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A Lifelong Search for Gold and Glory!
Charles 'Chuck' Crawford was a well-known resident of Arizona for
over 30 years. As a young man, Chuck left his past in New York behind
him, with the intent of relocating in sunny California, but he never
made it that far... He made a stop in Phoenix and while
celebrating his birthday with some new friends, he was dared to camp
overnight in the Superstition Mountains. In an effort to impress his
new pals, Chuck accepted the dare. It only took one night, spent under
that magnificent mountain's enigmatic sky, with it's stars brightly
shining down upon him...before the elusive and mysterious draw of the
Superstition Mountains grabbed a hold of him and the rest became
history.
I am Sharyn Berchok. I was Chuck's friend, confidant, and personal caregiver for the last year of his life. I stood by him when the people he had trusted most, abandoned and betrayed him.
This website is dedicated to Chuck, his memory and the stories that make up his biography...
which, by the way, is quite an interesting one. It also pays tribute to a man who had an integral role as one of the real prospectors (i.e. documented claim holders) in the history of the Superstition Mountains.
This website will also introduce and host a forum where friends and associates of Chuck's can submit their own stories as part of this tribute to his life's work.
Chuck Crawford is counted among those who prospected and hunted the Dutch prior to the closure of the Wilderness Area, and among those who laid claim to having found the fabled Lost Dutchman Mine, and he is the very last to have held a claim at La Barge Canyon, where many believe and legend has it, the site of the Lost Dutchman gold mine is located.
In my opinion Chuck Crawford was both a hero and a victim. He was a hero who stood up to the Federal Government and fought not just for his own rights, but for those of the all the prospectors, treasure hunters and small miners of the United States as well. He was a victim who fell prey to unscrupulous people holding positions of authority and a law deliberately written to favor the Federal Government over the people.
Nestled within the foothills of Arizona's Superstition Mountains is a small plot of ground known as the Burns Ranch. It sits not even a mile east of Peralta Road, which runs north from Highway 60 just a mile or so east from Gold Canyon. A hand stacked, rock retaining wall is all that visibly remains of the old Burns home site, but the legend of the treasures buried there loom large in the story of the life and times of Chuck "Black Bart" Crawford in the state of Arizona.
Teeming with gold, platinum, diamonds, deception, greed and plenty of underhanded tactics by the Forest Service, this is the the story of the last man who got to live the legend of La Barge. This is the true story of the adventuress and endeavors of Charles Melvin Crawford, aka 'Chuck' Crawford, aka 'Black Bart', to find the Lost Dutchman Mine, to prove his discovery of gold and platinum in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona and to defeat the Federal Government in a court battle over the validity of his Cheryl Anne mining claim, located in the Upper La Barge Box within the Superstition Wilderness Area.
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