Gentlemen,
I am do not know where the time goes as I am retired, but yet there is a lot on my plate. Thus I rarely read or visit the forums. Time does not really allow and my interest In such things wanes. I have other fish to fry and none of us knows how much time we have. My iPad, however, has altered things a wee bit. In the evening while watching television with Carol we both use iPads to distract/entertain us. Some evenings I tune into a forum and scan though it. Thought I might address a few items that I recall which may be of interest. First the ore analysis/comparison:
Someone noted that the ore comparison was really an ore analysis if I recollect correctly. I called it an ore comparison. I was right and I was wrong. The person who commented was right and they were wrong. It is a matter of semantics and background. My limited understanding is that an ore analysis or assay is an analysis of the ore, i.e., the metals/minerals in the ore and the rock composing the vein. Since we could only test the metals, but not the rock composing the vein, and since we could not identify the minerals only the elements that compose whatever minerals were in the metals I shied away from defining it as analysis. But I should think that technically it was a type of analysis. Our purpose was to get data sufficient to compare our unknowns (the metal(s) in the Jewelry Ore) to the metals in known ores (the Vulture, the Goldfields). The investigation was purposely limited in scope maintaining a test of wrongness. Someone with more knowledge of geology may have structured the testing differently, and perhaps more productively?
Also, if I remember there has been the hoary old chestnut raised about the spelling of Waltz’s name. I really cannot give time to such as we have multiple signatures and official documents dating from the late 1840s to the late 1870s into the 1880s of the correct spelling of his name. If someone wants to take it further a certain skill set is useful: knowing German pronunciation (diphthongs, Swabian, Anglicization of German names), frequency of changes in spelling between Germany and the States, and so forth. I have my own theories and they are to be presented in my two new books.
As there has been some interest in these books let me diverge here. First I had no intention of writing them. And they have proved a genuine time sink. I had hoped to have the first one out last fall, then after Christmas—no such luck. Their status is as follows: The first book “The Lost Dutchman Mine of Jacob Waltz” has not been updated due to technical difficulties. It was done in a software program called Quark Xpress. That program was on my old Mac and that beast is long gone. My new iMac would not run that version of Xpress anyway. Currently I am running a program called InDesign and it is only recently that I have discovered a simple way to convert the Xpress files into InDesign files (turned out, after years of thinking it was complicated, to be a no brainer). So at some point there may be another printing of that work. But possibly not as I want to be done with Dutchman books.
As for the new books, one is titled “Jacob Waltz and the History of the Lost Dutchman Mine,” the other is titled “Treasure Tales of the Superstitions.” I never intended to take on such a task, but a promise made to an old friend, Al Reser, changed things. Once one gives one’s word what else can you do? Then Carol’s and my trip to Germany shed new light on things. Then there was the new information about a number of aspects of the legend that surfaced. Putting it all together took time and to my chagrin I had two rough drafts of 500 plus pages each. Which was a no go. So I had to trim each book down considerably. Which meant re-writes of many chapters – which took time. Just going through the legend, its various main principal forms, its history, its evolution, Waltz’s history, a re-visit of the ore “analysis”, the 1887 earthquake data, let alone the frauds and thefts involved took time.
The current status of “Jacob Waltz and the History of the Lost Dutchman Mine” is it is finished and comb bound. IF the old Cowboy Miner Productions was still here it would now be out. But when Cowboy Miner went south after Janice’s death Carol and I decided to self publish, ala Carlson and Stewart. The facets still needing to be done are registering a company, logo, printer and cover art. I had someone lined up for the cover art, but they essentially evaporated into the ether. The second book “Treasure Tales of the Superstitions” is about the different stories – Two Soldiers. Ruth, Wagoner, Kochera, etc. As at 400 plus pages in the first book there simply was no room for these stories there, especially in any depth. This second book looks at each story in terms of different versions, and their time and place (their history). It has a chapter on clues, a chapter on maps, a chapter on the Stone Maps (their history) and a section on the first 24 hours of Len and I in the mountains BS-ing about the Dutchman and related things. This work is finished in rough draft. It still has to be edited, then the index has to be adjusted – cover art is done.
So what’s taking so long? During all this we have been yo-yoing between Oregon and Arizona. We are remodeling a house in AZ and in the process of selling our house in Oregon. This has proved to be and will remain for some time a very time consuming process, and will remain so until the tasks associated with selling are completed. Any work on the books takes a back seat. So depending on when the house sells — it goes on the market next week — remodeling, inspections, etc. all determines the timeline for the books.
A last note on Sims Ely and his book the “Lost Dutchman Mine.” When I gave the talk at the rendezvous it was info. dump. That is, I felt that the audience, or at least most of them, deserved the information more than to be entertained. There are many ways and objectives in giving a talk, lecture, whatever …. In this case I felt people had a right to the info. Whether they listened, analyzed it, or went off mentally because I wasn’t talking about clues, or whatever was their problem. Now once again, do not use the Ely book for other than what it was originally marketed as: Historic Fiction. Ely had two purposes and those were retained. I say retained because the editor, John Willey, was the real person behind the structure and content of the book. Now some people think editors are “spell checkers” – hornswoggle. Like many professions they run a gamut. The way it works at the most professional levels, the big time – and Willey was a vary famous editor at a New York publishing house – is that once the editor finishes with a work (be it minor changes or major changes, including re-writes) the author is presented with the changes, i.e., the changed work, and they either sign off or they don’t. If they don’t sign off there may be a compromise or not. If not the author takes his work to someone else. Whose name appears on the work, the original author as they have written the original work and they have agreed to the changes i.e., signed off. Ely wanted to pay tribute to Jim Bark and their friendship, which was accomplished; and he wanted to pay tribute to his and Bark’s hunting of the Lost Dutchman Mine, also accomplished. Beyond that Willey was in charge. I have copies of letters between Willey and the Ely family. Willey even determined how the book would start, which is nothing like the Ely manuscript.
A final note, the Bark Manuscript was physically written circa 1930 (the date I have in a letter is 1931). And, more importantly, it was written for publication. As I said at the Rendezvous, Bark sent it to the Elys in the East to use their connections in getting it to publishers. The Elys did that. Any chance of it being accepted would require many changes (to put it politely). Bark refused and the matter died there.
As for Bark and Ely and did they actually know each other very well? Did they actually hunt the mine? Yes and Yes. They were close friends. Reading their letters makes that clear. Northcut Ely even handled some, or most (?), of Bark’s investments. As for hunting the mine their routine – when time allowed – was to be packed in from the ranch for two or three days to follow up on a new clue or piece of information. Apparently their schedules do not seem to have allowed for extend trips.
Now it is out to spend the rest of the day – it is 7:30 AM here, waking up at 3:30 AM has provided some time to indulge here – cleaning the garage, mowing our wild area and cleaning our drive. The realtor comes Friday.
Respectfully,
TE Glover
PS: This morning had a few difficulties trying to post this so now it is late afternoon and it is good to sit and get it posted.
I am do not know where the time goes as I am retired, but yet there is a lot on my plate. Thus I rarely read or visit the forums. Time does not really allow and my interest In such things wanes. I have other fish to fry and none of us knows how much time we have. My iPad, however, has altered things a wee bit. In the evening while watching television with Carol we both use iPads to distract/entertain us. Some evenings I tune into a forum and scan though it. Thought I might address a few items that I recall which may be of interest. First the ore analysis/comparison:
Someone noted that the ore comparison was really an ore analysis if I recollect correctly. I called it an ore comparison. I was right and I was wrong. The person who commented was right and they were wrong. It is a matter of semantics and background. My limited understanding is that an ore analysis or assay is an analysis of the ore, i.e., the metals/minerals in the ore and the rock composing the vein. Since we could only test the metals, but not the rock composing the vein, and since we could not identify the minerals only the elements that compose whatever minerals were in the metals I shied away from defining it as analysis. But I should think that technically it was a type of analysis. Our purpose was to get data sufficient to compare our unknowns (the metal(s) in the Jewelry Ore) to the metals in known ores (the Vulture, the Goldfields). The investigation was purposely limited in scope maintaining a test of wrongness. Someone with more knowledge of geology may have structured the testing differently, and perhaps more productively?
Also, if I remember there has been the hoary old chestnut raised about the spelling of Waltz’s name. I really cannot give time to such as we have multiple signatures and official documents dating from the late 1840s to the late 1870s into the 1880s of the correct spelling of his name. If someone wants to take it further a certain skill set is useful: knowing German pronunciation (diphthongs, Swabian, Anglicization of German names), frequency of changes in spelling between Germany and the States, and so forth. I have my own theories and they are to be presented in my two new books.
As there has been some interest in these books let me diverge here. First I had no intention of writing them. And they have proved a genuine time sink. I had hoped to have the first one out last fall, then after Christmas—no such luck. Their status is as follows: The first book “The Lost Dutchman Mine of Jacob Waltz” has not been updated due to technical difficulties. It was done in a software program called Quark Xpress. That program was on my old Mac and that beast is long gone. My new iMac would not run that version of Xpress anyway. Currently I am running a program called InDesign and it is only recently that I have discovered a simple way to convert the Xpress files into InDesign files (turned out, after years of thinking it was complicated, to be a no brainer). So at some point there may be another printing of that work. But possibly not as I want to be done with Dutchman books.
As for the new books, one is titled “Jacob Waltz and the History of the Lost Dutchman Mine,” the other is titled “Treasure Tales of the Superstitions.” I never intended to take on such a task, but a promise made to an old friend, Al Reser, changed things. Once one gives one’s word what else can you do? Then Carol’s and my trip to Germany shed new light on things. Then there was the new information about a number of aspects of the legend that surfaced. Putting it all together took time and to my chagrin I had two rough drafts of 500 plus pages each. Which was a no go. So I had to trim each book down considerably. Which meant re-writes of many chapters – which took time. Just going through the legend, its various main principal forms, its history, its evolution, Waltz’s history, a re-visit of the ore “analysis”, the 1887 earthquake data, let alone the frauds and thefts involved took time.
The current status of “Jacob Waltz and the History of the Lost Dutchman Mine” is it is finished and comb bound. IF the old Cowboy Miner Productions was still here it would now be out. But when Cowboy Miner went south after Janice’s death Carol and I decided to self publish, ala Carlson and Stewart. The facets still needing to be done are registering a company, logo, printer and cover art. I had someone lined up for the cover art, but they essentially evaporated into the ether. The second book “Treasure Tales of the Superstitions” is about the different stories – Two Soldiers. Ruth, Wagoner, Kochera, etc. As at 400 plus pages in the first book there simply was no room for these stories there, especially in any depth. This second book looks at each story in terms of different versions, and their time and place (their history). It has a chapter on clues, a chapter on maps, a chapter on the Stone Maps (their history) and a section on the first 24 hours of Len and I in the mountains BS-ing about the Dutchman and related things. This work is finished in rough draft. It still has to be edited, then the index has to be adjusted – cover art is done.
So what’s taking so long? During all this we have been yo-yoing between Oregon and Arizona. We are remodeling a house in AZ and in the process of selling our house in Oregon. This has proved to be and will remain for some time a very time consuming process, and will remain so until the tasks associated with selling are completed. Any work on the books takes a back seat. So depending on when the house sells — it goes on the market next week — remodeling, inspections, etc. all determines the timeline for the books.
A last note on Sims Ely and his book the “Lost Dutchman Mine.” When I gave the talk at the rendezvous it was info. dump. That is, I felt that the audience, or at least most of them, deserved the information more than to be entertained. There are many ways and objectives in giving a talk, lecture, whatever …. In this case I felt people had a right to the info. Whether they listened, analyzed it, or went off mentally because I wasn’t talking about clues, or whatever was their problem. Now once again, do not use the Ely book for other than what it was originally marketed as: Historic Fiction. Ely had two purposes and those were retained. I say retained because the editor, John Willey, was the real person behind the structure and content of the book. Now some people think editors are “spell checkers” – hornswoggle. Like many professions they run a gamut. The way it works at the most professional levels, the big time – and Willey was a vary famous editor at a New York publishing house – is that once the editor finishes with a work (be it minor changes or major changes, including re-writes) the author is presented with the changes, i.e., the changed work, and they either sign off or they don’t. If they don’t sign off there may be a compromise or not. If not the author takes his work to someone else. Whose name appears on the work, the original author as they have written the original work and they have agreed to the changes i.e., signed off. Ely wanted to pay tribute to Jim Bark and their friendship, which was accomplished; and he wanted to pay tribute to his and Bark’s hunting of the Lost Dutchman Mine, also accomplished. Beyond that Willey was in charge. I have copies of letters between Willey and the Ely family. Willey even determined how the book would start, which is nothing like the Ely manuscript.
A final note, the Bark Manuscript was physically written circa 1930 (the date I have in a letter is 1931). And, more importantly, it was written for publication. As I said at the Rendezvous, Bark sent it to the Elys in the East to use their connections in getting it to publishers. The Elys did that. Any chance of it being accepted would require many changes (to put it politely). Bark refused and the matter died there.
As for Bark and Ely and did they actually know each other very well? Did they actually hunt the mine? Yes and Yes. They were close friends. Reading their letters makes that clear. Northcut Ely even handled some, or most (?), of Bark’s investments. As for hunting the mine their routine – when time allowed – was to be packed in from the ranch for two or three days to follow up on a new clue or piece of information. Apparently their schedules do not seem to have allowed for extend trips.
Now it is out to spend the rest of the day – it is 7:30 AM here, waking up at 3:30 AM has provided some time to indulge here – cleaning the garage, mowing our wild area and cleaning our drive. The realtor comes Friday.
Respectfully,
TE Glover
PS: This morning had a few difficulties trying to post this so now it is late afternoon and it is good to sit and get it posted.
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