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Glover, Tom. The Lost Dutchman Mine of Jacob Waltz. Part One: The Golden Dream. 2000. A very handsome book which ranks Glover at the top of the list along with Kollenborn and Blair. You have to read this one if you want to know where Lost Dutchman/Jacob Waltz research stands today. There are so many important themes in Glover's book it is hard to know where to begin. One way to tie it all together is to view Glover's work as a thorough refutation of the points Blair made in his outstanding book. For example, there is Dutchman ore, Waltz was not a destitute farmer/miner on the fringes of Phoenix society, there is a Peralta family that fits the legends, etc. New information and arguments clearly document this. Of special note is Glover's reconstruction of Waltz's life in Arizona, his friends and neighbors, the social and economic world of pioneer Phoenix in which he lived. From this, a new portrait emerges of Waltz. He is now a multi-dimensional person, a real person, not just the elusive subject of speculative legend. Glover also presents new maps, points to physical clues in the Superstitions, and hints at some of the information that has until now been the exclusive property of eccentric "Dutch hunters." Finally, always hovering in the background, the Holmes versus Petrasch stories and the resultant rival factions that still exist among Dutch hunters and Dutchman authors. Thus the importance of part two, below. The Lost Dutchman Mine of Jacob Waltz. Part Two: The Holmes Manuscript. Here it is, the full Holmes manuscript with Glover's annotations, index, and many fascinating photographs. The importance of this document for the Lost Dutchman tale cannot be overemphasized. Aside from the unpublished Bark notes, this is really the only Lost Dutchman account that faithfully traces its origins back to someone who knew Waltz. The manuscript's origin is cloudy, Brownie Holmes tended to dismiss it, but Glover gives a plausible argument why Holmes did this and why we should look upon this version of the Lost Dutchman tale with a fair degree of trust. Glover's annotations help greatly to fill-in the story and back-up the sketchy facts that are mentioned, all building our confidence in Holmes' tale.

Doug Stewart. © 1994-2012.