Superstition Mountains

We visited the Superstition National Wilderness Area. Established by Congress in 1964, over 160,000 acres cover some of the most infamous mining sites in the history of early Arizona. This cactus wren turns out to actually be the Arizona state bird.

We started in Goldfield Ghost Town. In the 1800’s, with a population of over 5,000 Goldfield was the largest city in the Arizona Territory. The area witnessed the discovery of the richest gold mines in all of the Arizona Territory, including the Lost Dutchman Mine. Allegedly staked by German immigrant Jacob Waltz in the mid-1800’s, Waltz took the secret of the location of the mine with him to the grave. The legend has resulted in an estimated 8,000 people a year setting out to try to find its location.

We also learned that in the early time of our nation the term Dutch did not refer to folk from the Netherlands. As Americans tend to butcher other languages, they referred to folk who spoke Deutsch (Germans) as Dutch, or Dutchmen. Hence the name of the lost mine took on the term that locals referred to immigrant Jacob Waltz as.

Early Pima and Hopi residents were convinced that they heard strange noises coming from the mountain range. In addition, people who ventured into the range often didn’t return (which still happens to this day – each year even experienced folk get lost in the area and die from the severe terrain and climate.) So, as the Pima and Hopi found the range to be superstitious, the name stuck and eventually became its official name.

We visited the Superstition Mountain Museum. The foundation has gathered together here artifacts of the many uses of the Wilderness over the centuries. One of the main focal points is a cool collection of mining equipment. We learned about the interesting mining methods in use when there is nearly a complete lack of wood that otherwise was readily available to miners in the California goldfields.

We also learned that the area was almost a standing film set in the early motion picture industry. The backdrop of the Superstitions, as well as the nearby Four Peaks range, played perfectly into the early film industries appetite for Western films.

We even got to walk on flooring and stand inside a church building where the King once walked and stood. The church was one of the many settings used in the Elvis Presley film Charro. Interestingly, while widely believed to have been Presley’s overall best performance, the film was not a runaway success, and to this day, is likely his least seen film.

Talk to you soon!