Matthew Roberts
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Quentin Ted Cox 1957 photo by Bud Dunn
Quentin “Ted” Cox is the central character in the “Pit Mine” story as well as the Rogers Spring archaeological excavation also known as the HEAT excavation.
Cox was born at Globe, Arizona in 1920 the son of Samuel Cox who himself was a notorious lost mine hunter and prospector. Ted grew up listening to old timers around Globe tell tales and stories of lost mines, buried gold and Peralta Spanish treasure. In his teenage years Ted ran afoul of the law in several minor scrapes and had quite a reputation around Globe for hurrahing the town. By his early 20’s Ted was married and had moved to Torrance, California but remained tied to the Globe area where he frequently went prospecting and lost mine hunting.
By the latter 1950’s Ted believed he had discovered all of the Peralta Spanish mines as well as the Lost Dutchman Mine. He believed the Roger’s spring excavation site was the Peralta / Jacob Waltz cache of gold. By 1957 Ted had filed claim on at least 7 mines, all of them in the Rogers spring / Pit Mine area on the Southwest side of Iron Mountain. All of these mines that Ted claimed were mines he found that had been previously dug by what he believed to be the Peralta family of Mexico in the 1800 – 1848 time period and later one of them found by Jacob Waltz, the old Dutchman about 1868.
Cox stated he had successfully located at least 7 of the original Peralta mines. In 1957 he filed claim on these mines at the Pinal County Courthouse in Florence. Cox named these mines:
The Montana Bud mine
The Hermit’s Cave mine
The Dead Soldiers mine
The Geronimo’s Cave mine
The Golden Ransom mine
The Black Dyke mine
The Old Dutch mine
But there is one of Cox’s mines in particular that stands out and is directly relevant to the story of the “Pit Mine” and whether or not it may be the Lost Dutchman Mine. Cox believed this mine to be the actual Lost Dutchman Mine of Jacob Waltz. He filed claim on this mine in Florence and named it the “Ridge Pit” Mine.
The Ridge Pit mine is the site of the original Silver Chief mine claimed by James Rogers in 1875. Ted Cox was fully aware of this fact as he saw this in the mining records of the Pioneer-Randolph and Rogers mining Districts and recorded his claim as a rediscovery of the site of the old Silver Chief. (The Silver Chief mine and the "Pit Mine" are the same location as researched and documented by Jack Carlson and Greg Davis.
Cox concluded the Peralta’s had dug this mine originally and later Jacob Waltz came along and according to which story you subscribe to either killed three Mexicans to get the mine or simply stumbled upon it one day. Cox believed Waltz covered his mine when he wasn’t working it and later in 1875 James Rogers came along and found it. After checking that no one had claimed the mine, Rogers filed claim to it and named it the Silver Chief. It should be noted the Silver Chief was the very first mine located and claimed in the region and was the richest producer.
One must keep in mind this is Ted Cox’s story, his own personal account and version of the Lost Dutchman mine, Silver Chief mine and not the version commonly known in books and literature.
If you take the time and trouble to research the Pinal mining records you will find just as others have, that the James Rogers 1875 Silver Chief claim was filed on as a rediscovery by Quentin Ted Cox in 1957 and named the Ridge Pit Mine.
Quentin Theodore Cox died in the spring of 1983 and it was then that his lengthy notes and manuscript (over 2000 hand printed pages) became public knowledge. Later on that same year, a story began to make the rounds that two men discovered a covered pit southwest of Iron Mountain which became known as the “Covered Mine” and later more widely known as the Pit Mine.
The story continues that in the years 1997 – 1999 a group of men mined the Pit Mine for an undisclosed amount of rich gold ore. Numerous photos of this gold ore have appeared on and off the internet. The identities of these men is supposedly secret although it is not much of a secret.
In 1979 yet another group of men worked in the old Silver Chief, Cox’s Ridge Pit Mine. At that time the mine was not a part of the Wilderness area. The miners were after low grade silver ore set aside by the original mining period of 1875 – 1885. Setting aside or backfilling low grade ore while going after only the richest ore was a common practice in the early mining days. The theory being the expense was too costly to recover the poorer ore. More often than not this low grade ore was left untouched when the mines closed down as unprofitable to process.
But in 1979 the price of silver and gold soared and this forgotten low grade ore became profitable. The old Silver Chief mine, Ted Cox’s Ridge Pit Mine is documented by Dept. of Mines and Mineral Resources Bureau of Mines and Mining Field Engineers Report Silver Chief 1979, 1980 as being among the mines to have been revisited during that 1979 silver boom. Not much silver was recovered in the 1979 time period and there was no mention of gold having been taken.
Is the old Silver Chief, Ridge Pit, “Pit Mine” the LDM ?
It's history has been clouded and confused to be sure. Some say yes it is the LDM, some say no it isn’t and some are undecided. I am on the fence over the issue. The involvement of Ted Cox and the 1979 crew does not change the story told by those who believe the Pit Mine is the LDM. It only changes the part about being the first on the scene since Jacob Waltz covered the mine. In some ways I see very good similarities between the Pit Mine and the LDM. A rock house nearby is a clue I always held in high regard and there was such a rock house near the Pit Mine. Like so many things surrounding the LDM legend I believe the issue will be argued and debated for many years to come.
Matthew
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