Did Waltz have a mine in the Superstition Mountains? Well.. Whatever he said drove a few locals into those mountains searching for the rest of their lives. What clues are true? We will know when the treasure is found. Until then we do know Ryan was in that mountain range and is searching for the truth and I respect his efforts!
My honest opinion on this:
Yes - in the past 6 weeks Ive been a member here, I have logged quite a few miles in the SWA. Ive learned a lot.
Did Waltz have a mine? I don't know....
The basis of the story goes something like this, interpreted with a bit of devil's advocate.
1) The Peralta's had mines in the SWA that caught the attention of the Natives that resulted in the extermination of the majority of their family.
2) Waltz made friends with one surviving member - was taken to the mine and mined it heavily. (except, it seems his financial lifestyle didn't change to equal the gold he found)
3) Folks claim that Waltz killed people to protect his interests in the mine, perhaps even his nephew.
4) Waltz supposedly bailed out Julia Thomas' business, sent his sister hundreds of thousands of dollars - but kept a big bag o' gold under his bed, which was never robbed at gun point. (what did he do with the gold when he left to go mining again? This was, in fact, the wild wild west)
4) Waltz gets pnemonia (but doesn't use the gold he found to hire in the best doctors to save / help him) and dies on a deathbed where he gave clues to a woman that eventually changed them all and is now known as a fraudster. Waltz was also buried in a "humble" grave - that doesn't beget the graves of other people that died that were worth a lot of money. The other person that folks claim to be there is the same guy (Holmes) that Waltz supposedly pulled a gun on for following him, but now that he is dying, gave all his clues to his "stalker" - which legend says was totally hammered drunk at the time.
5) If Holmes was there, his son wrote a manuscript about Waltz, which he denies ever writing or knowing anything about. This manuscript suddenly appeared in the ASU library and was published into a book by Thomas Glover.
6) The book published by Glover has a lot of great information, if accurate. If it was accurate, The Holmes family sure didn't find the mine - so how accurate was it?
7) Some stone maps were found on the side of the freeway by a guy on vacation that stopped to relieve himself, that have been critically reviewed. The majority feel they are fraudulent, but there are big proponents into their validity as well. Because they were found in the area close to the SWA - people automatically assume they "must" be in relation to the LDM - but as of today, are unable to be decoded by anyone.
8) Upwards of 10,000+ people have searched the SWA for the mine - and as of today hasn't been publicly announced as being found. (except, there are excuses that maybe it has been found by someone who didn't want to say they found it)
9) Almost all areas in the South West USA have legends that revolve around Spanish treasure, attacked by the Native's, the Natives buried the treasure only to be found by an "older white male" that claims to have made millions...but then dies shortly there after - to be lost forever.
10) Hundeds - maybe millions, have been made keeping this legend alive. It started with Julia Thomas, who sold her story to Bicknell and published it in the San Francisco Chronicle - which set off one of the biggest treasure legends in the country.
11) A vast majority of people know exactly where the LDM is - because they found it on Google Earth - but have never stepped foot into the state of Arizona, or at a minimum the Superstition Range.
12) Countless clues are available to search on the internet, that people will say are legitimate clues left by the Dutchman. Most people will align themselves to the clues that best suit their ideas.
If I missed anything - let me know. But so far, that is what I have learned in the past few weeks.
