World Famous Lost Gold Mines

Lost gold mines carry the romanticism of immediate riches as well as the lure of adventure. There are legends all over the world of gold mines that are hiding untold wealth and many miners have died trying to find these lost gold mines.

One of the most well-known lost gold mines in the USA is the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine in the Superstition Mountain range near Phoenix, Arizona. This mine was named after Jacob Waltz and since 1892 miners have repeatedly searched for the Lost Dutchman’s location. Untold wealth is believed to be ready to be “picked up from the ground”, but the mine itself is said to be cursed.

Lost gold mines in California include Pegleg’s Lost Mine. Pegleg, a rugged mountain man who traded furs claimed to have found a butte in the Colorado Desert where “black pebbles” resembling copper were found and carried back to Los Angeles. Pegleg later discovered that these pebbles were actually gold, but he could never recall the butte where he found the gold.

Gold mining in South Africa has given legend to the lost King Solomon’s Mines. The novel gave credence to the vast wealth of South Africa and its ancient lost cities of gold. The mine itself is probably fiction, but miners have traveled to South Africa’s rugged interior to find this “open pit” gold mine.

Lost Adams Diggings is the legend of a gold mine either in the New Mexico Mountains or founded along gold mining in Arizona borders. This legend claims that Adams found a great cache of gold left by ancient Indians. However, after running from the Apaches, Adams tried to return to the side of the golden treasures, but alas he could never remember exactly where the lost gold mine was.

Lost gold mines in Alaska need to include the tale of the Lake of the Golden Bar. In 1884 prospectors left the St. Elias Mountains near the Yukon River. They came upon a small lake and found that the sand along the lake was filled with gold nuggets. The prospectors build a cabin near the lake and proceeded to hide the nuggets in a nearby cave. Indians killed one prospector, burned the cabin and the other two barely escaped. One prospector attempted to return to the scene of their treasure, but was lost in the Yukon and never returned. Hence, this mining in Alaska venture was ever proven or acted upon.