December 15, 2008 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.
Peter’s Mesa, a landmark in the heart of the Superstition Wilderness Area, has fascinated many a lost mine hunter over the years. The interest may or may not be merited. Several old time lost mine hunters spent time in the area. The names that come to mind are John Chuning, Walter Gassler, Robert Jacob, John Reed, Roy Bradford, George Miller, Abe Reid and several others. Another interesting name that is associated with the area is John Kochera. John started prospecting the area around 1962. Kochera wrote a letter to Robert Jacob in the mid 1970s attempting to solicit his support. He claimed to have found some high-grade gold ore near Peter’s Mesa on Charlebois Mountain. Kochera’s samples have been somewhat controversial over the years, but have created a lot of interest among Dutch hunters familiar with the story.
Of course many of these Dutch hunters settled for different areas of the Peter’s Mesa geographic region. I mention Robert Jacob because his search in the area near Squaw Box Canyon was very well known through newspaper publicity during the 1970s and 1980s. Several have claimed to have found gold ore caches on Peter’s Mesa. It isn’t necessary to name the successful discoverers [of] gold ore caches on Peter’s Mesa, but only to mention them in passing. Did they actually find gold caches on the Peter’s Mesa or is it pure speculation on their part? The only way you can be positive about a gold find is seeing its source. These tales would always depend on who is telling the story.
Bob Corbin, Arizona retired State Attorney General has made several trips to Peter’s Mesa over the years. I recall a trip he and I made in the mid 1980s and spent four days camped near the old Salt Grounds. We hiked out in every direction from the Salt Grounds looking the area over. We visited the Mescal pits, the natural arch, a mining tunnel with a table in it, and of course I can’t forget the beehive along the Peter’s Mesa Trail.
We also visited the old washed out Rock Dam constructed in Peter’s Canyon and also the concrete tank along the trail that held water in those days. Over the years I have been on Peter’s Mesa about ten times. My first trip was in the mid 1950s when I worked for the Barkley Cattle Company. I packed salt to the Salt Grounds several times over the years. I hiked into Peter’s Mesa from Tortilla Ranch in the early 1960s leaving my truck at the Tortilla Ranch under the watchful eye of Elmer Pope, an Apache cowboy working for Floyd Stone. I remember old Al Reser leaving his truck at the ranch on several occasions also. Reser often worked Tortilla Mountain around Hell’s Hole in Tortilla Creek. Al also parked his truck east of the Quarter Circle U Ranch when he worked the top of Bluff Springs Mountain and west side of Peter’s Mesa.
There are two very interesting things I have found on Peter’s Mesa. One is a triangle of pyramid-shaped rocks and the other is a foundation of an old stone cabin. Several years after I visited these sites somebody tried to totally eradicate them by rearranging the rocks. At least I took photographs of them. I believe Bob Corbin and I visited the Mescal Pits in 1986. A friend of mine, Monty Edwards, believed these pits were silver smelters. He once showed me a large chunk of silver (20 ounces or so) he claimed to have removed from one of the pits near Robert Jacob’s camp. Barkley always told me these were Mescal Pits dug and used by the Indians to cook the hearts of the Agave that grew profusely in the area.
The next thing that has always solicited my interest in the Peter’s Mesa area was the story that Adolph Ruth once camped in the general area sometime during 1928. I am quite sure I read a letter written by Adolph to Cal Morse or Gertrude Barkley relating his experiences in the area. He apparently arrived in the area sometime around April of 1928. Cal Morse, of Mesa, supposedly guided him to a campsite. Cal acquired permission from George Miller to drive all the way into his claims. I am not sure what kind of condition the Tortilla Road or trail was in at the time.
Ruth and Morse hiked while a burro carried their supplies. If this story is true, it puts an interesting twist on the whole Ruth episode and tragedy. If Ruth told Morse much about his Mexican maps I am sure it fired his interest. To this day I believe Ruth was looking for the cave that was located in the upper box of La Barge Canyon. The outline of this cave fits the Peralta Profile Map almost perfectly. To the best of my knowledge Ruth camped somewhere along the Hoolie Bacon Trail not [too] far from the Upper Box area of La Barge Canyon. From the end of the road on Miller’s claim it is about 3.5 miles to a good campsite above the Upper Box in La Barge Canyon. Was this Ruth’s first effort to locate the Peralta Miles in the Superstition Mountains? Did he at first think Coffee Flat Mountain was the S. Cima[?] This may have been the reason Ruth never moved over directly on to Peter’s Mesa from his base camp, but [chose] a site near the Upper Box in La Barge Canyon. I will be the first to say there is a lot of speculation on this theory, however, the old saying [is] where there is smoke there may be fire.
Another interesting story to do with the area is the death of Walt Gassler. Walt died of a heart attack after leaving Charlebois Spring hiking toward Peter’s Mesa. He died along the trail. His body was discovered by Gene Barker and Don Shade on May 4, 1984. It is claimed he had some very rich gold specimens in his backpack. These specimens apparently disappeared when his backpack was reclaimed at [the] Sheriff’s office. Walt had called me on Sunday previous to his hike into the mountains. He wanted Bob Corbin and I to accompany him. Neither of us could take off from work on such short notice. I told him if we were given a little advance notice [we] could accompany him. He was too impatient and insisted that he was going early on Monday morning. The morning he died, he visited with a local horseman who had packed into Charlebois Springs for an overnight campout. He reported Gassler in good spirits, but somewhat fatigued from his hike into the mountains. Did Walt Gassler locate a rich vein of gold on Peter’s Mesa? We will never know!
The Peter’s Mesa area is adjacent to Music Mountain and Hermann’s Mountain. Of course the Upper Box of La Barge separates Hermann’s Mountain and Coffee Flat Mountain. A lot of stories have emerged from this region over the past seven or eight decades. These stories and tall tales continue to attract treasure hunters, Dutch hunters, and the curious to the region.