Search called off for missing Utah treasure hunters

Destination Arizona B. Thomas Cooper Editor

The search has ended for three Salt Lake City hikers who went missing while searching for the legendary ’Lost Dutchman Goldmine in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix.

A smallish gray car with Utah license plates remains parked near the First Water trailhead in the unforgiving Superstition wilderness forty miles east of Phoenix. For days, rescuers have searched in vain for the occupants, the three Utah men who disappeared without a trace while searching for the legendary mine.

On Monday evening, the Maricopa County Sherriff’s Department officially ended the search, which had included the use of four helicopters and a plane with thermal imaging equipment, and dozens of searchers on foot and horseback. Experts believe the three men probably succumbed to the grueling desert heat, which at times can reach well above 110 degrees. It is not known how much water the men carried with them into the wilderness, but it is doubtful they were carrying enough. The men had expressed plans to return each evening to a nearby hotel.

Authorities were contacted when the three hikers, 62 year-old Ardean Charles, 67 year-old Curtis Meriworth, and 51 year-old Malcolm Meeks failed to return to Salt Lake City by July 10th. “The primary area the guys seemed interested in should have made it much easier, but it’s hard to wrap your head around where they could of gone, at this point and how far and whether they got separated from one another” states Wayne Tuttle, Superstition Wilderness expert. “Once you start over analyzing it, you realize you have no clue where to begin or end.”

The legend of the ‘Lost Dutchman Goldmine has been luring treasure seekers into the vast, treacherous Superstition Mountain range for over a century, dating back to a German immigrant and Phoenix resident named Jacob Waltz, who is purported to have found a vast treasure of Gold in an abandoned Spanish mine east of Phoenix. This is not the first incident in which treasure seekers have succumbed to the harsh elements while attempting to locate the legendary mine.Destination Arizona Destination Arizona