A continuation of our vacation!
When we went to Las Vegas we had traveled through the Northern parts of New Mexico and Arizona, Along I-40. So in adventursome style, we traveled the Southern route back home. This allowed us to bypass the Hoover Dam and see some different things down South.
Leaving Nevada we headed for the Phoenix area. Having never travelled through Arizona, Denver had not seen the Superstition Mountain area. He had, however heard the legends of the Lost Dutchman Mine.
Superstition Mountain and the site of the still-elusive mine are located just outside of Apache Junction, Aiz. That part of the country is beautiful and awe-inspiring. Along with enjoying the scenery, we visited Goldfield. An abandoned gold-mining town. (Ghost Town if you prefer) They have many of the original buildings remsining. They have also built reproductions of some of the buildings that are no longer standing. Right now they are in the process of building a church that is going to look like something right out of "Little House on the Prairie". People will be able to have weddings and such there.
Goldfield is also the present home of the Lost Dutchman Museum.They are in the process of building a new home for the museum at Apache Junction and hope to have it open soon. In the museum they have lots of maps which have been drawn down through the years by people who were certain they could find the Dutchman's gold. They have old mining equipment on display and other artifacts of the period. They have some large stones with Indian Pictographs (real ones), and some stones that were found with clues to the location of the mine etched on them. (copies of the originals which are actually located in the Mesa Museum).
Upstairs in the museum they show you a tape (which runs about an hour) that tells the story of the Dutchman (who was actually German) and about the people who are still searching for the goldmine after all these years. They interviewed some of these people who are referred to as "Dutch Hunters". The tape was made for the A&E network, and you can buy copies of this tape in their giftshop.
We bought several books from the museum giftshop, including one about the legends of the Superstition Mountains, one about haunted places in Arizona, one about ghost towns in Arizona, as well as some about the Lost Dutchman Mine.
We spent the better part of the day exploring the museum and the ghost town of Goldfield, before heading toward our next destination, which was Tombstone, Ariz. You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or
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Halloween is Right around the corner.. .
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