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Corbin, Helen.
The curse of the Dutchman's gold... 1990.
Corbin's book is a 1990's version of Sims Ely's famous work. Like Ely's it is very useful and entertaining, one of the best written on the Lost Dutchman story. Corbin is a good writer and she tells the tale well, but as a detective she is less impressive, especially in light of all the material she had at her disposal. But then again, the same can be said of Ely. Is the true story really buried in the notes of Jim Bark and Brownie Holmes? This work represents the more sober contemporary interpretation of the tale among the cognoscenti. Very important work, but somewhat disappointing. Essential reading. Corbin, Helen. The bible on the Lost Dutchman gold mine and Jacob Waltz... 2002. Like her previous book Helen Corbin's new work gives Dutchman hunters interesting new information to ponder and falls within that small group of Dutchman books that are essential reading. Although she makes use of some of the same material Glover does much of what she presents is still new and important. For example, ship manifests that show where and when Waltz arrived in the United States, a copy of a bank draft that suggests Waltz did send $7,000 to a women in Lawrence Kansas who might indeed have been his sister, documentation that shows Waltz came to Arizona early on with the Peeples party in 1863, and much more. A nice mix of interesting documentary material. There are some troublesome aspects to the book however, most springing from Corbin's lack of rigor in her presentation and a failure to always document the bases for some of her assertions. Unlike Blair or Glover she has not written a work of careful scholarship - this adds a frustrating quality to the reading experience - but she presents a wonderful batch of new stuff that makes this essential reading. Well-written and handsomely done. |
Doug Stewart. © 1994-2012. |