Jacob Waltz

Behind Arizona's most durable treasure legend was a real and fairly ordinary man. Jacob Waltz, born in the German kingdom of Württemberg around 1810, prospected in Arizona and was said to have found a rich gold deposit in or near the Superstition Mountains, the fabled Lost Dutchman Mine. He spent his last years as a humble farmer on the Salt River and died here in 1891, buried in the old City Cemetery. The mine has never been found, though the searching has never stopped and has cost more than one life.

What the plaque says

Jacob Waltz was born in the kingdom of Wurttemberg, Germany circa 1810. He immigrated to the USA in 1839 and became a naturalized citizen in 1864. Waltz was prospecting in Arizona and is reputed to have found a gold deposit near Superstition Mountain now known as the legendary Lost Dutchman Mine., In 1868 Jacob Waltz was living as a humble farmer on the north bank of the Salt River. He died on October 26, 1891 and was buried in the southwest corner of City Cemetery.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Phoenix — 1.0 mi
  The fifth-largest US city, built on the canals of a thousand-year-old one
• Heard Museum — 2.0 mi
  The Native Southwest, told in the first person
• Taliesin West — 18 mi
  Frank Lloyd Wright's desert masterwork, grown from the ground it stands on

More markers nearby

• 1897 Smurthwaite House — steps away
• Arizona Copper Company's Locomotive #2 — steps away
• Boras Headframe — steps away
• Arizona's Pioneer Women — 0.2 mi