. He laid in ironwood logs into the mine entrance, filling in with dirt and rocks, so that "you could march an army over the mine and never see it". He befriended Julia Thomas and Reiny Petrasch in Phoenix, and helped Julia financially. Waltz tried to explain to Julia and Reiny (a boy at the time) how to get to his mine, but they did not understand his directions. He once attempted to take them to the mine himself, but his age and poor health caused him to give up before they ever reached the mine. Jacob Waltz died on Sunday morning October 21, 1891. After his death, a shoe box full of incredibly rich ore (and quite unlike ore from any other known mine, an important point for those who claim he was simply highgrading from the Vulture mine) was found under his bed. The rest, as they say, is history - and the two conflicting versions of how to get to the mine have been points of contention ever since.
As for those rumors of Indians still working the mine - gosh I have never seen an Indian in the Superstitions, or for that matter in many remote areas. Not sure where this rumor keeps cropping up really, unless from someone who really likes the romantic idea of wild Apaches still holding out in the wilds. You will see a lot of people wandering around in the Superstitions, including some pretty bizarre individuals - but no wild Indians secretly mining a gold vein. Of course it is fun to think that there might be Indians hiding out there, but...
There are lots of "rumors" floating around out there, but careful research filters out most of them. For those who prefer to be the "skeptic" and disbelieve everything about it, you are welcome to your belief or rather disbelief - for you Dutch-hunters, a photo of some of the gold known to have come from Jacob's secret mine...see attachment
Oroblanco
"We must find a way, or we will make one." --Hannibal Barca
Sorry my gold has not been found...
(haha)
