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


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16 minutes ago, 1515Art said:

Combat training and machine guns, just what the doctor ordered…I feel better now.

I've had the pleasure of firing Thompsons. It's a real experience to say the least. 

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18 minutes ago, Pogo said:

yep me too, only 1 mag,  lots of lift and throw to the left.

I was warned about it but still emptied half of it into the sky

Takes some practice.

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1 hour ago, peterinaust said:

The remains of the old car in the photos, was this Jeds car?

No. It was someone elses up there but don't know who. Riddled with bullets.

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   A note on the journal entries here : It was not unusual for gold mining companies to have armed security on site. It was done to protect workers, equipment, and the gold from outlaws. The Wells Fargo stages were prime targets as well. So it may seem a bit crazy to think of what Jed did as far as having heavily armed security on the mine but it was not uncommon. Some foreign countries still deal with situations like Jed's crew is facing. You must remember that they were working in a remote area far from any help. There were no cell phones and the law in that area was far from reliable. To this day not much has changed there. No cell phone connection and the law is far off and unreliable. As is always the case, one must always be responsible for himself and crew as far as safety is concerned. I have found that where there is gold there is often trouble. It's just the way it is. 

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Even today, most police arrive after the crime is committed. This is not to criticize the police, but rather that is the nature of our modern policing techniques. I hope they all were able to find their cached gold in the end.

 

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   JULY 26   1936

   We started the day with a quick weighing of the gold and had half an ounce in the pan. The night had passed without incident. After breakfast Will and Jacob stayed at camp while John and me took our security team up the mountain. Everyone was well armed to say the least. When we got up to the dam area we could see it had not been touched since we removed it. There were no trespassing signs all over the area but no crew yet. We decided to follow the creek higher up the mountain. After about another mile or so of hiking we came across a crew of miners digging near the side of the creek. There were three of them and they had posted co operative claim signs with no numbers. They spotted us and quickly scrambled over to where their guns were sitting. Sarge hollered out to stop right there and move away from the guns or he’d shoot. They backed away looking more than a bit surprised. Sarge and Ben were pointing a BAR and Thompson at them and John and I had our rifles. 

   I asked them who was in charge. The older man in the group said he was the foreman. I asked him who dammed up the creek down below. He told me they had done it under orders of the co operative boss. I told him they had no legal right to divert the creek and it cost us a day's pay in opening it up again. He looked surprised that we had done that. He said the boss wasn’t going to like it. I told him we intended to keep the creek open and tell his boss that if they divert the creek again they are going to have a problem with us. As I said this Ben fired off a burst from his Thompson into a tree near the crew and gave them a look like we weren’t fooling around anymore. Then we all headed back down the mountain.

   John chuckled and asked if I saw the look on their faces. He said they were scared as hell. I told him who wouldn’t be? When we got to the dam area Sarge said he would set up a post and watch that area. He told Ben to go down to camp and take up a watch just south of our camp between the main road and camp. That way anyone coming in from either side would be spotted. He told us to keep working as usual and if we heard gunfire to send up two men but keep Ben at his post and two  men at camp. We agreed and went back to our jobs.

   I felt somewhat relieved and Jacob, Will, and me resumed our digging and John worked the tom. With the three of us working as a team we were able to dig 188 buckets even though our day had been shortened. Sarge and Ben will share duties on watch at camp and our crew is helping as well. 

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

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17 hours ago, beatup said:

Serious firepower in camp now

For sure!

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