I first heard about the Superstition Mountains years ago. I don’t even remember exactly when or where, but the photos I saw were imprinted in my mind from that moment on.
So when we planned our trip to Phoenix, this was a non-negotiable addition to the agenda.
The Superstition Mountains lie within the Tonto National Forest – a name that amuses me, as it translates to ‘dumb’ or ‘idiot’ in Spanish. I researched the origin, and the best I could find was a couple sources that attributed it to the name given to a branch of the Apache people by other native groups, due to either their choice to live so close to white people or to live in the harsh and rugged Tonto Basin.
Either way, I think it’s safe to say it wasn’t meant to be a compliment.
The Tonto National Forest lies within the traditional lands of the Akimel O’odham (Pima), Hohokam, Pueblo, and Apache peoples, many of whom held the Superstition Mountains to be sacred. After hearing the native stories and legends associated with these mountains, white settlers named them the Superstitions.
Prior to the arrival of white settlers, this rugged region was bisected by a travel route now referred to as the Apache Trail. Later, it became a stagecoach route before being turned into a road in the 1920s to provide access for building dams. Today, it’s the two-lane AZ Highway 88, which is currently closed at about the halfway point due to severe road damage. But we were able to drive a few miles up into the mountains and spend a couple days exploring the area.
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Goldfield Ghost Town
The first gold was discovered in the Superstition Mountains in the 1600s. However, there is no flowing water in the area and Phoenix is a two-day horseback ride away. It wasn’t feasible in most cases to transport multiple days’ worth of water for humans plus horses that far out into the desert, so a gold rush did not occur at this time.
By the 1800s, though, more prospectors began venturing into the Superstitions. One of them was a farmer named Jacob Waltz, a German who became known as The Dutchman, because apparently Americans have always had an abysmal grasp on world geography.
Anyway, he somehow stumbled across a mining claim that had been previously abandoned by prospectors known as the Peralta brothers, and that reportedly contained a massive vein of gold. He did not mine the gold, nor did he tell anyone else about it until 1891 when he was on his death bed.
The directions he gave were unclear, though, and to this day, it’s thought that this Lost Dutchman Mine has never been found. The museum at Goldfield Ghost Town lists all the clues that were ever allegedly given about the mine’s location. We joked that we were going to find it the next day when we hiked in the Superstitions.
We did not, but we also didn’t actually look; prospecting is illegal in the Superstition Wilderness anyway.
Thanks to Waltz and others, by 1891 word had gotten out and the town of Goldfield sprang up. By 1893, the town had its own post office and somewhere between 1500-4000 residents. Wells were dug to a depth of 1000 feet (305 m) to find water to sustain the town. To this day, the wells remain the only source of water out here.
While the original mines at Goldfield were all surface mines – as in, someone started digging down from the surface until they found ore – a wealthy prospector eventually arrived and began building underground mines instead, which greatly increased the profitability of Goldfield. All told, the town produced 12,000 lbs (5440 kg) of gold, which is worth over $30 million USD today.
(While gold mining is no longer a main industry in the area, copper mining is. Arizona currently produces about 60% of the world’s copper!)
However, by 1898 these underground mines had traveled so deep they hit the groundwater and began to flood. The miners tried to pump the water out, but it was a lost cause and eventually the miners and their families left. Businesses closed soon after and the town was abandoned. From what I can garner, the structures crumbled to pieces over the years, because all the current buildings are reconstructions.
We learned all of this and more from the train tour and museum at Goldfield. Truth be told, though, I was a little disappointed in this place. There was a complete lack of authenticity, not just because the buildings weren’t original (the mining equipment was, at least), but because it was so commercialized. Almost every building had been turned into a gift shop or eatery of some sort.
Also, the train ride and museum were far more expensive than they should have been. The train ride was a 15-minute narrated loop around the town, but it costs $12/person. And the museum – which took us about 25 minutes to walk through, and that included taking the time to actually read everything – costs $8/person.
Tortilla Flat
A few miles up the road is the tiny town-turned-tourist-trap called Tortilla Flat. It originated as either an important water and supply stop on the Apache Trail or a camping area for prospectors (accounts differ) and later became a camp for workers constructing a series of dams on the nearby Salt River.
In 1943, a flash flood demolished Tortilla Flat, washing it away into the newly-formed Canyon Lake. Fortunately, the residents were able to escape to higher ground. They rebuilt the town in the same place and it remains a stop along the Apache Trail today, albeit another very commercialized one.
But I didn’t really care. Truth be told, we were only there for the prickly pear gelato.
Dolly Steamboat Tour
Weaving through the Tonto National Forest is the Salt River, which originates on the eastern edge of the Superstition Mountains and has been dammed four times for purposes of flood control, irrigation, and drinking water. The most downstream of the four is the Mormon Flat Dam which, at 225 feet (68 m) tall, created Canyon Lake.
While you can explore the lake on your own via SUP, kayak, or boat, we opted to take a tour on the Dolly Steamboat. Continuing with the inauthentic theme of our journey along the Apache Trail, the boat is not actually powered by steam, nor is it that historic, having been in operation since 1983.
Nonetheless, the scenery was lovely, and we learned a lot about the area from the boat captain’s narration. We also saw a smattering of desert wildlife, including a harris hawk, a red-tailed hawk, two great blue herons, and five desert bighorn sheep.
We were also accompanied on our cruise by at least a dozen grackles, who have learned how to work together to distract people and then steal their popcorn. As someone with a fear of birds, I did not enjoy their presence. Luckily, we weren’t eating anything so they mostly left us alone.
The turnaround point of our cruise was about 3 miles (5 km) up the lake at Lost Dutchman Bay. Here, cliffs rise nearly 1000 feet (305 m) above the water and extend another 100 feet (30 m) below the surface.
Despite my overall frustration with the touristiness (is that a word?) of the day, I’m glad we took this cruise. The lake felt like an oasis in the desert, and it was very different from anything else we did on the trip.
That being said, would I go back and do any of these things again? No.
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