THE TERRIBLE STORY OF ADOLPH RUTH AND THE DUTCHMAN'S GOLD MINERS...

 ADOLPH RUTH AND THE DUTCHMAN’S GOLD

In June 1931, an amateur treasure hunter named Dr. Adolph Ruth vanished in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. He had gone into the rugged mountains in search of a fabulous treasure – the legendary Peralta Gold Mine – that had become known over the years as the “Lost Dutchman Mine.” Tragically, Ruth’s body was not found until January 1932, when it was discovered with a broken leg and a cryptic letter. The letter read:

“I’m sitting under a tree in a creek with leg broke. I’ve got to have help quick. Finder of this note please give to Howard Peterson. P.S. Have found the lost Dutchman.”

But did Dr. Ruth really find the mysterious lost treasure? If he did, he took the secret of its location with him to the grave.

The Lost Dutchman Mine is perhaps the most famous lost treasure in American history. It is believed to be hidden somewhere in the Superstition Mountains, east of a Phoenix, Arizona, and arid and inhospitable region that does not lend itself to casual exploration. This may be the reason that so many treasure-seekers have vanished -- or have died -- while searching for the lost mine. And perhaps why it has remained “lost” after all these years.

The mine is named after German immigrant Jacob Waltz, who came to Arizona in the 1860s, long after the gold mine had been abandoned. Waltz discovered the mine and allegedly kept its location a secret until his death in 1891. But like every good treasure story – there was a map, which adventurers have been seeking ever since.

There is no way to guess just how many people have died in pursuit of the Lost Dutchman Mine. Some who have disappeared may have just quietly slipped away, unwilling to admit that they failed to find the treasure. Others, though, went into the mountains secretly and just disappeared. Their names are possibly recorded as a missing persons case somewhere – and will never be found.

Others were killed – or killed others -- in their quest for the treasure. Partners killed partners, men killed for their secrets, the Apache massacred white men who trespassed on their sacred land, and the list goes on.

In the summer of 1880, two young soldiers appeared in the town of Pinal. They had recently been discharged from Fort McDowell and were looking for work at the Silver King Mine, operated by Aaron Mason. They asked him to take a look at some gold ore they had found while crossing Superstition Mountain. 

Mason was stunned to see a bag of extremely rich gold ore. He asked where they had found it and the soldiers explained that they had been on the mountain and had flushed a deer into one of the canyons. On their way out, they found the remains of an old a tunnel and mine. This small bag of gold was only a little of what could be found there.

Mason asked them if they could find the place again and they believed they could, having been scouts for the Army and very conscious of the details of the landscape. They remembered the mine being in the northerly direction of a sharp peak (which Mason was sure was a landmark known as Weaver’s Needle) and in very rough country. A narrow trail had led from the peak and into the valley where they found the mine. The soldiers admitted, however, they knew little about mining. 

Would Mason go into partnership with them? He agreed and purchased the ore they brought with them for $700, then helped them get outfitted for their return to the mine. They left Pinal the next day -- and didn’t return. Mason waited two weeks and then sent out a search party. The nude body of one of the soldiers was found beside a trail leading to the mountain. He had been shot in the head. The other man was found the next day and had been killed in the same manner. Apaches? No one knows. The murders were never solved.

A year later, a prospector named Joe Dearing showed up in Pinal and worked as a part-time bartender. After hearing about the death of the two soldiers, he began hiking into the mountains, looking for the mysterious mine. He was more successful in his search, but I wouldn’t say that his luck turned out any better.

According to Dearing, he had discovered the mine and that it “was kind of a pit, shaped like a funnel and with a large opening at the top”. He said that the pit had been partially filled in by debris and there was a tunnel that had been walled over with rocks. Dearing planned to work as a bartender until he could make enough money to excavate his find. He took a job at the Silver King Mine, intent on saving his money – and then he was killed in a cave-in a week later.

Over the next few decades, most strange deaths occurred in the Superstition Mountains. A local eccentric named Elisha Reavis was found beheaded near his cabin in 1896. In the early 1900s, two prospectors spent a decade looking for the lost gold mine until one of them went insane and tried to kill the other. In 1910, the skeleton of a woman was found in a cave, high in the mountains. Several gold nuggets were found with her remains.

And then in June 1931, Dr. Adolph Ruth went looking for the Dutchman’s Lost Mine. Were it not for Adolph Ruth, the story of the Lost Dutchman Mine would probably have been little more than a footnote in Arizona history as one of hundreds of "lost mines" rumored to be in the American West.

Adolph Ruth was a 66-year-old veterinarian employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Husbandry, who had a longstanding obsession for locating fabled lost treasures. Through Ruth’s son Edwin, who had been working in Mexico, Adolph came into possession of maps of mines in the Borrego Desert area in Southern California.

In 1914, Adolph and Edwin made a brief but unrewarding trip to California. They came away empty-handed, but Adolph became obsessed. Five years later, he returned to the Borrego Desert on his own. His adventure turned tragic. When his father did not return, Edwin assembled a search party. Three days after going missing, Adolph was located at the bottom of a steep ravine. Crippled by a fractured thighbone, he could only wait for rescue. His leg was so badly broken that a plate had to be used to repair the damage. His limb was shortened, leading to a lifelong limp.

But he remained obsessed with the West’s lost mines. It was an old newspaper article – titled “One of Arizona’s Lost El Dorados” – that further fueled Adolph Ruth’s desire to find Jacob Waltz’s long-lost treasure. 

By the summer of 1931, the lame 66-year-old was ready to set off for Arizona, despite the protests of his wife and two sons. He left Washington, D.C. in his newly-acquired used Essex and arrived in Arizona nine days later. After familiarizing himself with the rugged Superstitions, he finally set off on his quest for fame and fortune on June 13, 1931, writing to his family, “Tomorrow morning I’ll prospect some.”

He was never seen or heard from alive again.

Adolph only planned to be gone for two weeks and when he did not return, a hasty search was made of the area where he was last seen. No trace of him was found. Finally, in December 1931, a human skull was discovered in the mountains. It was compared with Ruth’s dental records and a positive match was made. The missing doctor – or part of him, at least – had been found. But that wasn’t all. There were two bullet holes in the skull. The missing treasure hunter had been murdered.

A month later, In January 1932, human remains were discovered about three-quarters of a mile from where the skull had been found. Though the remains had been scattered by scavengers, they were undoubtedly Ruth's. Many of Adolph's personal effects were found at the scene, including a pistol (not missing any shells) and the metal pins used to mend his broken bones. One thing that was missing? The map that Adolph had brought with him that purportedly marked the location of the Lost Dutchman Mine.

Lying near the remains was Adolph’s checkbook, which contained a letter and alleged directions to the mine. He ended the note with three words – “Veni, vidi, vici” – Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Did the unassuming veterinarian and would-be prospector find the location of the lost mine? We’ll never know.

Arizona authorities didn’t convene a criminal inquest in Dr. Ruth’s death. They argued that Ruth had probably succumbed to thirst or heart disease. Another official suggested suicide – ignoring the fact that Adolph had been shot twice and no bullets were missing from his gun. Many people, including Adolph’s family, believed that he had been murdered for his map to the lost mine.

Whatever happened to Adolph Ruth, his story became a national sensation. The wire services picked up the news of his death and “ran it for all it was worth,” one writer noted. The mysterious tale was a welcome reprieve from the bleak news of the Depression years and it took on a life of its own, building a new legend of the Lost Dutchman Mine that continues to endure many decades later.

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