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

[GhostMiner]

 

   MAY 21  1936

   Last night I got woke up by the midnight screachers as I call them. Most likely bobcat that come down the creek at night. Jacob and I went up and dug out 20 buckets and got them down to John. Then we went on top the ground at the dig and started removing some top gravels between the trench and my first hole. I am panning some of this as it's removed and there are traces of color even at the higher areas so we are taking that down to John. It might not be much but there is some gold there. The digging is a lot easier up higher anf Jacob and I made good work of it removing 190 buckets in total. My hope was the volume of gravels would make up for what we lacked in quality pay. John couldn't keep up so we will know sometime tomorrow if we got a days pay out of it. We have a good hole started and will keep going down to about ten ft before we start working the trench towards it. My plan is to work away at the bottom when the trench gets there to meet up and let the gravels slowly collapse into the trench and either walk the buckets out using the ramp or rope them out. 

   We are all three of us curious as to what this new dig will bring us. My best guess is there are rich gravels lower than the kettle in hole one. It will take quite awhile to get all this dug out and I am gambling all our efforts on a good pay off at the end. 

[DOOGY-MD]

I hope they get the killers soon, if they don't could be  big trouble for the claim!!

[GhostMiner]

 

 

   MAY 22  1936

   Just before breakfast I spotted a man moving down the mountain at a good pace.  When he got close I saw it was Will, the prospector who was heading up the mountain. He came running over to where we were cooking. I asked him what was the big hurry and he said he'd been run off buy four men. They had taken his gear and roughed him up a bit. They told him if he didn't git they would leave him tied to a tree. I told Will that was bad luck but he's lucky to be alive. I told him what the deputy had told me about someone up there getting murdered. 

   Will said he was going to walk back into town and go back home - he was quitting the prospecting idea. I told him to hang on a minute and me and John and Jacob had a hub bub. We agreed we could use a fourth man. I told Will and he was mighty excited for the offer. He would bunk with Jacob in his tent and I sent both them into town in the truck to outfit Will with what he needed. Will was happy to work for a small percent of any gold we got from that day on.

   While they were gone John and I talked about all this. John said that those four guys are bad news. We agreed that if they came into camp we would probably have to fight them. We finished up the wash and weigh and only got an ounce out of all that work. I went back up and worked the dig site while John worked around camp. 

   When Jacob and Will got back we decided to take the rest of the day off and talk with Will a bit. Now we had four to take turns on watch. We all drank some whiskey that night and dreamed about a big strike. We didn't tell Will about what we had got so far.

[beatup]

story is getting good

[GhostMiner]

24 minutes ago, beatup said:

story is getting good

It's about to get intense. Gang of thugs.

[matt]

Looking forward to more!

[DOOGY-MD]

GM rocks!

[GhostMiner]

   A preview of what is to come will involve the following ; The law, gold. rope, gun shots, a bounty hunter, & more. 

[GhostMiner]

•  

   MAY 23  1936

   We had a good talk with Will last night and he seems like a good man. He is like us, ready to work hard for his gold. When Jacob and Will were in town there was talk at the supply store about robbers and killers roaming the mountains around here. Jacob said that one guy was saying that the man murdered out here put up a fight against the robbers. We explained to Will that he would be expected to fight with us and protect his gold if there was trouble. He readily agreed. I am fairly certain that the four men we ran into at camp were the robbers. They are probably looking for easy prey and were sizing us up. I am worried about a surprise attack if they are still around. I'm figuring they have a camp set up somewhere very remote and come out at times looking for prospecors who they know are well equipped and most likely have some gold. Will is armed once again. The hooligans had stole his rifle and I helped him buy a new one when he was in town. I told him to keep it close at all times.  

   We can now have two crews. Will and John at the tom and Jacob and me at the dig. Jacob and me can dig and haul the last of the gravels down to the tom at dusk. John and Will can finish the wash and weighs by the next morning. That gives me time to get more gravels down the next morning as they finish the panning. It will be a more efficient system with no weighting for gravles to wash like before. This is well worth having Will on the crew. It will also help to divide watch with four men. We are only watching camp at night as there is nothing being left at the dig at night and it would be hard for robbers to get much at this time as the gravels are so poor. If we hit a strike I will change that plan.

   We dug more top gravel today and made good speed as well with 205 buckets in all. We will see what the weigh brings tomorrow. When we get deeper in the pay we will start developing the trench work again. It is all hard work for sure.

    TO BE CONTINUED .................

[GhostMiner]

 

   MAY 24  1936

   Jacob and myself broke for lunch and went down to camp to eat and get the weigh numbers. They were still not what we had at the kettle by far with one and one half ounces. That is still a good days work by any standard and the ground at the fault is producing steady gold. Will seemed quite happy with his cut and like the rest of us is hoping for more. The weather has gotten hot during the day and I am working to remove more of the top layer of gravels above what will be the southern end of the trench. I have had to add two holes in my belt as I am working off weight with the heavy labor but it is the most satisfying work I have ever done. Everyone is concentrated on the job at hand and we all get along in pursuing a common goal which is gold.

   Jacob and me work at a steady pace and have found that an easy pace works best for a long day. We start the dig at just an hour after daybreak and end our day an hour before dark. The gravels are still not too hard to dig except for the rounded rock which is beginning to show at four feet in the depth. The rock that will fit in the bucket is hauled to the tom and anything larger that can be cleaned of attached gravel is done over the bucket so we get any gold that clings. That is the slow and heavy work as the rock encountered begins to get bigger. There is much loose gravel as well and that is the easy and fast work. It is going to get much slower as we deepen the cuts and have to haul out the buckets. My hope is that when we get deep the gold will be there in promiscuous amounts. The gold at the upper levels has been mostly very fine and just paying good day wages to us. Today we filled 180 buckets. 

   We all ended the day down at camp after another good day and no hooligans. John brought up the idea of a couple of us going up the mountain to look for any camps. I told him i'd rather spend my day digging for gold. I heard the law went on an excursion up the mountain but had no luck finding them. If they are smart they have left this area.

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