Search for men on Ariz treasure hunt enters day 3

[Carbon]

Search for men on Ariz treasure hunt enters day 3 (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hNwd68iW6TCWW1Sr9waX_DErscrgD9GUDGGO0)

By BOB CHRISTIE (AP) – 5 hours ago

PHOENIX — Rescue workers were searching a rugged Arizona wilderness area for a third day in triple-digit temperatures Tuesday for three Utah men who went missing while looking for the legendary Lost Dutchman Gold Mine.

The three men from Salt Lake City have been in the Superstition Mountains since at least Sunday, and possibly nearly a week, Maricopa County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jesse Spurgin said. They were last heard from last Tuesday.

Curtis Meriworth, 67, Ardean Charles, 62 and Malcolm Meeks, 51, planned on hiking into the mountains and exploring the area about 40 miles east of Phoenix during the day and spending nights in a motel, Spurgin said.

One of the men became lost in the same area last year and had to be rescued. Spurgin said he was unable to confirm exactly which of the three men had become lost, but confirmed the search with officials at the command post.

The area near Lost Dutchman State Park and the Superstition Wilderness is filled with steep canyons, soaring rocky outcroppings, cactus and heavy brush. With temperatures soaring above 110 degrees this week and the men apparently unprepared for lengthy backcountry stays, their lives could be in serious danger.

"Hopefully we're going to find them alive and we're continuing to search with that in mind," Spurgin said.

The Lost Dutchman mine has drawn prospectors of all stripes for more than a century. Fabled as a mother lode mined by a Mexican family in the 1840s before being lost, it was supposedly rediscovered by a German immigrant named Jacob Waltz and his partner in the 1870s.

The partner killed by Indians (or possibly Waltz himself, according to a history on the state park website), Waltz purportedly hid stashes of gold before returning to Phoenix, where he died in 1891. Searchers have tried in vain to find the mine ever since.

The men were apparently just the latest intent on finding their fortunes, Spurgin said. The sheriff's office found the men's car at a trailhead on Sunday afternoon after their family members reported them overdue. On Tuesday, two helicopters, 6 searchers on horseback, search teams with dogs and about a dozen posse members and deputies were looking for them.

[Carbon]

3 hikers on treasure hunt in Superstition Mountains feared dead (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/07/17/20100717utah-hikers-searching-for-treasure-feared-dead.html)

by Lindsey Collom - Jul. 17, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The lure of the legendary Lost Dutchman Mine has likely claimed three more lives.

Curtis Merworth, Malcolm Meeks and Ardean Charles left Salt Lake City on July 6 in search of the fabled lode of gold hidden in the Superstition Mountains east of Apache Junction. Their vehicle was found at a trailhead July 11, but an exhaustive search for the men has, so far, turned up empty.

It was the third time Merworth had come to the Superstitions looking for treasure. Searchers rescued him from the terrain in May 2009, but the harrowing experience didn't deter him from what family members say had become an obsession.

Merworth, 48, was "gold crazy," his mother, Carol, said this week from her Salt Lake City home.

"He was certain he was going to find this mine," she said.

The pursuit of the Dutchman's mine has been going on for more than a century in "some of the most rugged wilderness areas of the U.S. Forest Service," said George E. Johnston, president emeritus of the Superstition Mountain Museum in Apache Junction.

"It's hard to separate the legend and the lore from the lies and the BS and everything else about it," he said. "But there's enough to it to encourage people that have been interested in it to go after that gold. For almost 120 years now, they've been looking for it."

The story goes that during the mid-1800s, the Peralta family of Mexico operated several mining claims, including a fabulously rich gold mine in the Superstitions. An expedition returning gold ore to Mexico City was attacked by Apaches.

Only one member of the Peralta expedition survived the attack. Decades later, he revealed the location of the richest of the family's mines to Jacob Waltz, who has come to be immortalized as the Dutchman.

The story is based on some nuggets of truth. Jacob Waltz was born in 1808 in Germany, and he came to the United States in 1846. He worked as a miner in North Carolina and Georgia and later in the Arizona Territory. In 1868, he homesteaded 160 acres near the Salt River in what is now the East Valley. Waltz died a pauper in 1891.

Legend has it that, on his deathbed, Waltz told his three caretakers about the mine he discovered in the Superstitions and where they could find it. The mine, he said, had enough gold to make millionaires out of 20 men. Beneath his bed was a wooden candle box with pieces of rich gold ore.

The trio spent the rest of their lives searching for the gold based on Waltz's clues. One of the caretakers, Julia Thomas, made a living off drawing and selling maps to the treasure, Johnston said.

The lure of the gold, the greed, he said, continues to draw treasure seekers from all over the world to the Superstitions. Weekly, he fields questions by phone and from visitors who want to know where they can find the bounty.

And then there are those who are drawn by a sense of adventure, said Phillip Reinhardt, an outdoorsman and member of the board of directors of the Superstition Mountain Historical Society.

"People that haven't been there can't even imagine what it's like when you get in there. It's a step back in time, and it carries a physical sensation - especially the first night where you have to roll out your bag."

Reinhardt and others believe Merworth, Meeks, and Charles could not have survived for more than a few days in the mountains without provisions, but the search-and-rescue mission continues.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office "dramatically scaled back" its search Friday, taking horses and search dogs out of the terrain and reducing the number of volunteers on the ground.

Sgt. Jesse Spurgin said helicopters continue to search, as they have since Sunday. An airplane with thermal-detection capabilities joined the hunt Thursday, Spurgin said.

Merworth's daughter, Roseanne, 27, said her father had been hunting for treasure since she was a child.

"It's just a fantasy of his," she said. "When I was younger, he was always going up and looking for gold in the rivers. It was just something he liked to do."

His fantasy had been focused on the Dutchman's treasure for the past three years, according to Carol Merworth.

She said her son persuaded her roommate, Charles, 67, to go along. The third man, Meeks, 52, was one of Curtis' neighbors.

Carol said the family warned Curtis, but he was confident he could find the treasure - recklessly so. He refused to bring his cellphone, she said, the very item he used to call for help when he got lost more than a year ago.

"You'd think he'd learn, but he didn't," she said. "My son don't listen to nobody."

Family members of the missing this week said they continue to hold out hope that their loved ones will be found safe. Those who know the Superstitions wilderness say it's unlikely they're alive.

"What would be nice is to find them in some cool, wet cave, ripping open bags of gold dust and pouring it over themselves while they're waiting for somebody to come carry them out," Reinhardt said.

"But the truth of the matter is that they were amateurs, and they went into the mountains at the hottest time of the year with nowhere near enough water, and they died."

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/07/17/20100717utah-hikers-searching-for-treasure-feared-dead.html#ixzz0u0RXn0g1

[Grand Master Melon]

These guys are goners. I haven't hiked that area in years but it's pretty rugged. I just wonder what happened to their bodies, I find it odd they haven't been found yet.

[gunDriller]

These guys are goners. I haven't hiked that area in years but it's pretty rugged. I just wonder what happened to their bodies, I find it odd they haven't been found yet.


It seems wiser to wait until the winter to go prospecting, unless there's a concern about flash floods.

Personally I'd rather wander around the desert in the winter than in the summer.