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

[GhostMiner]

53 minutes ago, D&P-OR said:

I think they (I hope they) leave out of there with Sarge & Ben.-----At least then they would be able to get out of there safely with their gold.

Yes but remember that Jed has said he will mine as long as he can. He started out alone before the others joined him.

[maxxkatt]

1 hour ago, GhostMiner said:

Yes but remember that Jed has said he will mine as long as he can. He started out alone before the others joined him.

I would have certainly left with Sarge & Ben gotten my gold in a safe place. I am sure Jed's share was quite substantial. Sarge and Ben earned their keep big time. Without them Jed would have been run off his claim long ago. 

 

 

[GhostMiner]

1 hour ago, maxxkatt said:

I would have certainly left with Sarge & Ben gotten my gold in a safe place. I am sure Jed's share was quite substantial. Sarge and Ben earned their keep big time. Without them Jed would have been run off his claim long ago. 

 

 

But the season is far from over and Jed wants more. Let's see how it plays out from here.

[GhostMiner]

   AUGUST 28   1936

   The crew headed up the mountain to work this morning and Jack was jabbering away all the way up to the pit about the hooligans. He was for shooting them onsite. I told Jack we weren’t killers but if forced we wouldn’t hesitate to shoot them. Jack said there’s lots of places to hide bodies out here. I just laughed it off. I tried to keep the crew focused on the job at hand which was mining. Jacob and Will were doing a good job keeping the pumps running and the water flowing. Jack’s plan had worked out well for us and we were all grateful to him for all he brought in the way of knowledge. He was one of a kind.

   The weather was a little cooler than it had been but still hot by any standard. It was close to 100 degrees in the pit in the mid to late afternoon but the mornings were nice for work starting at 50 degrees or so and warming from there gradually. John and me always pushed hard in the morning and eased off to steady work after lunch. We have made good money here and all have our pokes stashed away. ‘

   Along about quitting time and the sun was low it started to cool down and we weighed up the gold and got 2 ounces. The crew walked down the mountain together talking about the day’s work and Jack started taking swigs out of his bottle. I always liked this part of the day. We were all tired but had done some good work. Sarge and Ben were only staying a few more days and we would be on our own again. That would leave Whiskey Jack to watch over camp. It took two people to tend the pumps so maybe John and me would take turns helping Jack keep a look out over things. It would mean only one man working at the tom which would cut production in half. I was real uneasy about the situation as we have a bunch of enemies out here.

  TO BE CONTINUED .................

[GhostMiner]

   AUGUST 29   1936

   The night was quiet with no trespassers and we all got a good rest. Temperatures are slowly coming down as the summer is ending and the Fall mining season gets ready to start. It was a nice, cool morning to start working in the pit and the water was feeling cold when it hit the tom. John and me went about our shoveling and made real good time. By lunch time we had cleaned up the area closest to the tom and moved it a bit closer to new gravel and reset the angles of the sluice run. We noticed some nice pieces in the run and lots of coarse. We are finding good gold by scraping along the bottom of the pit. Jack seems to be right about them doing a poor job up here. We are digging out about 3 to 4 feet of gravel off country in most of the areas we have worked. Some of it is wash gravel from the side walls and some is virgin at country that didn’t make it out of the pit when the old boys worked it. I am not sure if the pit will continue to pay as we work our way a bit uphill and north. Hopefully that area will also hold some good gold for us.

   By the end of the day we had made hay and cleaned up the run and everyone came up to help with the final panning and weigh. We got ourselves 4 more ounces and were all real happy about it. We all headed back down the mountain as dusk came in and the temperatures started to drop. I was ready for a good supper and a cup of Bushmills. So was Whiskey Jack.

  TO BE CONTINUED ................

[GhostMiner]

   If the crew leaves the mine it would be over run with high graders and worse. 

[flakmagnet]

6 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

 If the crew leaves the mine it would be run over with high graders and worse.

Some things don't change no matter what the year is...

 

[GhostMiner]

2 hours ago, flakmagnet said:

Some things don't change no matter what the year is...

 

Ain't it the truth.

[GhostMiner]

  AUGUST 30   1936

   After breakfast we headed up the mountain and had some rain but it only lasted about 15 minutes. That’s the first rain we’ve seen out here in a long time. I can’t recall the last time. We continue to scrape and clean off the country rock as best we can. I went over to the west wall of the pit and used the pick to loosen gravels there and panned the samples. There was some fine gold and a little coarse so we may be able to widen the pit some if we run out of pay gravel on the bottom. I doubt if there would be a whole bunch of material to work on the sides but it could keep us busy for a while if needed. I am always trying to think of new areas in advance. I’m pretty sure the pit will keep us in pay for the rest of this season. By days end we had done good work and got another 2 ounces.

   Down at camp we were talking with Ben and Sarge about everything that had happened since they were here. They would be leaving soon and I hated to see them go. Sarge told me we ought to leave soon after them as he considered this area a dangerous place. I told him the crew was free to leave any time they wanted but I was staying until I got froze out and was actually considering wintering it out here even if by myself. Sarge just shook his head and said he wasn’t sure if that was a good idea but it was none of his business. The nights were already starting to get a little cooler and we were putting on heavy shirts. We sat around the fire contemplating our options.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

[GhostMiner]

   Well, the security team is leaving after the last day of August. Can Whiskey Jack handle the security job alone while the crew mines? Hint - he's almost 80 yrs old and drinks way too much whiskey. Maybe that's how he lived that long. September should be an interesting month on the mountain. Remember what was posted a few days ago - September will be a bad month for one of them.