When Bob and Avis retired from Nebraska Public Power they spent winters in Apache Junction, AZ. Apache Junction and Tortilla Flat, where they loved to take people, are close to the Superstition Mountains. The Superstition Mountains are home to the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine which is possibly one of the most famous lost mines in American history. Bob and Avis loved taking people there and telling the stories.
As I started to do family history research this connection got more interesting. I was reading a book “The Story of Superstition Mountain and the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine” by Robert Joseph Allen. This book at the beginning of Chapter 13 mentions a man, Charles Hall, of Denver who bought a series of claims and started the Mammoth Mine in the same area of the lost mine. Why is this interesting? In my family history research the first line that allowed me to prove a Revolutionary War Patriot and a Mayflower Passenger goes through the Hall Family. Olive Caldwell Hall Livermore is Bob’s 2X Great Grandmother. Her brother is the Charles Hall who bought the Mammoth Mine. The book believes that the Mammoth Mine must have been very close to the supposed Lost Dutchman Mine. History Colorado has a large file of documents on the Charles Hall Family. These papers state that Charles took eight hundred thousand dollars of mineral from the mine in 1892.
It was fun to find an unexpected connection with family history and Bob’s retirement home!
Cory and Nicole Family History 