Dutchman and his Gold mine
Everett
and the
Lost Dutchman Mine
Page 10. Everett goes to the Superstitions
It
was a hot evening in mesa and
Cec, Everett an I sat in the back yard of Roxies house. We
went over everything one more time. Cec I said read the clues
that Walz told Mrs. Thomas and her son, What others had said, Something
bothers me. Well lets see he said. first he said. It lies within
an imaginary circle whose diameter is not more than five miles and
whose center is marked by Weaver's Needle. The first gorge on the
south side of the west end of the range, they found a trail which led
them northward over a lofty ridge, Downward past El
Sombrero into a canyon running north, and finally to a
tributary canyon deep and rocky and densely wooded with a
continuous thicket of scrub oak. Then up a side canyon past
water. If you pass three Red Hills you have gone too
far. You can see the military trail from the mine, but you cannot
see the mine from the military trail. The setting sun shines
through a break in the mountains and glitters upon the gold in the
mine. Walz said a short climb from my mine you can see the
needle. Wait i said! that is what bothers me. Why would he say that if
the mine is close to the needle? Well cec said he wasn't going to
the mine from the needle, he had to walk a long way up a canyon to get
there. So to him it was important to say you couldn't see the
needle from the mine. if it was obvious you were in site of the
needle, one might miss it. yeah ok that makes since, what else
have people said about the mine? Well Cec said some other people have
said: You can see the Needle to the south and Four Peaks to the
north where Four Peaks looks like one peak. you go about a mile
up the same canyon, which runs north-south, until you find a ridge upon
the end of which is a natural stone face. At this point Cec
looked up and said: at first this part bothered me, Ed had never seen
the stone face, but then I read that in the late 1930's there was a
really bad earth quake, a guy said he seen the mountains at that time
and there was boulders the size of houses tumbling down. It could be
that the face fell too. Everett an I had hunted the area of
Oregon called the Tilimook Burn all my life and I told Cec: yeah thing
change a lot in a short time. and in the mountains they get flash
floods every year. Well I'm not worried about the face.
maybe one of those rocks looks more like a face to someone than it did
to Ed, if its still there. Go on I said tell us the rest of the
things people said! Cec said: In a
high narrow ravine where you will find the entrance to the mine.
Down the slope below the mine shaft is another tunnel.. close to
the canyon there is an ruins of an Old stone
house. Just a minute I said: didn't you say that up canyon from
Ed's camp there was a old rock foundation. Yeah there was he said: We
use to sit on it sometimes an just chat. It wasn't far from a water
hole that had water part of the year in it. Hey Ed an I never
thought it could be the same place the Dutchman hid his gold at. or
where he an his partner camped at. But I said: how much water is
there in the mountains. Just two places you can get water
that I know of. at Ed's camp there is a place has water year around or
at this place has water maybe 4 months out of the year. But Ed an
I just thought it was a old house built by some prospector. Yeah
probably was Everett said: By the spanish prospectors. Cec said
well at the time I was there I didn't know much about the history or
the Dutchman. and he did say he had camped at an old foundation
and left two cans of gold buried at the corner of the foundation. You
see it wasn't until I moved to Oregon that I began to read a lot of
books about the Dutchman. Well it had to be his camp where
else can a man stay and not die of thirst. he had to have camped
not far from water. Well tell us some more that was said about
where the mine is. Well Cec said: some talked of a cave an a two
room house. have you ever seen it I asked. No he said but
Ed an I seen a cave that might have been where it was at one time. Cec,
Everett an I went over the stories the Kid's girl friend had told
George, about being in a canyon filled with brush. about the guy that
worked for the movie company that the Indians told him to stay out of
that canyon. I asked Cec what movie guy? Well Cec said: When they
made the movie about the Dutchman, Staring Ford, One of the crew
got to looking for the mine. The movie fellow said that he had
been looking around the needle one day. Well that evening two Indians
showed up at his motel room an told him to stay out of that area.
The movie fellow took their suggestion. But he did say it was in a hard
to get to place, thick with brush and high in a canyon. And also
about Ed's findings they all seemed to pretty much match what the
Dutchman had said. We took in to fact that stories get changed as
they are told over the years. Cec mentioned Apache Jack had said
it was in a high revein also, hidden so well no one would find it
easily. Well Everett said: I don't know about you guys but if I'm gona
get an early start I better get some shut eye. Yep we agreed an
headed to the house.
Early next morning we drove to First
water one of the easiest places to start the seven mile walk to
Ed's camp. Took us a bit to get our packs on, Cec an Everett
carried 45 lb packs , mine went 65 lb, I was the youngest. Shoot
I said to Cec couldn't we get some burros? Cec said they wouldn't
last. people would steal them from us, for food. Cec said:
Dogs an burros just don't last long in this place. So with a 65
lb pack, a improved 3006 riffle and a colt 45 double action on my hip
off we went at a slow pace. after about an hour, we was across
from a mountain it had a tailings pile sliding down the slope from a
cave. Cec an I decided to go across the canyon an climb to the
mine shaft. We looked in there was one entrance but about ten
feet in branched into two shafts. We walked into the right hand
shaft, but it was very dark an we could see nothing. I told Cec we
could get shot an never see the guy that did the shooting. Well we
backed out of that shaft and went into the shaft to the left. In
this shaft there was a room at the end, it had a bed an cooking
gear. We went back to the entrance, then I heard a rock fall from
in the right shaft. I don't know how it happened but my gun just
appeared in my hand, I glanced at Cec an he was trying to get his gun
out of the holster. I was raised by Everett a gun smith an when you
draw after hundreds of hours of practice you don't have to think about
it, it's just a reflex. So with gun drawn we backed out of the
shaft. Just outside the shaft there was a place wet, water on the
ground. could this wet spot been caused by a man or a mountain lyon? I
don't know I said what it was but I think it's time we leave. Cec said
just a minute! What's this? sounded by a pile of rocks was
a quart jar. In the jar we found a claim filing papers, Cec said
hey I know the guy a really nice fella. We left the mine.
Everett said: what happened up there? We
told him about the water on the ground, He suggested we leave, he
didn't have to suggest that twice. We walked to a place called the old
corral. The old corral wasn't very impressive, just a fence made of
iron wood tree limbs. So we took a break then headed on to Ed Pipers
old camp where we hoped there would be water. When we goto Ed's camp we
found the old water hole was still there. I don't know where the
water came from. Cec said it had been a small trickle coming out
of the rocks an Ed had blasted a hole with dynamite to make a small
basin. Any way the water was sure good, it was hot an we were
getting tired of warm canteen water. We took a nap then made some
dinner. After dinner we talked more about the mine. I said:
are you sure the stone head isn't the same one that was on Ruth's
map? Cec said no it isn't the same one. he showed me copies
of the maps he had with him and said: tomorrow Ill show you the things
the maps show, but now we had better get some fire wood. I
grabbed a hatchet and went looking, after a short walk I found a tree
an tried to cut a limb off. I couldn't make a dent in the limb,
Cec laughed an said it's iron wood you cant cut that. Finally we
found enough brush an small pieces of wood to keep a fire going all
night. it felt like a hundred degrees but soon after dark it felt
like it was freezing, even my sleeping bag an extra blanket didn't keep
me warm. I remembered to put a rope around my sleeping bag,
suppose to keep snakes away. there I was freezing an wondering if
snakes knew they weren't suppose to cross a rope.