Legends of gold and riches beyond imagine have lured fortune seekers to the area we know as the U.S. state of Arizona for nearly 400 hundred years. While the Spaniards never found the Seven Cities of Cibola prospectors continue to search for lost mines. The Lost Dutchman Gold Mine said to be hidden in the rugged Superstition Wilderness Area is the most famous of all. As the story goes Jacob Waltz, known as the Dutchman, was the last person to locate the mine in 1870. But what sets this legend apart is not its lack of an end but its varied beginnings. Some people believe that this fabled mine dates back to 1700 when Eusebio Francisco Kino, a missionary, explored the area. Others suggest that the Lost Dutchman Mine was first discovered by the Peralta family from Northern Mexico in the 1840s. Others still say that the Apache found it first. As you weave your own personal tale of the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine remember to separate fact from fiction. Jacob Waltz did live in Arizona. The Peralta family is known to have had several silver mines in the area. Father Eusebio Francisco Kino passed through here around 1700. The Superstition Wilderness Area is in Apache territory.