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


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4 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

Thanks. Just got back from a long run. It's nice to read all the great comments. Now you can read the book uninterrupted.

I'm already into it. Reading an average of about a month every day. It's an even better read when it's uninterrupted. Reading it this way is like actually being there and part of the adventure.

Mike

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

                 LOST GOLD AT THE DEAD MAN’S MINE

 

                                               SEASON TWO

 

   April 6   1937

 

   My name is Jacob Stevens. My older brother Jed started our mining project and was murdered last year. His gold that he worked so hard for is gone. I have had no luck in finding the filthy scum who killed him. If I ever do, they will pay dearly. My brother was a hero to me and was responsible for our gold mining success. We were able to find the journal he kept and it is in my possession now. I have what possessions he left behind. His truck, camping gear, all of the mining equipment, and some odds and ends. Seeing as he kept a journal of the activities here I feel it is now my duty to continue the journal so everything that happens here is documented.

   Jed and Whisky Jack believed there is still a great deal of gold remaining to be mined on the claims. I am taking on all mining responsibilities for this season and I have a good crew ready. They are hard workers and battle tested. I am not expecting an easy time of it as we have made enemies. However, I will not let that stop us from achieving our dreams of gold and riches. The mining crew will be made up of Will, John, Hudson,and me. Sarge and Ben have committed to working security for the entire season. I have arrived at the claims ahead of the crew and the rest of them will be here tomorrow. I will be staying in town tonight and when the crew arrives we will set up our camp and mining equipment. I want to make my brother proud. It is going to be very hard to get used to working without him here. It will be hard for all of us. May God be with us.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

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1 hour ago, GhostMiner said:

                 LOST GOLD AT THE DEAD MAN’S MINE

 

                                               SEASON TWO

 

   April 6   1937

 

   My name is Jacob Stevens. My older brother Jed started our mining project and was murdered last year. His gold that he worked so hard for is gone. I have had no luck in finding the filthy scum who killed him. If I ever do, they will pay dearly. My brother was a hero to me and was responsible for our gold mining success. We were able to find the journal he kept and it is in my possession now. I have what possessions he left behind. His truck, camping gear, all of the mining equipment, and some odds and ends. Seeing as he kept a journal of the activities here I feel it is now my duty to continue the journal so everything that happens here is documented.

   Jed and Whisky Jack believed there is still a great deal of gold remaining to be mined on the claims. I am taking on all mining responsibilities for this season and I have a good crew ready. They are hard workers and battle tested. I am not expecting an easy time of it as we have made enemies. However, I will not let that stop us from achieving our dreams of gold and riches. The mining crew will be made up of Will, John, Hudson,and me. Sarge and Ben have committed to working security for the entire season. I have arrived at the claims ahead of the crew and the rest of them will be here tomorrow. I will be staying in town tonight and when the crew arrives we will set up our camp and mining equipment. I want to make my brother proud. It is going to be very hard to get used to working without him here. It will be hard for all of us. May God be with us.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

Yee Haw! Thank you Ghost Miner!

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   April 7   1937

 

   I am probably getting everyone out here a little early in the season. It is still cold with a mix of rain and snow at times although there is no snow on the ground today. John and Will were first to arrive on site followed by Hudson. We all shook hands and cracked open a bottle of Bushmills in Jed’s honor. There were many tears shed and his ghost is everywhere I look. Somehow we will move forward without him and Jack. A few hours later we were setting up camp and heard the familiar rumble of Sarge’s White truck. He and Ben had arrived. They gave me their condolences and said they wished that Jed had left with the rest of the crew. I had tried so very hard to talk him into leaving with us but he wouldn’t hear of it. It is all in the past now.

   We are setting camp at the lower site to the south where we ended the operation last season. I am going with what Jed wanted which was to finish the south kettle. There is a little less than half way to go and we know there is gold there so it makes sense. We finished up with the camp today. Sarge and Ben scouted the area to set up watch posts as well. They have brought out all the same weapons from last year and the crew is feeling safe. We’ll have a good supper and get some sleep. Tomorrow we will set the pumps and run the water line up to the kettle. If we are lucky we should be mining in two days. There has been no sign of any activity up here in our absence. Thieves are lazy. They don’t want to work for gold but will steal it after it has been mined. I will not let that happen.

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

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  April 8   1937

 

   Last night we were awoken to the hellish sounds of the bobcats once again. I had forgotten how loud they could be with their screeching. It was around 3:00 in the morning and the stars were all shining and it was cold. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I sat up and got the campfire going again. I could see the silhouette of Sarge over at his post with his trusty BAR. Ben was down near the road with the Thompson. I poured a small whiskey and thought about Jed. I was sure he was watching me from somewhere. 

   Just before daybreak I heard Ben holler from down below and there was a burst from the Thompson. Sarge hollered out to wake the crew if they weren’t already up. They all came out of their tents with weapons in hand. Ben hollered up that a couple of guys had gotten past him. Then I heard Sarge holler out halt and he fired the BAR. I saw two guys standing near camp to the south. Ben had come up behind them and Sarge had them at gunpoint. They were both drunk. They were cursing at us and said they wanted the dirty cowards that had beaten up their brother at the tavern last year. It seemed that the town folk already knew we were here. John walked over to confront them. Will and I walked over and so did Sarge.

   John got within a few steps of them and told them their brother was a thief and got what he deserved. I told them we were here to work and wanted to be left alone. I said that if they wanted a fight then now was the time. They just stood there cursing and calling us all kinds of names. John walked up to them and cracked the closest one on the jaw with his fist. Sarge rammed the other one in the side with the butt end of the BAR. They both went down hard. One of them had a pistol and Sarge relieved him of it. The first one got up and John cracked him again. The other one didn’t want anymore. We dragged them down to the creek and threw them in the icy water. They came crawling out cursing and hollering and staggered down the mountain to where their car was parked. I told them not to ever come back and tell the same to all the rif raf in town.

   After all that we had a good breakfast while we talked over the situation. John didn’t think they’d be back. I wasn’t so sure. Then we got to work setting pumps and running water line. Tomorrow we will take the tom up to the dig site and start washing gravels. I am hoping for a quiet night.

 

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

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41 minutes ago, geof_junk said:

Glad you are back. I needed this daily dose of this medicine.  👻 

I am sure other were suffering withdrawal pains to.

Glad you are enjoying it and many thanks,

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   April 9   1937

 

   Things were quiet last night and we all got some much needed sleep. I decided to send Will and Hudson into town for some supplies in the morning while John and I did some exploring east of the kettle. We got back to camp around lunch time and Will and Hudson were there waiting for us. They told us that a few people in the general store were talking about us. They didn’t seem to know that Will and Hudson were part of the crew. Some guy was saying that we were on a big gold strike and that’s why we came back for another season. The guy he was talking to said he heard we were a bunch of rough characters that beat people up or shot them at the drop of a hat. It seemed we were thought of as some kind of mining outlaws. I just laughed it off and we all had lunch.

   It was a fairly nice day so I told the crew we should do some mining. We decided that Will and Hudson would be the pump operators and John and I would do the digging. By about 2:00 we had water running through the tom so John and I went at it with the shovel work. It felt so damn good to be mining again. I kept thinking I’d see Jed in the pit with us.

   We worked for about three hours and shut down the water and cleaned out the sluice. All four of us did a quick cleanup and weigh showing some good color that weighed up to about a ¼ ounce. I told the crew this is our first gold of the season and we are going to get a lot more.

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

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   April 10   1937

 

   This morning we saw a group of prospectors heading up the mountain along the creek. They stopped and talked with us. There were five of them and they had come out from the coast. It seems our reputation was being discussed even in the coastal towns now. These guys wanted to shake our hands and thank us for all we had done last year. They were aware of our run-ins with hooligans and how we had run them off. They also knew Jed had been murdered and told us if they heard anything they would contact us. It seemed we had some supporters along with our enemies. I wished them good luck in finding ground to stake.

   We got to work  and the temperatures were warm for early April. John and I kept a steady pace with our shovel work. We would need to adapt our bodies to the long, hard work days once again. It will take some time. We ended the day with half an ounce. Not nearly what we expected. The gravels at the upper area of the kettle were getting weaker but I had committed to finishing everything there. I figured a week or two at the most and we’d have it cleaned out for good.

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

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