Jenkin's Lost Lode

this is Larry Hedrick for Mysteries of the  Superstition Mountains where we bring the past   into the present for our future viewers today  we have another great story by Jack San Felice   today's story is about Jenkins lost  load and it begins actually in the 1930s   in the superstition mountains and it starts with  how I found this story when I was looking for   information on how to find books or booklets or  something on the superstition mountains because   I was going to move to Arizona in 1992. well one  of the books I found back east believe it or not   was called thunder gods gold it was written  by Barry Storm also known as john Clymenson   and he wrote this book outtakes of the book  actually part of the story in the book on the lost   Dutchman mind story became a movie called lust  for gold with Glenn ford playing Jacob Waltz Arden   Lupino beautiful actress and director playing  Julia Thomas and gig young well Barry Storm he was   one of the first real adventurers that documented  his adventures in the superstition mountains   Barry Storm had been staying in the 1930s while he  was writing his book with a lady who was running   a hotel at Tortilla flat now this is the story the  truth of the matter is only the dead now know well   Barry Storm is kind of a young guy and another  woman comes along by herself and she's staying at   the hotel Barry Storm has a bit of a fling with  her the Tortilla flat lady catches Barry Storm   aha and so she kicks him out of the hotel Barry  Storm in the meantime takes his belongings and   his desk and typewriter and takes it up to  those ancient Indian caves and in one of them   he makes himself a home for well over a year  while he's finishing this little book of stories   and legends of the superstition mountain living  in a cave like a hermit there was water a seep   water seep and there you could cook there he had  a bed there remnants a lot of those old remnants   were still there left there by people  if not Berry Storm but the story itself   starts in the gold story starts in 1937. In 1937  Barry Storm had become friends with in the 30s   uh Bill and Marion Jenkins and  their two young daughters 10 and 11,   and what they would do is meet meet around Canyon  lake and they would follow what I call Boulder   Creek Barry Storm called that Willow Creek but  that's all that's missed named now it might have   been then Boulder Creek becomes La Barge and into  the mountains they he had gone into 1930s several   picnics with them and one of the one of the  real clues to where Bill Jenkins found something   was the fact that Marion would leave jars she'd  leave the jars there after they hike in part of   the picnic it was part of the and they'd stick  them under logs or whatever hide them in caves   but that was one of the main clues later on well  in 1937 Bill and Marion and the two girls park   by the bridge they drive out the old apache  trail and they parked by the bridge which goes   to Canyon lake and on the other side they park and  they decide they're going to walk up which they   usually do Boulder Creek, La Barge.. boulder slash La  Barge or whatever and they walk into the mountains   well they walk about three hours they they're  just not in a hurry it's summer and they're taking   their time it was in the morning and they finally  get to a place that that where um in the distance   they want to see weaver's needle see weaver's  needle has become a focal point now in the 1930s   of the search for the lost dutchman goldmine  based of course on what happened to Adolf Ruth   and Adolph Ruth's story was in almost every  newspaper a missing um government man from   Washington D.C. disappears in the superstition  mountains and he's not found of course we all know   that story he's not found for six months he's not  found his skeletons well anyhow that drew a lot of   people wanted to hike in the mountains there was  no such thing as first water road at that time   there was a cowboy trail in old bumpy dirt wagon  road and the easier way was to park by the lake   and walk up so here they are they get to a place  where there's a good uh they want to have a picnic   because there's a log a big log where they  can all sit on and have their picnic lunch   now barry storm's not with them now so they do  that and Bill Jenkins decided he wants to walk up   walk up the wash a little bit where there's a flat  top a little flat top hill where he can then look   out and see get a better view of weaver's  needle while he's on that walk he finds a   a bright piece of quartz and he picks  it up and it's heavy he says he's going   to bring it back for Marion because she  collects evidently collects quartz pieces   so he walks around and he walks with this  heavy piece of quartz and it's getting   heavier and heavier and he decides he's going  to come back and he finally makes his way back   he doesn't take note of where he found it because  the hillside that he had was on the type of rock   that was in the quartz was the whole hillside was  covered with it so he didn't pay any attention   but when he walked carries that big piece  and it's about the size of a human head skull   and he so he carries that big piece all  the way out to their vehicle at canyon lake   he's in it curiosity's why'd Ilug this  all this way telling himself he so he has   an old wrench and he breaks it in half it  opens up inside is dazzling gold free gold   not microscopic gold not gold mixed with other  elements which is usually the case in Arizona   but free gold it looks like it's pretty close to  being pure he but they don't get excited you see   the Jenkins family have no clue what gold  looks like in the raw so he he he he gets home   and he calls Barry Storm to come look at it  because Barry Storms is a treasure hunter   and he could tell him Barry Storm says well what  you got here is great this is where'd you find it   well Jenkins don't actually tell him where  he filed it except then the superstition   and he said Barry said give me half i'll go get  it as a John Foreman in phoenix will assay it   for me so he goes to the assayer and he calls up  Bill I gotta I gotta meet with you you don't wanna   tell him this when he gets over there he said  what you have found is bonanza ore it's worth   two thousand essays out of  two thousand dollars a ton   well you don't think that's much  at two thousand dollars a ton   that this piece well what would it be worth  then if he figured it out well see gold was only   $15 an ounce in the 1930s well he tells the story  and he's trying to get Bill Jenkins to give him   some more information so Barry Storm goes out to  where he parked the car and where they started in   the mountains he followed this trail part ways and  then he loses it so he comes back in the meantime   Bill Jenkins had taken his piece to Forman and  also and got it assayed and gets that story and   gets all excited and he decided that he's he's not  going to uh tell exactly where he found it because   he don't want to give his secret away okay  and that's the secret it's a lost load of   Jenkins is the uh story the storyline so back and  forth uh Barry Storm goes with um Bill Jenkins and   then the the very next week Bill Jenkins wife as  a government employee gets transferred to Tucson   and so that family ups and moves to Tucson and  it's not an easy thing in those days the roads   weren't certainly very good mostly  dirt to drive from Tucson to Phoenix   so they they write letters back and forth  and Barry Storm is trying to get this   Bill Jenkins to come back because he  can't find the trail he he can't find it   if if you go in and out of the mountain  that's pretty rugged area there   and uh and if during the monsoon season it would  wash the trail away see up and down well finally   they get in agreement that Bill's going to come  up and it's 1939 now two years have gone by and   he writes to him that he'll meet him at  a certain place and he'll take him in   and and they'll become partners because Barry  Storm knows what to look for Bill Jenkins really   don't he he sees he knows what's inside but he  don't know how to look on the outside to tell   that's uh or rock or whatever well Barry Storm  don't hear from him he fails to make the meeting   and he doesn't hear from Marion for quite a while  finally he reaches Marion by phone and she tells   him Bill did go there but the day he was supposed  to meet you he had a heart attack and died   well that puts the family and  everything in disarray again   Marion in the meantime she remarries another  year or so goes by Barry Storm says I've got   to go this is I'm losing a hot trail and  she and he wants Marion to draw her   him a map the best that she could do well this is  the map supposedly drawn by Marion Jenkins and her   two daughters it really don't tell you much  there's weaver's needle this would be La Barge   and these are the mountains wow you can't find  anything so he he talks and he talks to Marion   and finally he gets the story a little clearer so  he's going to go in and look for it he hikes up Boulder as goes into La Barge and he follows a  place in la barge where it was similar to what   Bill Jenkins had said and what Marion and the two  girls had said and by the way he signed a deal   with Marion if he finds anything he would give her  one third of everything he finds he Barry Storm   finds the a log where they had had lunch because  their bottles and jars rather hermetically sealed   the food in mason jars whatever anyhow the  chargers are pickles and whatever she carried   and that was a long way to carry all that but  they found it it's still there because glass   is not going to disappear unless it breaks  so up on the side of the hill they find this   Barry Storm knows he's in the area but then there  are little canyons that go back and forth and this   way in that way and so he's at a loss he's trying  to follow that trail but he's not having any luck   finally he he finds the area for which the search  and it's in and that's in his story that's in his   book he find under Jenkins gold lost gold so he  finds the area to do its search and of course   it's 1941 then and then here comes 19 december  of 41. in 1942 america's involved in a world war   I don't know I don't know if from reading  storm whether or not he went in the military   or not I don't know but Barry Storm then lost  the ability to follow that hot trail in there   and that's that kind of takes you to what  is the end of Bill Jenkins lost load now at   two thousand dollars a ton in the 1930s at $15 an  ounce would make that that find if if there's if   if there was a lot of that ore there it would  make it worth three million dollars a ton   if you take eighteen hundred dollars today  eighteen hundred an ounce you just and   you know you rationalize it to the 2000 a ton  and you make it out to about 3 million that's a   lot of money that's is bonanza ore so I've read  this I find this book and I'm trying to learn   about the superstition mountains and how to go in  and whatnot well it is it's 1989 and I'm out here   I can't find that area because I  don't know anything about this area   so I move I come back I come back in  1992 I moved here and between 92 and 2000   I'm exploring everything on the western end of  the superstition mountains i've been east and   I'll tell you that story I've been throughout  the mountains and all that time period but   I I am on a hike in 2001 from first water I  took this group that wanted a hike from first   water all the way to canyon lake so we drive  to canyon lake leave some vehicles drive back   to first water and hike in from first water  out past second garden valley second water   the red paint mines etc La Barge intersects  and up on the side of La Barge is the trail   going up in a mountain that I call never-ending  mountain because it never ends just when you get   to one level you think you're there no  there's another level at another level   well when we're taking backward photographs to  to replicate this hike in the future I look back   down in the valley of la barge and I see two  mines two dig holes two holes in the ground and   mine dumped beside them so we hike on out I  make note and I take photographs we get to the   uh canyon lake we have lunch and we go on  our way well a lot of things happened in 2000   and I don't really get back there until 2005. in  the meantime I'd hiked in first water I'd gone to   red paint mines I hiked that whole area but now  I've got these photos and I'm looking at them I   said I got to go back and find out where they are  but it's too long to hike in from first water down   it's about 20 miles that's a long way because you  zigzag back and forth you just don't go straight   well Jack Carlson and I we go and we're hiking  in one morning we start the hike at 9 00 a.m and we go up never ending mountain backwards so to  speak and we were looking for a overlook   where we found this photo in Barry Storm's  book so in this book there's this photo and   it says I copied it and I want to go up there  and replicate it because it's an overview   and it shows from here La Barge the Boulder  connection and Battleship mountain, Weaver's needle   all of these things that Storm had talked about  in his other stories so we're going out there   we go out there and we're going up  the trail never ending mountain and   there's a little dog leg it's a faint trail that  that I said jack where does this go and and he   says well I'm not sure what this is called so we  push through the the brush and and past some trees   and we walk into a little valley that Jack Carlson  had never been there he didn't know it was there   so I said Jack let's follow this up and see if we  can find the overlook where this photo was taken   and so we we walk up we're taking photographs  as we get there and as we get up to the overlook   I bring out the photo and I said this is  it I said so let's take all these photos   good photos now and and if we find anything we'll  have something to talk about so we follow this   and we take the photos then we go up further and I  Jack says I think there's a trail that leads down   according to his map there's an old trail leads  around was a cowboy trail so we get up there we   find a fence line the fence line up there and play  ungodly place for a fence line it's right on the   edge of cliffs so on one side there's the cliff  looking north out toward Tortilla flat and the   other cliff there's uh uh you're overlooking  La Barge so we figure the trail goes down   uh the mountain now Jack goes ahead while I'm  taking more photos so I'm taking more photos so   i could find my way back in case we find something  so he goes on down the trail he's ahead of me   I start following him down the trail and lo and  behold the trail narrows it goes from here to   one foot and the drop off is like 50 to 75 feet  yeah it's a drop off I turn the bend and there's   a big rattlesnake in the trail on a one foot  trail a big rattlesnake and he's rattling and   apparently Jack had set him off got him and Jack  didn't see him he must have been in the brush   so I go toward my throw some  pebbles he won't move he's not   just not moving and and all of a sudden I hear  rattling behind me on the little hillside by the   there's a hillside the little trail then  the cliff it's like an L-shape   I hear rattles I can't see that snake  but I can see the snake in front of me   like I always carry a hiking stick and I had  a probably a five six foot stick then so I   ease up on the old snake prod him with my stick  and slide him off and I wouldn't want to shoot   him because then Jack Carlson come running back  up and he might get hurt so I just slide him off   and then I hike on and we hike down until you  get down to La Barge Creek, Canyon Creek, La Barge   Canyon Creek and on the way down there it's  poppy season when we're hiking and the poppies   are everywhere now it's a hard hike to climb up  through that valley go around go back down and   we saw things we wanted to photograph on the  way and the time we get down there we're tired   it's time to take a break so we eat our lunch  it's in the afternoon eat a little lunch   and we stay and we stop sit we're sitting  right in a big field this field of flowers   uh mexican gold poppies well you eat you  get a little tired you get a little sleepy   both Jack and I fall asleep the next thing I  know some big furry animals licking my face   and I wake up and it's this huge dog  he's about the size of a saint bernard   I don't wear this I thought it was a bear at  first where do you where did this dog come   from we hauler for people don't see anybody  I what I do I said I'll give the dog some   snacks out of my uh knapsack which I did  my backpack and I give him something and   and then we're playing with the dog next thing  I know he's he takes off and he's gone as as   we saw he disappeared so we know right across La Barge are those two mines we go over across    La Barge and we find them well they're about 25-30  feet deep and I'm not going in them because it it   looks like all decomposing uh rock material  conglomerate what it's like rocks and dirt put   together but there the rocks are ringed with  uh the the two shafts are are ringed with um   timbers so and they're old timbers they're  handmade timbers so somebody was there a long   time ago digging and their mine dumps they're  substantial so the mine shafts that apparently   collapsed in because the mountain was taken out  not is going to overfill so we look all around for   minerals for gold for what and we we climb  up and down those hills and we're trying to   follow the story we don't see anything that's  mineral let alone quartz now wait a minute   let me backtrack they were there in the 1930s  and I'm here in the 1990s this is almost 60 years   in time a lot of floods could have gone down there  changed everything but while we're walking around   right diagonally across from those two um  prospects we find an old cave and I said   yeah and I've heard the story the Dutchman had a  cave right I said this must be the Dutchman's cave   it's got to be what did I know okay there's smoke  there's in there uh soot filled the ceiling people   been in there a long time and it's not easy to  find it there are trees right in front of the   opening and so you have to really see it from  across La Barge to get over there and then   to find it well I go inside and I pick up an old  rusted Prince Albert can I think it is it's a can   and all of a sudden a gecko jumps out in my  hand now I got the dog licking my face and   now it I thought at first I thought it was a  snake right whatever and it jumps in my hand   and I grab them but I don't hurt them it's a  green gecko and I play with them for a little   while Jack Carlson gets a couple of photos and  I set them down so I'm looking around the cave   and trying to find out if there's anything  else I come across a beer bottle from the 1800s   well how do I know it's a beer bottle  from the 1800s because I'd have I'd had um   gotten beer bottles old broken ones from the  silver king mine so I know that fact is this   arrowhead was made from the bottom of a half-inch  thick beer bottle from the 1800s from Silver King   Mine so I know what they look like and there  that's it someone was there in the 1800s well   as we go along in the story Jack   and I find out a little bit later that   this cave was perhaps the cave of John  Tuning who looked for uh gold out in that area   he thought maybe the dutchman's or or the lost  soldiers gold was there and he was housed out of   Tortilla flat he stayed there Tortilla flat is  not as you know it today there were houses on   both sides and during the one flood it washed all  the houses in the early 1900s off of the west side   we spent a lot of time looking for gold right up  and down inspecting that ore finding that old cave   and other things that we had what making notes we  want to go back there time is fading away on us   we're trying to rest up and we're making a  decision now well here we are two-thirds of the   way around the mountain if we go back the way we  did we it's going to take us six seven eight maybe   eight hours going back up that way because that's  the long way to go we think well maybe we can go   down creek towards Canyon lake, La Barge and then  we could find the uh trail which goes up there is   a trail that marked by cairns well we're looking  for the cairns we don't see them we go back   we we stop because the water is too get  gotten too deep while we're asleep the   water goes from running to rushing and  we walk toward the narrows and the water   is at eight feet deep in places so I said we got  to go back and we're looking forward to trail up   we passed it somehow we so we go back a quarter  mile crisscrossing the creek and we don't find   the cairns I said it's getting dark I said jack  let's we got to go I don't think I could go back   up the other way too long too hard too difficult  to wet so we go back down and where we the cairns   should have been somebody had moved them 30 feet  but it was dark 30 feet in the dark is a long way   luckily my wife had given me a hat not a hat  but a lamp that goes on your hat and it has long   lasting batteries it was dark it's raining we're  lost in the superstition where people would die   right Jack we got to get out of here so and  there's a big dog running around so we're going   up the mountains I tell you we're trying to find  that place where they can't we find a little trail   and we go up now it's not a very long hike up but  to get there you have to go through waist-high   water and we did that and we get through  the water and by then my leather boots   weigh about 20 pounds apiece my shorts are  wet they're soaked I have rubber knee pads   knee braces on they're soaked my shirt is  soaked everything is soaked on me up to here and   it as you're going uphill and it's dark and it's  raining we're slogging along and it takes forever   I think I go 20 feet stop 20 and I got a backpack  carrying stuff out my camera and all that stuff   that you take on a hike that's important so it  takes us forever we don't get back to canyon lake   till 10 o'clock my wife is calling around looking  for us it's a long way to go you can see the green   line is the way we came back to the marina but  the red line is going down and all the way around   that is twice as far as going that more than  twice as far so we said we got to go back that way   uh Jack will never make it the other way and  we do Jack Jack Carlson has I believe that   that trail is in here his book trails  with Jack Carlson, Elizabeth Stewart great   book there's trails east trails west so I  spent a long time a lot of time in there   in the superstition mountains there there are  main entrance ways and one's peralta trail   the other is the south side of superstitions and  then there the other way that you would come in   through first water then the other way is down  off the lakes or the Salt River that's the other   entrances because they're you just can't say I'm a  walk in the mountains impossible you have to take   the trails known trails or known roots well now  we have another known route for which to go back   well this is 2005 in 2006 I become uh work  oriented in the in the Silver King mine become   I become friends with the Dean family and I go on  into the Silver King and we've made eight of those   videos so that where I take off so I really  don't get back there a lot to search for it   plus my thought processes are leaning somewhere  else uh to going but for somebody to go   on a nice hike if they want to go in there  and follow Barry Storm's story you can do it   I mean it's you can do it you can hike in you can  go all the way up and down never ending valley   this is another grand mystery for the superstition  mountain takes place in the 1930s and beyond   where people have gone in and searched for the  lost Jenkins load nobody's found it nobody that   I know has ever found gold in there it's another  one of those mysteries of the superstition   thank you for watching this episode of  Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains

Channel: Mysteries of the Superstition Mountains

Views: 58,364

Rating: 4.9103141 out of 5

Keywords: Charlie LeSueur, Superstition Mountains, The Lost Dutchman Mine, Superstition Mountain Museum, Opal Images, Arizona, History, Gold, Treasure, Jack San Felice, Larry Hendrick, William Jenkin, Barry Storm, Thunder God's God, Jack Carlson, Trails, Canyon Lake, La Barge Canyon, Hiking

Id: rQfTBuSmxhI

Length: 32min 48sec (1968 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 19 2020