Beyond Oak Island (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - The Lost Dutchman Curse - full transcript
The Laginas are astounded to learn that on a trip to Arizona, Gary Drayton may have gotten to the bottom of one the biggest treasure mysteries of all time, one that has resulted in ...
Tonight on beyond oak island...
We're talking about
the lost dutchman mine.
Isn't there a curse
associated with it?
People have gone looking
for this, but not come back.
Jacob waltz
was an immigrant. He located
what's known now as
the lost dutchman mine.
History, technology
and geology.
That's what gets you to
where the dutchman mine
actually is located.
You really have
put an x on the map.
My theory is it's
right over here.
Are you kidding me, man?
Is that gold?
All the while we
were growing up,
my brother and I were fascinated
with finding treasure.
Pirate treasure,
cursed treasure.
Civil war gold.
Since then,
our work on oak island
has shown us there's
a world of mysteries...
- Whoa.
- Waiting to be explored.
So, we like to reach
out to other treasure hunters.
X marks the spot,
right there. Brilliant.
- We want to hear their stories...
- That's right.
- And share our insights.
- "ill-gotten gains."
- And who knows...
- I got it.
Maybe we can help
them with their search.
Not only in america.
Wow. That is gold.
- But all over the worl.
- Yeah!
Beyond oak island.
Curses often
seem to go with treasure.
As rick has observed
at times, maybe that's...
People who have failed, maybe
they want to put a curse on it.
- Yeah.
- So, you know what, it's cursed. I can't do it.
You know? Although
it happens so often,
going clear back to king tut's
tomb, and all these other tombs
- that it's-it's just an interesting phenomenon.
- Yeah.
- Gentlemen.
- Hey, matty blake. - Matty.
Hey, guys. Hey, mate.
- Thank you for coming.
- Hey, mate.
How you doing, mate?
Good. What do we
have going on today?
I think some really,
really interesting stuff.
- All right.
- Yeah, 'cause I just got back
from one of the most iconic
treasure sites on the planet.
- Where?
- Superstition mountains, mate.
Oh, I've always
wanted to go there.
The-the lost dutchman mine, right?
- Yep, you got it, mate.
That mystery is so unique
because you don't know
what's real and what's not
- and what's fable.
- It's hard to figure out.
And that's certainly why they
call it the lost dutchman mine.
It's been lost to
history. So I understand
why it's so confusing
and contradictory.
I think there's a
lot of work to do
to try to puzzle this
out, and that's why
the mystery has endured for,
what, almost a century now.
Gary, how'd you get involved,
and who did you work with?
I got contacted by a
guy called bob schoose.
And he's been out in
apache junction, arizona.
And bob was adamant that he
knew where the treasure was.
And when I got
to apache junction,
I found there was other families
who had other opinions
of where they thought
the lost dutchman mine is.
So are there multiple locations
where the mine could be?
- Yeah. That's what it's all about.
- Is that what you're suggesting?
It's kind of like
a familiar story.
Kind of like
oak island a little bit.
- Absolutely.
- Yeah, that does sound like oak island.
A lot of parallels. I
wonder if all treasure stories
- evolve into something resembling oak island.
- Also like oak island,
isn't there a curse
associated with it?
Yeah, there is.
Do we really
know that people died?
I mean, at oak island, we
know that six people died.
It's documented. Do we
know people have died
looking for this, or
is that just rumor?
Oh, no, it's well documented.
I mean, we're talking
about the wild west.
But even in the modern era,
in terms of modern searches,
people have gone looking
for this and not come back.
It's a wilderness out there.
I mean, it's rough terrain.
You got rattlesnakes,
intense heat,
- the mountains themselves.
- Yeah, just getting lost.
And the local apache
indians, they say
- the land is cursed.
- And it begs the question,
as many of these stories do,
here's the gold; it
could be right here.
Here's the potential danger.
What are you willing to risk?
- Yeah. Good way to put it.
- Right?
High above the arizona deser,
50 miles east of phoenix
loom the superstition mountains.
According to legend,
these massive granite peaks
conceal one of the richest
gold mines ever found
and lost in america:
The lost dutchman mine.
For more than a century,
prospectors have been
searching in vain for
this vast hidden treasur.
Their journey into
the superstitions
has often been fraught with
danger, disaster and death.
For, according to legend,
the lost dutchman
mine is cursed.
In the superstition mountain,
there's been several
unexplained deaths.
There was two
beheadings that I know of.
It is true that many
people have lost their lives
in the superstitions.
And in mysterious ways.
There's unsolved
murders out there;
people that just
didn't come back.
And that's happened over the
past hundred and some years.
A lot of people say
that the mountain has a curse on it,
and it was probably
developed from the fact that
there were so many people
lot their lives looking for it.
So, you know, you go back
there and you don't come out,
you're kind of
cursed, aren't you?
The story of the
lost dutchman mine began
with the peraltas, a family
of spanish prospectors
who were searching for
gold back in the 1840s.
According to legend, they
found some very rich deposits
in the superstition mountains.
Andrew patrick
nelson: To many miners
looking for treasure in
the american southwest,
particularly in
modern-day arizona,
the apaches were a real threat.
The apaches, seeing
that the peralta family
was getting ready
to take all the gold
that they had secured so far,
decided to lay a trap for them.
And from what I understand,
they killed everyone
except for one little boy
who was hiding in a bush
not too far away.
They spared him,
and he is the one that
was the eyewitness
that told the entire story.
It is believed
that after the massacre,
the apaches buried
the peraltas' gold,
then covered up the
mine in an effort to restore
the land to its natural state.
Now, the apaches
consider that mountain sacred.
And, of course, they
put a curse on any anglo
who'd tread on their mountain.
At the end of
the mexican-american war,
20 years after the peralta
family was ambushed
in the superstition mountains,
mexico ceded much of
arizona to the united states.
Hundreds of prospectors
immediately descended
upon the area,
hoping to strike it rich.
One of those men was
an immigrant turned citizen
named jacob waltz.
Jacob waltz was an
immigrant to the united states
from wardenburg, germany.
Followed the gold
trails into california.
And when he'd come into arizona,
sometime between 1865, 1868,
we believe he located
what's known now
as the lost dutchman mine.
The dutchman mine was
more than likely one
of the peralta mines.
Jacob waltz
probably went in there
and chipped out some
very rih pockets of gold.
And the story about the
dutchman mine grew and grew.
But it's a misnomer because
when german immigrants
came to america, they
were called deutch,
which is german... Deutchman.
So deutschman just got
mistaken for dutchman.
During that
era, you were supposed to tell
everybody else where
your rich mine was.
Jacob waltz didn't
do any of that.
He kept his mine a secret.
And they really
did not like that.
And people had followed
him through the 1870s
to try to find out
where his mine was.
If he thought
he was being followed,
he just kept right on
going into the mountains
and took 'em on a merry chase.
That's-that's common knowledge.
To this day, no one knows whee
jacob waltz's mine was located
or how much gold
he had collected.
But one thing is certain:
The treasure made
him a very wealthy man.
He has no money, has nothing.
But within the next year or so,
waltz builds an adobe house,
builds out buildings,
he has geese, he has
ducks, he's farming.
He's doing quite well.
One of the oral histories
we have is that waltz
actually had a locking door
and locking shutters
on his windows,
which is unusual for that time.
According to researchers,
jacob waltz had a good
reason for closely guarding
the location of his mine,
as it was there that he
claimed he had discovered
hundreds of pounds
of rich gold ore.
The description we get from
the mine from jacob waltz
is it's, um, popcorn
kernels of gold
running through quartz
locked in hematite.
He's saying it's worth hundreds
of millions of dollars of gold.
Well, the price of gold at that
point, what would that be now?
Billions? Trillions?
Probably more than anything
he could have imagined.
In the decades
following his
incredible discovery,
jacob waltz remained
an intensely private man.
Although he was known
to have very few friends,
there were some
notable exceptions.
He made friends with a
woman named julia thomas.
She was one-eighth black.
Her mother had been a slave,
but she was raised in a
household that speaks germa.
Julia thomas lived in phoeni,
close to where the dutchman was.
She ran a bakery.
Supposedly, she had a
lot of money problems,
and jacob waltz helped her.
In February of 1891,
when a flood washed
away jacob waltz's home,
julia thomas
returned his kindness.
She invited him to live
with her and her roommate,
a german-speaking immigrant
named rhinehart petrasch.
So, waltz has
friends that all speak german,
and this is probably
important, 'cause while we know
he probably spoke english,
we don't know how comfortable
it would have been
for him at the time.
As with most
of the circumstances
surrounding his life,
those involving his death
remain shrouded in mystery.
In October of 1891,
as jacob waltz lay
on his deathbed,
gasping for breath, most
likely from pneumonia,
julia thomas ran for a doctor,
leaving the
octogenarian prospector
in the company
of an acquaintance
by the name of dick holmes.
When she returned,
waltz was dead,
and dick holmes had vanished,
along with an item
of extraordinary value.
When jacob waltz died,
he had 48 pounds
of very rich gold ore
in a candle box under his bed.
Do the math. And
that was back then.
Think what it's worth today.
Gold was $16 an ounce then.
It's $1,600 an ounce today.
Did waltz give the
box of gold ore to dick holmes
in the moments before his death,
or was it stolen?
And did waltz ever
disclose, either to holmes
or julia thomas or their
friend rhinehart petrasch,
the actual location of
the lost dutchman mine?
These are among the questions
that have kept researchers
and treasure hunters guessing
for more than a century.
What fascinates me most
about the lost
dutchman mine is just
that there is gold ore
that came from jacob waltz.
And the question is
where did it come from?
And nobody has been
able to answer that yet.
I got to meet some
of the guys who've been
a big part of the treasure
hunt in recent years.
These people move from
other places in america.
They go apache junction,
and they do not leave.
- Looking for this mine?
- Yeah.
Looking for the
lost dutchman mine.
And, so, when I
first went there,
I'm like, well, you know,
how do you sort
through the big jumble?
You know, who's right?
And I had my own
opinions, as well.
One of these dutch hunters
took me into the foothills
of where he believes,
uh, the lost dutchman mine is.
- What did you discover?
- Well, I discovered
that when you send
me out to the wild west
looking for gold, I don't
come back empty-handed.
Okay. -
: One week prior to his
meeting with matty blake
and the laginas in the
oak island war room,
metal detection expert gary
drayton was on a mission
to track down the location
of the legendary
lost dutchman mine.
His first stop was to meet up
with legendary treasure
huntr bob schoose,
who invited gary out
to share his extensive
research on the mine,
research that has made bob
one of the world's
leading experts.
All right, bob, where are we?
You're at goldfield, arizona.
Gold was discovered
here in the 1890s,
early 1890s.
Is this one of the
reasons why jacob waltz
came to this area?
Jacob waltz came long
before goldfield was here.
He was probably one of the
first to find gold in the area
besides maybe the
spaniards and the mexicans.
Goldfield, arizona
sits beneath the
western outreaches
of the superstition mountains,
where most dutchman hunters
believe the lost
mine will be found.
Bob schoose has been
searchig for more than 50 years.
It's a passion that dates
bak to his childhood.
Watching all the western
movies when I was a kid,
there was always spanish
mines and spanish treasure.
As soon as I got
my driver's license,
we headed for the desert
so we could go out
and look for stuff.
Why did you choose this area?
With all of the studying I did
about the lost dutchman mine,
this is the area that they
found the gold in, and, uh,
it chose me. Let's
put it that way.
And I've got to ask the
million-dollar question,
mate. In your opinion...
- I knew you'd get around to this.
- Where do you
think the lost dutchman mine is?
Well, my theory is
it's right over here.
Wait a minute, you
know where it is?
Yeah, that's my theory.
There's about a hundred of 'em.
- Yeah. - I'm all eyes, mate.
You can see it from down here.
Right out there,
just to the right
of that funny-shaped
peak, that's the bulldog.
For many treasure hunters,
the bulldog gold
mine fit the description
of jacob waltz's
lost dutchman mine.
One account even had waltz
telling his friend julia thomas,
"look for the mine back
from the northwest end
"of the superstition mountains
and look for a pointed peak."
unfortunately, in 2003,
the mine was deemed
a safety hazard
and completely filled in.
Still, prospectors
like bob schoose
remain tight-lipped
about what treasures
the bulldog mine has yielded.
Did you find gold
over there yourself?
I wouldn't tell you if I did.
You are one wily, old
treasure hunter, mate.
So, when did you get the feeling
that that was the lost
dutchman gold mine?
Well, after years of
looking over there,
in them mountains over
there, and not finding a trace,
you know, you just
go along, go along,
and you learn
more and more stuff
about the real
facts of the matter.
So, do you think there's
more gold in the area still?
Absolutely. There's got
to be some other plumes
that came up associated
with these veins.
But knowing where
to look for 'em
is a whole different thing.
All right, bob, all this talk
has got me toes tingling, mate.
Any chance
of going out and
looking for gold?
- Let's go look.
- All right, mate. Let's go for it.
With the bulldog
gold mine officially off-limits,
bob takes gary to an open area
at the base of the mountains
just outside of goldfield.
He is convinced that
gold may still be found here
in the flatlands.
Well, this is the wash.
This is where all the
floodwater comes through.
Whenever it floods, it
brings the gold down
with the sand and gravels
that get hung in the crevice.
We'll have to dig
a few crevices,
see if you can find some color.
When I'm
walking down to the wash
with bob schoose
looking for gold,
I'm as happy as a
pig in the proverbial.
I want that piece
of superstition gold.
This looks like a good one here.
It's going the right way.
Yeah, it's coming from
a different direction.
Yeah, that-that water flows
this way and creates the eddy
to collect the
material in the crack.
So, there could be
some gold in here, mate.
It's a possibility.
All right, mate, I'm
ready to get stuck in.
This thing ain't
gonna do you no good
unless that picks up flour gold.
- Flour gold?
- Yeah, flour gold.
- So it's small. - Real fine.
- Like flakes.
- If there's a whole bunch of it,
it could go off, but if
it's, you know, normal,
it's gonna be
scattered pretty good.
Yeah, 'cause I can't
detect anything less
- than a grain of rice size.
- Oh, yeah.
- That won't do no good. - Okay.
Got to put the detector down.
So, what are we gonna
do? Are we gonna
- dig this out? 'cause I brought my little trowel.
- Yeah.
We'll clean that crack
out as much as we can.
Get as much material as
we can, and we'll check it.
Okay, then I'll start
digging it out for you.
Keep expecting a gold nugget
to come out of
one of these cracks.
That'd be nice.
- I'm surprised that thing's going that deep.
- Ooh.
I keep seeing shiny things.
- Yeah, you know what you're seeing there, don't you?
- Yeah.
Fool's gold? Iron pyrite?
It's, uh, "lyverite."
what, leave it
right in the ground
'cause it's not what we're
looking for? - yeah.
You got it.
Do you want me to dig
some of these little rocks out,
- as well?
- Oh, yeah. You get in every little...
Oh, let's wash
- that one off.
- So, you actually wash the rocks,
- as well?
- Yeah, the gold sticks to 'em.
This is way more
promising of a crack
than I thought it was.
- Oh, it's going deep.
- I mean, it is.
I can put me hand there.
I'll tell you what,
we're liable to get
some good color.
You think we've got
enough stuff yet, bob?
Yeah, we got
enough for a good test.
After bob and gary
spend several hours
collecting material,
they return to the old
western town of goldfield...
You want to split this up,
- and we'll each do half of that.
- Yeah.
Where bob gives gary a lesson
in panning for gold.
All right, sink her down good
and shake and shake and
shake, and that's the trick.
That settles the gold.
Sometimes that gold
clings to the rock real good.
Yeah, see, you're
wiggling, and I'm shaking.
Well, go this way.
Go side to side. That
creates the best...
Way to drop her.
Then you kind of just wash
a little of the top off like this.
Okay.
Oh.
Are you kidding me, man?
- I-is that gold? - Yeah.
- That sure looks like a little speck.
- Yeah!
Oh, my god. This is gold?
- It looks like it.
- That is bloody fantastic.
- Check it out. - It looks good.
It looks good. Yeah,
I think you got a bit.
Bloody hell, mate.
That is superstition gold.
That is fantastic.
That is a bobby-dazzler.
This is a top pocket find, mate.
That's pretty lucky.
Got to be first...
You know, beginner's luck.
Beginner's luck? You
know how old I am, mate?
Wow. This is bloody fantastic.
So, gary, this is
incredible. It's fair to say
you found gold in the
superstition mountains. I mean,
- that's incredible.
- I can actually say it panned out.
I guess you can.
So, is the bulldog
mine... Is that the answer?
Is that the lost dutchman mine?
Is that the treasure? Is that
what everybody's looking for?
I guess we'll
never know for sure
because we're not
allowed to go into the place
and search for gold anymore.
- So you couldn't go there.
- No, I couldn't.
I could just go
in the foothills.
Maybe it could be true,
but we're talking
about a massive area
where there was a lot
of gold, and, you know,
everybody's got their
opinion, and they are adamant
they know where the
lost dutchman mine is.
Right, so where
do we go from here?
There is a small army
of gold hunters out there.
One of those treasure hunters
has been at it the longest.
He's 90 years old
and still looking for
the lost dutchman mine.
You hear that,
rick? 90 years old,
and he hasn't quit yet.
I still got a
long ways to go here.
Don't give up.
Hey, dan did it.
- I know. - Dan did it.
And just like dan blankenship,
this treasure hunter that I met,
called clay worst,
was as sharp as a tack.
- Mm-hmm.
- And what he showed me
was incredible.
Intrigued.
In the past 130 years,
hundreds of prospectors
have ventured
into the superstition mountains,
searching for the
lost dutchman treasur,
but none have
possessed the pedigree...
Or direct connection to the
"dutchman," jacob waltz...
As clay worst.
Superstition mountains.
- Dang, what a view, clay!
- Ha-ha!
- It is. - That is spectacular!
That brings it home.
- Is that not beautiful?
- And I want to thank you, mate,
for inviting me into your house.
All I've ever heard about
the superstition mountains,
and especially the
jacob waltz story...
- Yep.
- Is, there's only one person
you've got to talk to who...
Has got a link to jacob waltz.
You're the last one.
You're the last person that
actually knows someone
that was at jacob waltz's...
At least I shook... I
shook the hand of a man
that shook the dutchman's hand.
And 130 years after the event,
you can't get much
closer than that.
Clay worst has spent 65 years
hunting for the
lost dutchman mine.
During 20 of those years,
he was accompanied by
george "brownie" holmes,
the son of dick holmes,
the man who was reportedly
present when jacob waltz die.
It was dick holmes
whom many believe
ended up with the
48 pounds of gold ore
that waltz kept
hidden under his bed.
And it's a portion
of that gold ore
that, worst claims, was
made into a keepsake
that has become a priceless
part of his vast collection.
That is the so-called
dutchman matchbox.
Now, the dutchman
never had that matchbox.
That was made about a
year after the dutchman died.
The insets are quartz ore.
Incredibly rich.
This is absolutely amazing.
So, I'm holding a piece
of the dutchman's gold?
Well, he said he got it
from a mine in the
superstition mountains.
Absolutely bloody incredible.
I've held a lot of treasures.
- Yeah. - But this...
Just the history
connected to it.
Is there any way
of proving that it is
- the pitcher gold?
- Well, there is...
There is an affidavit,
uh, that's notarized.
It goes back to
the holmes family,
explaining exactly
how they got that gold.
So, what is this stating?
Well, it simply states
that the gold came from
under the bed of jacob waltz
when he died in October of 1891.
Now, that doesn't prove that the
gold's from the dutchman's mine.
But it definitely came
from under his bed.
And he said that that gold came
from a mine that he had in
the superstition mountains.
The story of
the lost dutchman mine
might have been lost to history
had it not been for
the mysterious death
of another elderly prospector
some 40 years after
jacob waltz's passing.
It was the death... I
presume the murder...
Of adolph ruth in 1931,
which was nationally syndicated
all over the united states.
That was what brought the story
of the lost dutchman
mine out into the public.
Adolph ruth was
a 65-year-old veterinarian
who had sustained
a lifelong leg injury
during a previous
gold hunting expedition.
But when he acquired a treasure
map of gold mines in arizona,
the prospect of untold riches
lured the frail animal doctor
into the superstition mountains.
We definitely
know that adolph ruth
was searching for
what he presumed
was the lost dutchman mine.
His skeletal remains
were found miles away
from where he was camped,
over incredibly
rough, brushy country.
He was taken there by someone.
Now, there were holes
through both sides of his skull.
So I'm really convinced
that he was shot to death.
I've got to ask you, mate.
Where do you think the
lost dutchman mine is?
Well, that's...
The conversation's
going someplace I can't go.
Because the search
is still ongoing.
'cause I have brought
a map with me.
And I was hoping that...
That I'd show you where
the mine is.
Not even an "x" on the map,
although that would be good.
No. I can't do that
for this reason.
The general
location is known to...
Actually, less than
a handful of people.
And it is still
jealously guarded.
I-I've got about seven
man-years of my life
back of that mountain,
searching for the dutchman.
And those years are
the most precious,
precious memories of my life.
And I would not take $10
million today in exchange
for my memories
of the years that I spent
hunting the dutchman.
I'm dead serious.
If I could turn the
clock back to 1947
and absolutely knew then
that I would never find it...
I would do it all over again.
If the gold ore found
beneath jacob waltz's deathbd
came from the
lost dutchman mine,
is there a way of
determining where
in the superstition
mountains the mine is located?
A family of prospectors believes
they possess the documents
and the technology
to answer that question
and finally solve
one of the world's most
baffling treasure mysteries.
You know, it seems
like there's a common theme
between this search
and oak island...
Not just the curse.
When we first
started with oak island,
- remember what we thought?
- Yeah, science would solve all.
We thought science
was gonna carry the day.
Well, it's interesting that you
guys are talking about science
to solve a mystery.
'cause I met some
treasure hunters in arizona
who were using science,
and they are adamant
they know where the mine is.
Is this different than when
you were with bob schoose
and where he thinks it is?
- Yeah. Totally different.
- Okay.
One week ago,
while searching for
information about the legendary
lost dutchman mine,
gary drayton met with
treasure hunters ron feldman
and his sons, jesse and josh,
at a horse stable they own
in the shadow of the
superstition mountain.
He is eager to
compare their theory
to those he has learned about
from rival enthusiasts bob
schoose and clay worst.
It seems to me like
there's a reoccurring theme.
Everybody connected to the
lost dutchman mine, you know,
passionate guys like you guys,
they are confident
they know where the
lost dutchman mine is.
- Yep.
- I think the history,
- technology and geology...
- That's right.
That's what gets you
to where the dutchman
mine actually is located.
For ron feldman,
finding the location of
the lost dutchman mine
is the culmination of a lifetime
devoted to treasure hunting.
It is a passion he has passed
along to his entire family.
When I was a kid growing
up in buffalo, new york,
uh, I, for some
reason, was captivated
by lost mine stories
and buried treasures.
Matter of fact, I went
up to northern california
and dredged rivers for gold.
My eye though was
always on the lost dutchman,
because it was
the most publicized.
It was the great
granddaddy of all lost mines.
And ron feldman someday
wanted to hunt that mine.
Finally did.
Came here in 1966.
Part of my legacy is the passion
for hunting for gold mine
and the lost dutchman
that I have left for my boys.
My boys have
absolutely been born into this.
My dad moved to arizona
to hunt the lost dutchman
mie when he was a young man.
So I grew up around it.
Uh, dad took us all over
the superstition mountains
looking for that thing.
So, when we were kids,
it was just an adventure.
Go out with dad.
Have a good time.
And then, as we got older,
we started getting more into
the research and the history
and really understanding
what was going on.
So, it became a passion of mine.
After decades of searching
for the lost dutchman mine,
the feldmans believe
they may have finally
discovered its hiding place
located some 20 miles
from the bulldog mine,
on the eastern side of
the superstition mountain.
So, you guys believe
that the silver chief mine
is the lost dutchman mine?
- Yes, 100%. - Absolutely.
- Yup. - Yup, it has to be.
But we have believed that
for years... in fact, decades...
Because of the ted cox notes.
Ted cox was one
of the most intriguing
treasure hunters
to ever set foot in
the superstitions.
Ted cox was born about 1920.
Grew up in these
mining communities.
His father was said to have
even known jacob waltz.
He spent his life in the
superstition mountains
following all the information
and the geology and
the history, and actually
professed that he found
the lost dutchman mine.
Ted cox's search brought him
in direct contact with
many of the key players
in the dutchman saga.
Among them, rhinehart petrasch,
the man who was
living in the same house
where jacob waltz
lived and died.
Cox chronicled his
adventures in hundreds
of handwritten pages
that exist to this day.
Have you actually
got those notes?
- We have those here.
- I can show you.
I have all of ted cox's
written material, all his notes.
They were turned
over to me by his widow.
And these are
all originals, right?
These are all
original, handwritten.
His handwriting was
very illegible almost.
It took me two years
to decipher all this
and read through
it and understand it.
Look at this here. "this report
on the lost dutchman mine
and my attempt to own and
mine it between 1957 and 1964."
ted cox knew where the
lost dutchman mine was.
And he was on the eastern
end of the superstition mountains.
Most of the legend and the lore
about the lost
dutchman mine takes you
to the west end of the
superstition mountains.
Where's the silver chief mine?
Silver chief is on the east end
of the superstition
mountains, right up here.
Okay, so you really have
put an "x" on the map?
An "x" on the map.
Ted cox was
the first person to say,
the silver chief mine is
the lost dutchman mine.
And you can see
how much he wrote
because he believed it so much.
You see, for the first 25 years
of my dutchman hunting career,
I became an expert on where
the lost dutchman was not.
Because I was always on the west
end where everybody else put it.
When I got into these
notes and deciphered them,
ted cox opened my eyes.
And he put me right on the
spot of the lost dutchman mine.
From deciphering these notes,
we walked right to the place.
: Northwest of arizona's
superstition mountains,
gary drayton meets with
treasure hunter ron feldman
and his sons, jesse and josh.
The feldmans are
convinced that history,
geology and technology
may have helped them find
the actual location of
the lost dutchman mine.
This is the science that
our father has done recently.
This is new stuff
to all of us, right?
But because of the
history that we know,
you take that all together,
and it confirms time and again
that the silver chief
is the dutchman mine.
The science revolves
around comparing ore samples
the feldmans collected from
a number of mines in the area
with a sample of
lost dutchman gold.
What sample did you use for
the lost dutchman mine gold?
It was the matchbox.
It was a piece of jewelry
that supposedly came
from the dutchman.
Uh, when he died, it
was underneath his bed,
and it was made into jewelry.
- So, I think you have seen it?
- Yup.
But I compared that
with the silver chief ore.
Treasure hunter clay worst
loaned ron the same matchbox
gary examined in clay's home.
It is now the centerpiece
of ron's investigation.
That's really where the
xrf machine comes in.
The only way to
really compare the ores
is with this machine
because it's non-destructive.
- Yeah.
- We could've took the matchbox and destroyed it,
and then done the same test
and figured out the elements
in each ore and
done it that way.
But you'd have to crush it
down and destroy it. Well...
- And you're not gonna destroy that.
- No.
- You can't destroy dutchman ore.
- No.
So, the xrf machine
actually measures
each element by the
amount of fluorescence
that is in every
element on earth.
And it's like a fingerprint.
Xrf? What does
that stand for, ron?
- X-ray fluorescence. - Okay.
The xrf analyzer functions
by bombarding the ore samples
with high-powered x-rays.
This excites the
atomic particles,
causing the release of
electromagnetic radiation.
Based upon how much radiation
is released, one can determine
the elemental composition
of each sample.
So I did ten different
samples of different ores,
including the lost dutchman ore,
mammoth ore, black
queen ore, many ores.
And in the chart, it shows
the differences of all the ores.
And there was one
conclusive proof.
For instance, the black queen.
Manganese, iron, copper, zinc.
There you go. I was
on gold right there.
So that piece had gold in it.
Lead, rubidium and strontium.
Dang. So there is
gold in that piece there?
There's-there's
gold in this piece.
This is the chart that I
did with ten different ores.
What is really rare in
nature is to find mercury.
Mercury usually doesn't
exist in most ores.
But if you read the chart,
what was identified here,
the only ores that read mercury:
Lost dutchman,
kochera's, silver chief.
- Everything else was zero.
- All of the ores
that either came from
the superstition mountains
or were purported to come from
the superstition
mountains carried mercury.
And all the ores
that didn't come from
the superstition mountains,
even the goldfields right here,
which are not really
in the superstitions...
They're at the foothills of
the superstition mountains...
- Did not have mercury.
- Okay.
So what's that tell you?
The three that were
purported or came
from the superstition mountains
had the same
fingerprint of mercury in it.
And none of the other ores did.
The feldmans' results
align with those of
another, geological study...
One that was conducted
by the united states
geological survey.
The usgs did a study...
I think it was 1976...
And what they did
is they wanted to measure
mercury vapors, okay?
- So in the air? - From the air.
And they flew several
places in arizona
to try and measure it.
The highest reading
of mercury presence
was in the
superstition mountains.
By three times the
amount of any others.
If dutchman ore
came from the
superstition mountains,
then it should
have mercury in it.
The test that he did
with the xrf proves
that ore in the matchbox
has mercury in it.
And ore at the silver
chief has mercury in it.
When you put all that together,
all those pieces of the
puzzle start to fit together
and then paint
the picture for you.
It's kind of ironic, you
guys are gold hunters,
but the mercury has
led you to the gold.
The mercury has
an affinity for gold.
It combines with it.
Wow, so this xrf really helped
you pinpoint the location.
- Yes.
- Well, I'm going with you, mate.
If you say it's the
silver chief mine,
I'm-I'm open with that.
- You're a smart man.
- Yep, get on board.
Ron's gone old-school
with all the historical records
and he's gone high
tech with the xrf machine
and then he's got
the ted cox documents
that really close
the case for him.
A-and you can see the look
in his son's eyes as well, he...
This family knows where
the lost dutchman mine is.
Now the question is, is
there any more gold there?
Yes, there is gold
still in that mine.
So why aren't you mining it?
Well, if the mine was here
and available, we
would be mining it.
It happens to be in wilderness.
Tightly controlled by the
united states forest service.
There is no mining allowed.
I don't want to
mine it from jail.
Yeah... so can you get a permit?
No. No permits.
There is no mining.
Mining was completely taken
out of that wilderness in 1984.
- That is a damn shame.
- You can go out there
in those mountains and
you can legally prospect.
You can look for the
presence of mineral,
you can look for the lost
dutchman mine for that matter.
But if you find it, you
can't legally mine it.
There is another factor
that compounds the problem.
The silver chief mine
has completely caved in,
making it virtually
impossible to enter.
We're talking about an
old hole that has collapsed.
You'd have to dig
the entire thing out,
completely reconstruct
the entire mine.
And that takes a lot of
money and a lot of equipment,
if it was legal.
Now I know why they say this
lost dutchman mine is cursed.
You know, all this
scientific information,
you know where it is and
we can't go in there and get it.
Notice how I said "we" there.
- Are you a new partner, are you?
- You got a big checkbook?
I've got a big top pocket, though, mate.
You guys are
sitting on a gold mine.
So, gary, you think the feldmans
have kind of solved this thing?
I think the feldmans'
theory is highly credible.
Based on what?
- Explain this to me.
- Science, mate.
You were saying how science
is the key to solving
these mysteries.
And that is exactly what
the feldmans are using.
Yeah, I have a problem with the,
the basic "solution,"
and that is that,
was the base sample
that they took, was it really
from the "lost dutchman"?
If not, then it's just
matching a mine to a mine.
That's a really good
point. That even the "proof,"
as it were, the
scientific proof,
is kind of based on a legend.
It's based on word of mouth.
You know, it strikes me,
I'm listening to gary talk about
different families
presenting their evidence
as to why they think it's there,
- it reminds me of oak island.
- Absolutely.
As you say, there's
three or four families that...
At least three of four
families that believe they know
exactly where it is, and yet
it can't be all three of them.
No.
What do you think...
I'll ask all of you guys...
What do you think it's
gonna take to solve this one,
because there's a
lot of moving parts?
Hmm. It's gonna take a
prayer to solve this one,
because the area of
the silver chief mine
is in a restricted area.
- Of course.
- No one can go looking for gold there.
The government owns
that area. It's shut down.
So the only way
would be to reopen it,
and it can't be done.
At least, not now.
Not now.
This one,
particularly, really dealt in
curses and rumors and stories.
So where do you
guys stand on curses?
Well, in this particular
case, the curse might be
- that this is, just became unsolvable, right?
- Yeah.
And I mean, and maybe that's
the origin of some of these curses.
Maybe that's the curse of
human nature. I don't know.
- Right. - Just a thought.
I-I personally
don't buy into a curse.
I-I would never
stop doing something
simply because I was
afraid of something.
- Right.
- Especially an unknown.
I wouldn't. It
wouldn't bother me.
I believe in curses. I feel
cursed now because I want
- to go back to the superstition mountains.
- Right.
It's just something
draws you to there.
So, matty, you asked
us about, you know,
our belief about curses.
So I'll turn the
question back on you.
What do you believe?
Well, I mean, I'll be honest.
You guys know this about
me a little bit, but I-I do believe
in unexplained
metaphysical things
that-that can't be
explained easily.
I do believe in
curses. Now, whether...
Whether that's self-imposed,
whether people take that energy
and kind of make it happen,
you could explain it away that way,
but I do believe there
are things that happen
that we can't explain.
Well, sometimes a
curse can be a blessing.
And that blessing is
always gonna be treasure.
Perfect. On that note, we
have our own curse/blessing
waiting for us out here.
- Let's get back to work.
- We sure do.
And a treasure to find.
Yes. Thanks, guys.
We're talking about
the lost dutchman mine.
Isn't there a curse
associated with it?
People have gone looking
for this, but not come back.
Jacob waltz
was an immigrant. He located
what's known now as
the lost dutchman mine.
History, technology
and geology.
That's what gets you to
where the dutchman mine
actually is located.
You really have
put an x on the map.
My theory is it's
right over here.
Are you kidding me, man?
Is that gold?
All the while we
were growing up,
my brother and I were fascinated
with finding treasure.
Pirate treasure,
cursed treasure.
Civil war gold.
Since then,
our work on oak island
has shown us there's
a world of mysteries...
- Whoa.
- Waiting to be explored.
So, we like to reach
out to other treasure hunters.
X marks the spot,
right there. Brilliant.
- We want to hear their stories...
- That's right.
- And share our insights.
- "ill-gotten gains."
- And who knows...
- I got it.
Maybe we can help
them with their search.
Not only in america.
Wow. That is gold.
- But all over the worl.
- Yeah!
Beyond oak island.
Curses often
seem to go with treasure.
As rick has observed
at times, maybe that's...
People who have failed, maybe
they want to put a curse on it.
- Yeah.
- So, you know what, it's cursed. I can't do it.
You know? Although
it happens so often,
going clear back to king tut's
tomb, and all these other tombs
- that it's-it's just an interesting phenomenon.
- Yeah.
- Gentlemen.
- Hey, matty blake. - Matty.
Hey, guys. Hey, mate.
- Thank you for coming.
- Hey, mate.
How you doing, mate?
Good. What do we
have going on today?
I think some really,
really interesting stuff.
- All right.
- Yeah, 'cause I just got back
from one of the most iconic
treasure sites on the planet.
- Where?
- Superstition mountains, mate.
Oh, I've always
wanted to go there.
The-the lost dutchman mine, right?
- Yep, you got it, mate.
That mystery is so unique
because you don't know
what's real and what's not
- and what's fable.
- It's hard to figure out.
And that's certainly why they
call it the lost dutchman mine.
It's been lost to
history. So I understand
why it's so confusing
and contradictory.
I think there's a
lot of work to do
to try to puzzle this
out, and that's why
the mystery has endured for,
what, almost a century now.
Gary, how'd you get involved,
and who did you work with?
I got contacted by a
guy called bob schoose.
And he's been out in
apache junction, arizona.
And bob was adamant that he
knew where the treasure was.
And when I got
to apache junction,
I found there was other families
who had other opinions
of where they thought
the lost dutchman mine is.
So are there multiple locations
where the mine could be?
- Yeah. That's what it's all about.
- Is that what you're suggesting?
It's kind of like
a familiar story.
Kind of like
oak island a little bit.
- Absolutely.
- Yeah, that does sound like oak island.
A lot of parallels. I
wonder if all treasure stories
- evolve into something resembling oak island.
- Also like oak island,
isn't there a curse
associated with it?
Yeah, there is.
Do we really
know that people died?
I mean, at oak island, we
know that six people died.
It's documented. Do we
know people have died
looking for this, or
is that just rumor?
Oh, no, it's well documented.
I mean, we're talking
about the wild west.
But even in the modern era,
in terms of modern searches,
people have gone looking
for this and not come back.
It's a wilderness out there.
I mean, it's rough terrain.
You got rattlesnakes,
intense heat,
- the mountains themselves.
- Yeah, just getting lost.
And the local apache
indians, they say
- the land is cursed.
- And it begs the question,
as many of these stories do,
here's the gold; it
could be right here.
Here's the potential danger.
What are you willing to risk?
- Yeah. Good way to put it.
- Right?
High above the arizona deser,
50 miles east of phoenix
loom the superstition mountains.
According to legend,
these massive granite peaks
conceal one of the richest
gold mines ever found
and lost in america:
The lost dutchman mine.
For more than a century,
prospectors have been
searching in vain for
this vast hidden treasur.
Their journey into
the superstitions
has often been fraught with
danger, disaster and death.
For, according to legend,
the lost dutchman
mine is cursed.
In the superstition mountain,
there's been several
unexplained deaths.
There was two
beheadings that I know of.
It is true that many
people have lost their lives
in the superstitions.
And in mysterious ways.
There's unsolved
murders out there;
people that just
didn't come back.
And that's happened over the
past hundred and some years.
A lot of people say
that the mountain has a curse on it,
and it was probably
developed from the fact that
there were so many people
lot their lives looking for it.
So, you know, you go back
there and you don't come out,
you're kind of
cursed, aren't you?
The story of the
lost dutchman mine began
with the peraltas, a family
of spanish prospectors
who were searching for
gold back in the 1840s.
According to legend, they
found some very rich deposits
in the superstition mountains.
Andrew patrick
nelson: To many miners
looking for treasure in
the american southwest,
particularly in
modern-day arizona,
the apaches were a real threat.
The apaches, seeing
that the peralta family
was getting ready
to take all the gold
that they had secured so far,
decided to lay a trap for them.
And from what I understand,
they killed everyone
except for one little boy
who was hiding in a bush
not too far away.
They spared him,
and he is the one that
was the eyewitness
that told the entire story.
It is believed
that after the massacre,
the apaches buried
the peraltas' gold,
then covered up the
mine in an effort to restore
the land to its natural state.
Now, the apaches
consider that mountain sacred.
And, of course, they
put a curse on any anglo
who'd tread on their mountain.
At the end of
the mexican-american war,
20 years after the peralta
family was ambushed
in the superstition mountains,
mexico ceded much of
arizona to the united states.
Hundreds of prospectors
immediately descended
upon the area,
hoping to strike it rich.
One of those men was
an immigrant turned citizen
named jacob waltz.
Jacob waltz was an
immigrant to the united states
from wardenburg, germany.
Followed the gold
trails into california.
And when he'd come into arizona,
sometime between 1865, 1868,
we believe he located
what's known now
as the lost dutchman mine.
The dutchman mine was
more than likely one
of the peralta mines.
Jacob waltz
probably went in there
and chipped out some
very rih pockets of gold.
And the story about the
dutchman mine grew and grew.
But it's a misnomer because
when german immigrants
came to america, they
were called deutch,
which is german... Deutchman.
So deutschman just got
mistaken for dutchman.
During that
era, you were supposed to tell
everybody else where
your rich mine was.
Jacob waltz didn't
do any of that.
He kept his mine a secret.
And they really
did not like that.
And people had followed
him through the 1870s
to try to find out
where his mine was.
If he thought
he was being followed,
he just kept right on
going into the mountains
and took 'em on a merry chase.
That's-that's common knowledge.
To this day, no one knows whee
jacob waltz's mine was located
or how much gold
he had collected.
But one thing is certain:
The treasure made
him a very wealthy man.
He has no money, has nothing.
But within the next year or so,
waltz builds an adobe house,
builds out buildings,
he has geese, he has
ducks, he's farming.
He's doing quite well.
One of the oral histories
we have is that waltz
actually had a locking door
and locking shutters
on his windows,
which is unusual for that time.
According to researchers,
jacob waltz had a good
reason for closely guarding
the location of his mine,
as it was there that he
claimed he had discovered
hundreds of pounds
of rich gold ore.
The description we get from
the mine from jacob waltz
is it's, um, popcorn
kernels of gold
running through quartz
locked in hematite.
He's saying it's worth hundreds
of millions of dollars of gold.
Well, the price of gold at that
point, what would that be now?
Billions? Trillions?
Probably more than anything
he could have imagined.
In the decades
following his
incredible discovery,
jacob waltz remained
an intensely private man.
Although he was known
to have very few friends,
there were some
notable exceptions.
He made friends with a
woman named julia thomas.
She was one-eighth black.
Her mother had been a slave,
but she was raised in a
household that speaks germa.
Julia thomas lived in phoeni,
close to where the dutchman was.
She ran a bakery.
Supposedly, she had a
lot of money problems,
and jacob waltz helped her.
In February of 1891,
when a flood washed
away jacob waltz's home,
julia thomas
returned his kindness.
She invited him to live
with her and her roommate,
a german-speaking immigrant
named rhinehart petrasch.
So, waltz has
friends that all speak german,
and this is probably
important, 'cause while we know
he probably spoke english,
we don't know how comfortable
it would have been
for him at the time.
As with most
of the circumstances
surrounding his life,
those involving his death
remain shrouded in mystery.
In October of 1891,
as jacob waltz lay
on his deathbed,
gasping for breath, most
likely from pneumonia,
julia thomas ran for a doctor,
leaving the
octogenarian prospector
in the company
of an acquaintance
by the name of dick holmes.
When she returned,
waltz was dead,
and dick holmes had vanished,
along with an item
of extraordinary value.
When jacob waltz died,
he had 48 pounds
of very rich gold ore
in a candle box under his bed.
Do the math. And
that was back then.
Think what it's worth today.
Gold was $16 an ounce then.
It's $1,600 an ounce today.
Did waltz give the
box of gold ore to dick holmes
in the moments before his death,
or was it stolen?
And did waltz ever
disclose, either to holmes
or julia thomas or their
friend rhinehart petrasch,
the actual location of
the lost dutchman mine?
These are among the questions
that have kept researchers
and treasure hunters guessing
for more than a century.
What fascinates me most
about the lost
dutchman mine is just
that there is gold ore
that came from jacob waltz.
And the question is
where did it come from?
And nobody has been
able to answer that yet.
I got to meet some
of the guys who've been
a big part of the treasure
hunt in recent years.
These people move from
other places in america.
They go apache junction,
and they do not leave.
- Looking for this mine?
- Yeah.
Looking for the
lost dutchman mine.
And, so, when I
first went there,
I'm like, well, you know,
how do you sort
through the big jumble?
You know, who's right?
And I had my own
opinions, as well.
One of these dutch hunters
took me into the foothills
of where he believes,
uh, the lost dutchman mine is.
- What did you discover?
- Well, I discovered
that when you send
me out to the wild west
looking for gold, I don't
come back empty-handed.
Okay. -
: One week prior to his
meeting with matty blake
and the laginas in the
oak island war room,
metal detection expert gary
drayton was on a mission
to track down the location
of the legendary
lost dutchman mine.
His first stop was to meet up
with legendary treasure
huntr bob schoose,
who invited gary out
to share his extensive
research on the mine,
research that has made bob
one of the world's
leading experts.
All right, bob, where are we?
You're at goldfield, arizona.
Gold was discovered
here in the 1890s,
early 1890s.
Is this one of the
reasons why jacob waltz
came to this area?
Jacob waltz came long
before goldfield was here.
He was probably one of the
first to find gold in the area
besides maybe the
spaniards and the mexicans.
Goldfield, arizona
sits beneath the
western outreaches
of the superstition mountains,
where most dutchman hunters
believe the lost
mine will be found.
Bob schoose has been
searchig for more than 50 years.
It's a passion that dates
bak to his childhood.
Watching all the western
movies when I was a kid,
there was always spanish
mines and spanish treasure.
As soon as I got
my driver's license,
we headed for the desert
so we could go out
and look for stuff.
Why did you choose this area?
With all of the studying I did
about the lost dutchman mine,
this is the area that they
found the gold in, and, uh,
it chose me. Let's
put it that way.
And I've got to ask the
million-dollar question,
mate. In your opinion...
- I knew you'd get around to this.
- Where do you
think the lost dutchman mine is?
Well, my theory is
it's right over here.
Wait a minute, you
know where it is?
Yeah, that's my theory.
There's about a hundred of 'em.
- Yeah. - I'm all eyes, mate.
You can see it from down here.
Right out there,
just to the right
of that funny-shaped
peak, that's the bulldog.
For many treasure hunters,
the bulldog gold
mine fit the description
of jacob waltz's
lost dutchman mine.
One account even had waltz
telling his friend julia thomas,
"look for the mine back
from the northwest end
"of the superstition mountains
and look for a pointed peak."
unfortunately, in 2003,
the mine was deemed
a safety hazard
and completely filled in.
Still, prospectors
like bob schoose
remain tight-lipped
about what treasures
the bulldog mine has yielded.
Did you find gold
over there yourself?
I wouldn't tell you if I did.
You are one wily, old
treasure hunter, mate.
So, when did you get the feeling
that that was the lost
dutchman gold mine?
Well, after years of
looking over there,
in them mountains over
there, and not finding a trace,
you know, you just
go along, go along,
and you learn
more and more stuff
about the real
facts of the matter.
So, do you think there's
more gold in the area still?
Absolutely. There's got
to be some other plumes
that came up associated
with these veins.
But knowing where
to look for 'em
is a whole different thing.
All right, bob, all this talk
has got me toes tingling, mate.
Any chance
of going out and
looking for gold?
- Let's go look.
- All right, mate. Let's go for it.
With the bulldog
gold mine officially off-limits,
bob takes gary to an open area
at the base of the mountains
just outside of goldfield.
He is convinced that
gold may still be found here
in the flatlands.
Well, this is the wash.
This is where all the
floodwater comes through.
Whenever it floods, it
brings the gold down
with the sand and gravels
that get hung in the crevice.
We'll have to dig
a few crevices,
see if you can find some color.
When I'm
walking down to the wash
with bob schoose
looking for gold,
I'm as happy as a
pig in the proverbial.
I want that piece
of superstition gold.
This looks like a good one here.
It's going the right way.
Yeah, it's coming from
a different direction.
Yeah, that-that water flows
this way and creates the eddy
to collect the
material in the crack.
So, there could be
some gold in here, mate.
It's a possibility.
All right, mate, I'm
ready to get stuck in.
This thing ain't
gonna do you no good
unless that picks up flour gold.
- Flour gold?
- Yeah, flour gold.
- So it's small. - Real fine.
- Like flakes.
- If there's a whole bunch of it,
it could go off, but if
it's, you know, normal,
it's gonna be
scattered pretty good.
Yeah, 'cause I can't
detect anything less
- than a grain of rice size.
- Oh, yeah.
- That won't do no good. - Okay.
Got to put the detector down.
So, what are we gonna
do? Are we gonna
- dig this out? 'cause I brought my little trowel.
- Yeah.
We'll clean that crack
out as much as we can.
Get as much material as
we can, and we'll check it.
Okay, then I'll start
digging it out for you.
Keep expecting a gold nugget
to come out of
one of these cracks.
That'd be nice.
- I'm surprised that thing's going that deep.
- Ooh.
I keep seeing shiny things.
- Yeah, you know what you're seeing there, don't you?
- Yeah.
Fool's gold? Iron pyrite?
It's, uh, "lyverite."
what, leave it
right in the ground
'cause it's not what we're
looking for? - yeah.
You got it.
Do you want me to dig
some of these little rocks out,
- as well?
- Oh, yeah. You get in every little...
Oh, let's wash
- that one off.
- So, you actually wash the rocks,
- as well?
- Yeah, the gold sticks to 'em.
This is way more
promising of a crack
than I thought it was.
- Oh, it's going deep.
- I mean, it is.
I can put me hand there.
I'll tell you what,
we're liable to get
some good color.
You think we've got
enough stuff yet, bob?
Yeah, we got
enough for a good test.
After bob and gary
spend several hours
collecting material,
they return to the old
western town of goldfield...
You want to split this up,
- and we'll each do half of that.
- Yeah.
Where bob gives gary a lesson
in panning for gold.
All right, sink her down good
and shake and shake and
shake, and that's the trick.
That settles the gold.
Sometimes that gold
clings to the rock real good.
Yeah, see, you're
wiggling, and I'm shaking.
Well, go this way.
Go side to side. That
creates the best...
Way to drop her.
Then you kind of just wash
a little of the top off like this.
Okay.
Oh.
Are you kidding me, man?
- I-is that gold? - Yeah.
- That sure looks like a little speck.
- Yeah!
Oh, my god. This is gold?
- It looks like it.
- That is bloody fantastic.
- Check it out. - It looks good.
It looks good. Yeah,
I think you got a bit.
Bloody hell, mate.
That is superstition gold.
That is fantastic.
That is a bobby-dazzler.
This is a top pocket find, mate.
That's pretty lucky.
Got to be first...
You know, beginner's luck.
Beginner's luck? You
know how old I am, mate?
Wow. This is bloody fantastic.
So, gary, this is
incredible. It's fair to say
you found gold in the
superstition mountains. I mean,
- that's incredible.
- I can actually say it panned out.
I guess you can.
So, is the bulldog
mine... Is that the answer?
Is that the lost dutchman mine?
Is that the treasure? Is that
what everybody's looking for?
I guess we'll
never know for sure
because we're not
allowed to go into the place
and search for gold anymore.
- So you couldn't go there.
- No, I couldn't.
I could just go
in the foothills.
Maybe it could be true,
but we're talking
about a massive area
where there was a lot
of gold, and, you know,
everybody's got their
opinion, and they are adamant
they know where the
lost dutchman mine is.
Right, so where
do we go from here?
There is a small army
of gold hunters out there.
One of those treasure hunters
has been at it the longest.
He's 90 years old
and still looking for
the lost dutchman mine.
You hear that,
rick? 90 years old,
and he hasn't quit yet.
I still got a
long ways to go here.
Don't give up.
Hey, dan did it.
- I know. - Dan did it.
And just like dan blankenship,
this treasure hunter that I met,
called clay worst,
was as sharp as a tack.
- Mm-hmm.
- And what he showed me
was incredible.
Intrigued.
In the past 130 years,
hundreds of prospectors
have ventured
into the superstition mountains,
searching for the
lost dutchman treasur,
but none have
possessed the pedigree...
Or direct connection to the
"dutchman," jacob waltz...
As clay worst.
Superstition mountains.
- Dang, what a view, clay!
- Ha-ha!
- It is. - That is spectacular!
That brings it home.
- Is that not beautiful?
- And I want to thank you, mate,
for inviting me into your house.
All I've ever heard about
the superstition mountains,
and especially the
jacob waltz story...
- Yep.
- Is, there's only one person
you've got to talk to who...
Has got a link to jacob waltz.
You're the last one.
You're the last person that
actually knows someone
that was at jacob waltz's...
At least I shook... I
shook the hand of a man
that shook the dutchman's hand.
And 130 years after the event,
you can't get much
closer than that.
Clay worst has spent 65 years
hunting for the
lost dutchman mine.
During 20 of those years,
he was accompanied by
george "brownie" holmes,
the son of dick holmes,
the man who was reportedly
present when jacob waltz die.
It was dick holmes
whom many believe
ended up with the
48 pounds of gold ore
that waltz kept
hidden under his bed.
And it's a portion
of that gold ore
that, worst claims, was
made into a keepsake
that has become a priceless
part of his vast collection.
That is the so-called
dutchman matchbox.
Now, the dutchman
never had that matchbox.
That was made about a
year after the dutchman died.
The insets are quartz ore.
Incredibly rich.
This is absolutely amazing.
So, I'm holding a piece
of the dutchman's gold?
Well, he said he got it
from a mine in the
superstition mountains.
Absolutely bloody incredible.
I've held a lot of treasures.
- Yeah. - But this...
Just the history
connected to it.
Is there any way
of proving that it is
- the pitcher gold?
- Well, there is...
There is an affidavit,
uh, that's notarized.
It goes back to
the holmes family,
explaining exactly
how they got that gold.
So, what is this stating?
Well, it simply states
that the gold came from
under the bed of jacob waltz
when he died in October of 1891.
Now, that doesn't prove that the
gold's from the dutchman's mine.
But it definitely came
from under his bed.
And he said that that gold came
from a mine that he had in
the superstition mountains.
The story of
the lost dutchman mine
might have been lost to history
had it not been for
the mysterious death
of another elderly prospector
some 40 years after
jacob waltz's passing.
It was the death... I
presume the murder...
Of adolph ruth in 1931,
which was nationally syndicated
all over the united states.
That was what brought the story
of the lost dutchman
mine out into the public.
Adolph ruth was
a 65-year-old veterinarian
who had sustained
a lifelong leg injury
during a previous
gold hunting expedition.
But when he acquired a treasure
map of gold mines in arizona,
the prospect of untold riches
lured the frail animal doctor
into the superstition mountains.
We definitely
know that adolph ruth
was searching for
what he presumed
was the lost dutchman mine.
His skeletal remains
were found miles away
from where he was camped,
over incredibly
rough, brushy country.
He was taken there by someone.
Now, there were holes
through both sides of his skull.
So I'm really convinced
that he was shot to death.
I've got to ask you, mate.
Where do you think the
lost dutchman mine is?
Well, that's...
The conversation's
going someplace I can't go.
Because the search
is still ongoing.
'cause I have brought
a map with me.
And I was hoping that...
That I'd show you where
the mine is.
Not even an "x" on the map,
although that would be good.
No. I can't do that
for this reason.
The general
location is known to...
Actually, less than
a handful of people.
And it is still
jealously guarded.
I-I've got about seven
man-years of my life
back of that mountain,
searching for the dutchman.
And those years are
the most precious,
precious memories of my life.
And I would not take $10
million today in exchange
for my memories
of the years that I spent
hunting the dutchman.
I'm dead serious.
If I could turn the
clock back to 1947
and absolutely knew then
that I would never find it...
I would do it all over again.
If the gold ore found
beneath jacob waltz's deathbd
came from the
lost dutchman mine,
is there a way of
determining where
in the superstition
mountains the mine is located?
A family of prospectors believes
they possess the documents
and the technology
to answer that question
and finally solve
one of the world's most
baffling treasure mysteries.
You know, it seems
like there's a common theme
between this search
and oak island...
Not just the curse.
When we first
started with oak island,
- remember what we thought?
- Yeah, science would solve all.
We thought science
was gonna carry the day.
Well, it's interesting that you
guys are talking about science
to solve a mystery.
'cause I met some
treasure hunters in arizona
who were using science,
and they are adamant
they know where the mine is.
Is this different than when
you were with bob schoose
and where he thinks it is?
- Yeah. Totally different.
- Okay.
One week ago,
while searching for
information about the legendary
lost dutchman mine,
gary drayton met with
treasure hunters ron feldman
and his sons, jesse and josh,
at a horse stable they own
in the shadow of the
superstition mountain.
He is eager to
compare their theory
to those he has learned about
from rival enthusiasts bob
schoose and clay worst.
It seems to me like
there's a reoccurring theme.
Everybody connected to the
lost dutchman mine, you know,
passionate guys like you guys,
they are confident
they know where the
lost dutchman mine is.
- Yep.
- I think the history,
- technology and geology...
- That's right.
That's what gets you
to where the dutchman
mine actually is located.
For ron feldman,
finding the location of
the lost dutchman mine
is the culmination of a lifetime
devoted to treasure hunting.
It is a passion he has passed
along to his entire family.
When I was a kid growing
up in buffalo, new york,
uh, I, for some
reason, was captivated
by lost mine stories
and buried treasures.
Matter of fact, I went
up to northern california
and dredged rivers for gold.
My eye though was
always on the lost dutchman,
because it was
the most publicized.
It was the great
granddaddy of all lost mines.
And ron feldman someday
wanted to hunt that mine.
Finally did.
Came here in 1966.
Part of my legacy is the passion
for hunting for gold mine
and the lost dutchman
that I have left for my boys.
My boys have
absolutely been born into this.
My dad moved to arizona
to hunt the lost dutchman
mie when he was a young man.
So I grew up around it.
Uh, dad took us all over
the superstition mountains
looking for that thing.
So, when we were kids,
it was just an adventure.
Go out with dad.
Have a good time.
And then, as we got older,
we started getting more into
the research and the history
and really understanding
what was going on.
So, it became a passion of mine.
After decades of searching
for the lost dutchman mine,
the feldmans believe
they may have finally
discovered its hiding place
located some 20 miles
from the bulldog mine,
on the eastern side of
the superstition mountain.
So, you guys believe
that the silver chief mine
is the lost dutchman mine?
- Yes, 100%. - Absolutely.
- Yup. - Yup, it has to be.
But we have believed that
for years... in fact, decades...
Because of the ted cox notes.
Ted cox was one
of the most intriguing
treasure hunters
to ever set foot in
the superstitions.
Ted cox was born about 1920.
Grew up in these
mining communities.
His father was said to have
even known jacob waltz.
He spent his life in the
superstition mountains
following all the information
and the geology and
the history, and actually
professed that he found
the lost dutchman mine.
Ted cox's search brought him
in direct contact with
many of the key players
in the dutchman saga.
Among them, rhinehart petrasch,
the man who was
living in the same house
where jacob waltz
lived and died.
Cox chronicled his
adventures in hundreds
of handwritten pages
that exist to this day.
Have you actually
got those notes?
- We have those here.
- I can show you.
I have all of ted cox's
written material, all his notes.
They were turned
over to me by his widow.
And these are
all originals, right?
These are all
original, handwritten.
His handwriting was
very illegible almost.
It took me two years
to decipher all this
and read through
it and understand it.
Look at this here. "this report
on the lost dutchman mine
and my attempt to own and
mine it between 1957 and 1964."
ted cox knew where the
lost dutchman mine was.
And he was on the eastern
end of the superstition mountains.
Most of the legend and the lore
about the lost
dutchman mine takes you
to the west end of the
superstition mountains.
Where's the silver chief mine?
Silver chief is on the east end
of the superstition
mountains, right up here.
Okay, so you really have
put an "x" on the map?
An "x" on the map.
Ted cox was
the first person to say,
the silver chief mine is
the lost dutchman mine.
And you can see
how much he wrote
because he believed it so much.
You see, for the first 25 years
of my dutchman hunting career,
I became an expert on where
the lost dutchman was not.
Because I was always on the west
end where everybody else put it.
When I got into these
notes and deciphered them,
ted cox opened my eyes.
And he put me right on the
spot of the lost dutchman mine.
From deciphering these notes,
we walked right to the place.
: Northwest of arizona's
superstition mountains,
gary drayton meets with
treasure hunter ron feldman
and his sons, jesse and josh.
The feldmans are
convinced that history,
geology and technology
may have helped them find
the actual location of
the lost dutchman mine.
This is the science that
our father has done recently.
This is new stuff
to all of us, right?
But because of the
history that we know,
you take that all together,
and it confirms time and again
that the silver chief
is the dutchman mine.
The science revolves
around comparing ore samples
the feldmans collected from
a number of mines in the area
with a sample of
lost dutchman gold.
What sample did you use for
the lost dutchman mine gold?
It was the matchbox.
It was a piece of jewelry
that supposedly came
from the dutchman.
Uh, when he died, it
was underneath his bed,
and it was made into jewelry.
- So, I think you have seen it?
- Yup.
But I compared that
with the silver chief ore.
Treasure hunter clay worst
loaned ron the same matchbox
gary examined in clay's home.
It is now the centerpiece
of ron's investigation.
That's really where the
xrf machine comes in.
The only way to
really compare the ores
is with this machine
because it's non-destructive.
- Yeah.
- We could've took the matchbox and destroyed it,
and then done the same test
and figured out the elements
in each ore and
done it that way.
But you'd have to crush it
down and destroy it. Well...
- And you're not gonna destroy that.
- No.
- You can't destroy dutchman ore.
- No.
So, the xrf machine
actually measures
each element by the
amount of fluorescence
that is in every
element on earth.
And it's like a fingerprint.
Xrf? What does
that stand for, ron?
- X-ray fluorescence. - Okay.
The xrf analyzer functions
by bombarding the ore samples
with high-powered x-rays.
This excites the
atomic particles,
causing the release of
electromagnetic radiation.
Based upon how much radiation
is released, one can determine
the elemental composition
of each sample.
So I did ten different
samples of different ores,
including the lost dutchman ore,
mammoth ore, black
queen ore, many ores.
And in the chart, it shows
the differences of all the ores.
And there was one
conclusive proof.
For instance, the black queen.
Manganese, iron, copper, zinc.
There you go. I was
on gold right there.
So that piece had gold in it.
Lead, rubidium and strontium.
Dang. So there is
gold in that piece there?
There's-there's
gold in this piece.
This is the chart that I
did with ten different ores.
What is really rare in
nature is to find mercury.
Mercury usually doesn't
exist in most ores.
But if you read the chart,
what was identified here,
the only ores that read mercury:
Lost dutchman,
kochera's, silver chief.
- Everything else was zero.
- All of the ores
that either came from
the superstition mountains
or were purported to come from
the superstition
mountains carried mercury.
And all the ores
that didn't come from
the superstition mountains,
even the goldfields right here,
which are not really
in the superstitions...
They're at the foothills of
the superstition mountains...
- Did not have mercury.
- Okay.
So what's that tell you?
The three that were
purported or came
from the superstition mountains
had the same
fingerprint of mercury in it.
And none of the other ores did.
The feldmans' results
align with those of
another, geological study...
One that was conducted
by the united states
geological survey.
The usgs did a study...
I think it was 1976...
And what they did
is they wanted to measure
mercury vapors, okay?
- So in the air? - From the air.
And they flew several
places in arizona
to try and measure it.
The highest reading
of mercury presence
was in the
superstition mountains.
By three times the
amount of any others.
If dutchman ore
came from the
superstition mountains,
then it should
have mercury in it.
The test that he did
with the xrf proves
that ore in the matchbox
has mercury in it.
And ore at the silver
chief has mercury in it.
When you put all that together,
all those pieces of the
puzzle start to fit together
and then paint
the picture for you.
It's kind of ironic, you
guys are gold hunters,
but the mercury has
led you to the gold.
The mercury has
an affinity for gold.
It combines with it.
Wow, so this xrf really helped
you pinpoint the location.
- Yes.
- Well, I'm going with you, mate.
If you say it's the
silver chief mine,
I'm-I'm open with that.
- You're a smart man.
- Yep, get on board.
Ron's gone old-school
with all the historical records
and he's gone high
tech with the xrf machine
and then he's got
the ted cox documents
that really close
the case for him.
A-and you can see the look
in his son's eyes as well, he...
This family knows where
the lost dutchman mine is.
Now the question is, is
there any more gold there?
Yes, there is gold
still in that mine.
So why aren't you mining it?
Well, if the mine was here
and available, we
would be mining it.
It happens to be in wilderness.
Tightly controlled by the
united states forest service.
There is no mining allowed.
I don't want to
mine it from jail.
Yeah... so can you get a permit?
No. No permits.
There is no mining.
Mining was completely taken
out of that wilderness in 1984.
- That is a damn shame.
- You can go out there
in those mountains and
you can legally prospect.
You can look for the
presence of mineral,
you can look for the lost
dutchman mine for that matter.
But if you find it, you
can't legally mine it.
There is another factor
that compounds the problem.
The silver chief mine
has completely caved in,
making it virtually
impossible to enter.
We're talking about an
old hole that has collapsed.
You'd have to dig
the entire thing out,
completely reconstruct
the entire mine.
And that takes a lot of
money and a lot of equipment,
if it was legal.
Now I know why they say this
lost dutchman mine is cursed.
You know, all this
scientific information,
you know where it is and
we can't go in there and get it.
Notice how I said "we" there.
- Are you a new partner, are you?
- You got a big checkbook?
I've got a big top pocket, though, mate.
You guys are
sitting on a gold mine.
So, gary, you think the feldmans
have kind of solved this thing?
I think the feldmans'
theory is highly credible.
Based on what?
- Explain this to me.
- Science, mate.
You were saying how science
is the key to solving
these mysteries.
And that is exactly what
the feldmans are using.
Yeah, I have a problem with the,
the basic "solution,"
and that is that,
was the base sample
that they took, was it really
from the "lost dutchman"?
If not, then it's just
matching a mine to a mine.
That's a really good
point. That even the "proof,"
as it were, the
scientific proof,
is kind of based on a legend.
It's based on word of mouth.
You know, it strikes me,
I'm listening to gary talk about
different families
presenting their evidence
as to why they think it's there,
- it reminds me of oak island.
- Absolutely.
As you say, there's
three or four families that...
At least three of four
families that believe they know
exactly where it is, and yet
it can't be all three of them.
No.
What do you think...
I'll ask all of you guys...
What do you think it's
gonna take to solve this one,
because there's a
lot of moving parts?
Hmm. It's gonna take a
prayer to solve this one,
because the area of
the silver chief mine
is in a restricted area.
- Of course.
- No one can go looking for gold there.
The government owns
that area. It's shut down.
So the only way
would be to reopen it,
and it can't be done.
At least, not now.
Not now.
This one,
particularly, really dealt in
curses and rumors and stories.
So where do you
guys stand on curses?
Well, in this particular
case, the curse might be
- that this is, just became unsolvable, right?
- Yeah.
And I mean, and maybe that's
the origin of some of these curses.
Maybe that's the curse of
human nature. I don't know.
- Right. - Just a thought.
I-I personally
don't buy into a curse.
I-I would never
stop doing something
simply because I was
afraid of something.
- Right.
- Especially an unknown.
I wouldn't. It
wouldn't bother me.
I believe in curses. I feel
cursed now because I want
- to go back to the superstition mountains.
- Right.
It's just something
draws you to there.
So, matty, you asked
us about, you know,
our belief about curses.
So I'll turn the
question back on you.
What do you believe?
Well, I mean, I'll be honest.
You guys know this about
me a little bit, but I-I do believe
in unexplained
metaphysical things
that-that can't be
explained easily.
I do believe in
curses. Now, whether...
Whether that's self-imposed,
whether people take that energy
and kind of make it happen,
you could explain it away that way,
but I do believe there
are things that happen
that we can't explain.
Well, sometimes a
curse can be a blessing.
And that blessing is
always gonna be treasure.
Perfect. On that note, we
have our own curse/blessing
waiting for us out here.
- Let's get back to work.
- We sure do.
And a treasure to find.
Yes. Thanks, guys.