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** Lost Gold At The Dead Man's Mine ** A Miners Journal **


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   A note here : I'm getting ready to post another entry of the journal and part of it is controversial. These old mines are located in a remote area of the Sierra Nevada mts of California. It is in what is called a hot spot for certain sightings. I have talked with the Forest Service in this area about the subject. All I know is there have been multiple reports of certain things. I am in the must see to believe category. With that being said, the journal is the journal and contains the writings of Jed Stevens. I'll get the next entry posted soon. 

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   May 3   1936

   I took first watch at the dig sight last night which was uneventful. I got some sleep while John took second watch. About an hour before daybreak I was woke up by the crack of a gunshot - and then a second and a third. I quickly pulled on my boots and grabbed my rifle and ran up there. We had set up an agreed upon place to hide out and watch from. When I got there John was gone. I could here something going on in the woods going up the mountain on the west side of the ravine. I cautiously walked in that direction with my rifle at the ready. John had thrashed his way about 50 feet up the mountain and stopped. There was a good moon and I could see his outline. I hollered out to him as he came back down. I asked him what was going on. At first he just shook his head as if to tell me not to ask. Then he told me the story.

   John said something big came walking down the canyon from the north. Bigger than a man. He said maybe nine feet tall or so. Then a second one appeared right behind the first one. John said he watch the two creatures for about five minutes as they started getting closer. John figured they knew he was there. He said they looked like huge apes. One of them started shaking a tree and grunting. That's when he let loose with three shots from his rifle. He said he didn't try to hit them but shot over their heads. John said the two creatures took off up the mountain faster than any man could climb that rough terrain. He was all fired up and talking fast.

   Seeing as it was almost daylight I said we ought to just get back to camp for breakfast. So that's what we did and we talked further on what happened. I've never gone in for this kind of stuff but I figure John to be very reliable and truthful. I couldn't say much about any of it because I wasn't there and eventually John settled down and we went about our work day.

   Up on the fault I showed John where we would work and we started to dig. After a few days of teaching John the process we plan to split up with one digging and hauling down buckets while one washes gravels. We were still in the good gravels all day but the digging was still hard as we moved big rock with bars and pick work. The two of us did good and brought down 125 buckets for the day. Tomorrow we will both work the tom and then maybe John will know the work better. I will want to do this a few times until John is ok with working alone and I am sure he won't lose any gold. Tonight we are going to have a good supper of hash and bread and drink some good whiskey.

   TO BE CONTINUED ......................

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50 minutes ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Big Foot??

Is there a CA DOI # for the 282 page report?

There is a MME Form 9 # and a contract #.

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7 minutes ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Is bald mountain nearby?

   I never heard of it.

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   May 4   1936

   John has his own camp set up next to mine. I went up on watch first and did some thinking while John got some sleep. I took my bottle of Irish with me. I know for a fact that he saw a lot of action in the war. Might this have effected his nerves? He's always seemed like a steady person to me.The other thing I don't want to admit is could these creatures have been the tresspassers that disturbed the dig site at night? I took a drink and tried to put it all out of my mind. Every noise seemed magnified by my nerves. Now I not only worry about claim jumpers but also some kind of creatures and also John himself. I want to get as much gold as I can and get back to my home. I will defend my gold by whatever means needed.

   Once again I saw no activity and went back to camp. I decided to just let John sleeo instead of waking him for his shift. In the morning John told me I should have woke him. I just said he needed a good rest after his trip to the claims. I had already hiked up there early and saw no disturbance. 

   We worked the tom all day and I taught John how to process the gravels. I told him I would help with the panning of the heavies until he got faster which takes some time. Anyway, we eventually finished up the work and did the weigh. We were down from the previous weigh with only a qharter ounce. Still not too bad but I have to admit to disappointment. I had worked the hole northward on the last dig. Tomorrow we will work it directly eastward into the fault. It will most likely require hard work. We will take our turns on watch tonight. Then we will work the digging together one more time before we divide our jobs.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

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  • The title was changed to ** Lost Gold At The Dead Man's Mine ** A Miners Journal **

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