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Davis, Gregory E.
Early Newspaper Articles of the Superstition Mountains and the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine.
Greg Davis put together a great resource that contains the text of numerous early newspaper articles on the
Superstitions and the Lost Dutchman mine. Included is the important 1895 article by P.C. Bicknell that Davis discovered. Bicknell presents many key features of the Lost Dutchman tale long before their appearance in other sources and long before most Dutchman authors believed possible. Thus, it calls into question some explanations for the origin of the story and its thematic elements (see Kearny's article and his critique of Blair's book). More importantly, the early date of the article raises questions about the veracity of the story as commonly told later. Bicknell was an author and treasure hunter so it is unclear just how much of this tale he created, how much he wove out of what others told him. This foundational telling of the tale will undoubtedly come to play a major role in debates over the origin and reliability of the tale as it is told in the canon. Was Bicknell an earlier Barry Storm? See Kollenborn.
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