November 30, 2009 © Thomas J. Kollenborn. All Rights Reserved.
Since 1946
many individuals have played a significant role in the Superstition
Mountain drama. One such person was Don Shade. Not everyone was close to
Don and understood his love for the mountains. However, a casual
conversation with him would definitely convince you of his love affair
with the Superstition Wilderness and its many stories. I first met Don
Shade in 1961. He was preparing to go into the Superstition Wilderness
from the First Water trailhead. It was I who prompted our meeting. I
could tell Don was a Dutch hunter just by the kind of gear he was
packing into the mountains. We talked briefly and this began a
friendship that lasted more than two decades. Don Shade was an old timer
when it came to Dutch hunting. He began his search with men like Barry
Storm in the early 1950s. Don considered Barry Storm a good friend. Don
told me about how Barry moved the “Two Soldiers” story from the Mount
Ord area to the Weaver’s Needle area. I recalled one time sitting on the
porch of the Bluebird talking to Barry Storm and Don Shade. Don made a
couple of trips with Barry to Arizona when he was selling books. I don’t
recall what year these trips occurred, but I am guessing it was in the
early 1960s.
Don Shade was a dedicated and systematic
Dutch hunter. He was reluctant to share his information with anyone.
The last several years of his life was spent at the O.K. Corral in
Apache Junction. Don became a close friend of Ron and Jayne Feldman and
he often helped out around the corral. When Don and I re-established our
friendship Don talked about some of the more bizarre possibilities
associated with the Superstition Mountains and lost treasure. He was
always trying to solve the mysterious content on several maps,
especially those with cryptic symbolism.
It was toward the end of 1980 Don Shade
came across a cryptic map allegedly given to somebody by Marie Jones,
the infamous adversary of Ed Piper’s near Weaver’s Needle. It was the
same map Charles Kenworthy had analyzed by several different
universities including UCLA, Harvard, MIT and Hebrew University in
Israel because he believed the map was in some form of Hebrew. The
origin of the map was and still remains unknown, however there were
stories about its source. One story claims the map was originally found
on a flat sheet of native copper. This sheet of copper had been rolled
up and found buried in the Superstition Mountains at some undisclosed
location. Kenworthy had worked on deciphering this map for several
years.
Don Shade found the map extremely
interesting. The origin of the map was never established, but Shade
eventually pronounced the map authentic and placed it in his book,
Esperanza on page 104. Don claimed to have located a worked out mine
from the information he gathered from this map. The site of the mine was
in a rugged tributary of Old West Boulder Canyon. Several years ago in
late May I rode into the canyon and packed Don Shade and his camp out of
this area. On this particular occasion Shade was really pleased to see
me in his camp. It was getting hot, he was low on water and he needed to
get out of the mountains. Don always kept sufficient supplies in camp.
He always had lots of water hidden about his camp, however this had been
a dry year. As I was packing his gear he said he could have lasted most
of the summer if nobody had showed up to pack him out. He was
seventy-six years old that spring.
Don Shade had some unusual methods that
helped him to interpolate his ideas with other original information. It
was this type of research that led Don to the site near Old West Boulder
Canyon twenty- five years ago.
Don Shade never gave up his search for
the Dutchman’s Mine. He did eventually publish his book, The World
Famous Lost Dutchman Mine: Esperanza in 1994. Don Shade was an
intelligent and interesting individual. You might find a copy of his
book in the City of Apache Junction’s Library. He was a kind and honest
person dedicated to history and legends of Superstition Mountain.
Donald
Maurice Shade was born on August 28, 1915 in Hubbard, Iowa. Don was an
outstanding athlete in high school. He was a four-year letterman in
basketball and earned all-state honors as a shooting guard. Don attended
college between 1935-1938 majoring in business law. Don Shade enlisted
in the United States Army in 1940 and was discharged in 1946 as a
Sergeant Major. Don fought in many of the major battles in Europe during
World War II. Shade became fascinated with the Superstition Mountains
and its many stories in early 1960’s. For more than thirty-five years
Don Shade researched libraries and prospected the Superstition
Mountains. Don passed away on November 3, 1996, ending an almost four
decade quest for the Dutchman’s Lost Mine.