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


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   May 19   1937

 

   Yesterday John and I dug until nearly dark. We found nothing deeper at the last treasure location and moved to the next untouched area near the rocks. By the time we stopped we were a good seven feet deep and had a trench twice as long. We were dog tired and ready for our supper.

   We had hoover stew and crackers and it never tasted better as we stoked the campfire. I broke out a bottle of Bushmills and some cold Lucky’s and we all sat around the fire. It was a cold and clear night and every star in the sky was visible. Once again our peace and quiet was disturbed by gunfire far up on the mountain. It lasted on and off for over an hour. We couldn’t figure out who these hooligans were or what they were up to. John suggested that they may be what was left of the gang we had just dealt with. He said they were probably conducting night raids on various miners and prospectors up on the higher and remote locations of the mountain. All I could think was those poor prospectors who were probably being robbed and killed. There was little or no law out here and it was up to every man to take care of himself or pay the consequences. I wanted to kill every last one of those thugs. 

   After the gunfire had stopped it was close to midnight. Will and Hudson were asleep in their tents and Sarge and Ben were on guard duty as usual. John and I had a few more drinks and talked about everything that had happened so far this year. John said he hated this place but there was something that wouldn’t allow him to leave. The mountain had a hold on him. I agreed. Most sane men would have taken their treasure and gotten the hell out of here yet none of us was willing to leave. I secretly hoped we weren’t making a big mistake.

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

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  May 20   1937

 

   I woke up early while everyone was still sleeping. Sarge had come into camp for a fresh cup of coffee and I joined him. I asked him what his thoughts were on our situation. He told me that he and Ben were not afraid to stay and fight for gold and treasure. He said they actually enjoyed it at times. Sarge told me he and his BAR had killed many men during the Great War and death was no stranger to him or Ben who had also done his share of fighting in the Army. Sarge said that he wanted to stay to the end and find every last bit of buried treasure and get all the gold from our mine as well.

   When John got up and moving we had a good breakfast and headed for the rocks to start digging. This was a routine I was very used to doing. Did, dig, dig. There was no end to it. At a depth of around nine feet we once again hit the unthinkable. This time there were three skeletons. It gave John and I the creeps  but we lifted them out of their resting place and gently laid the bones just outside the trench. Then we dug deeper. Sure enough, about three feet further down we hit a wooden box. It was about four feet by two feet and maybe two feet in depth. I busted off the lock and we pried the lid open. John and I looked at each other in horror.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

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   May 21   1937

 

   Last night we sat around the fire at our temporary camp and talked over the day’s findings. The contents of the old chest were quite shocking. When we opened the lid we were staring at four human skulls that were partially mummified. There was still some skin on them as well as hair. We couldn’t make out enough of the features to guess the origin. The skulls had been placed on top of more treasure. Gold bars and something new, 100 gold coins which were all blank. The gold had a slight reddish tint to it as well. Then at the very bottom of the chest was a gold plate with a stamping. It was a crude H C. Immediately John shouted out Cortez. Hernan Cortez had raided Mexico and stolen vast amounts of gold. John said it is rumored that some was taken to America and buried by slaves. Then the slaves were executed. John said the Aztec gold had a red tint because it wasn’t pure and contained copper. He also told us that from what he had read on the subject the treasures were cursed. Those that discovered it were doomed to die. I took a long drink of whiskey as he continued to speak.

   John said that he didn’t believe in curses and wasn’t one hundred percent sure this was Cortez loot but it made sense to the rest of us. Sarge said that if anyone tried to get his take he would cut them down curse or no curse. Hudson and Will told us they were beginning to feel better and wanted to help act as guards along with Ben and Sarge until they could work again. I agreed to let them see if they were able. So with four guards in place John and I went back to digging. I figured one or two more days here before we went on the next search for buried treasure indicated by the map. Now we all figured we were on to something even bigger than any of us had imagined. I feel like I am selling my soul for treasure.

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

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  May 22   1937

 

   Yesterday John and I dug the last side of the rocks. We got a good long trench started and ended our day at a depth of about six feet. We found nothing. We decided that we would spend one more day there and try to get down to ten feet or maybe a bit deeper. Then we will try to find the next X on the map.

   After supper we all sat around discussing our fortunes. Sarge said he was going to start up a big cattle ranch. Ben was going to retire and move to Mexico. Will and Hudson said they were building new houses and planned to start some new businesses where they lived. They asked me what I was going to do with my new found wealth. I told them I was going to continue on as a gold miner next year. I asked them if they would be returning to mine for gold with me. They were a bit vague with their answers and I figured this might be our last season together as a crew. This made me wish we had never made this discovery because our team was family to me. It was all Jed and I had last year and I didn’t want to lose them. John told me he was expanding his farm and hiring some help and would probably stick with me for a few more years if I kept going. That made me feel a lot better. 

   Once again Hudson and Will turned in early while Sarge and Ben took night watch. We hadn’t heard any more gunfire up on the mountain lately. It was getting cold and all the stars were out. I stoked the fire some and brought out a bottle and John and I filled our cups. Then it happened. There was a sudden cold blast of wind that came through camp and chilled us to the bone. What I saw next I couldn’t believe. Then what happened next made me rethink even staying here another day.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

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   May 23   1937

 

   This morning the camp is uneasy to say the least. Last night John and I saw some kind of figure in what appeared to be armor appear just at the edge of camp. Then it was gone. As I got up to find Sarge we heard a scream. It had come from Ben’s post. John and I headed over there with rifles in hand. Ben was on his knees. He said he had been slashed by someone  with a sword. His Thompson was lying by his side. 

   We immediately got him to his feet and brought him to camp. We made sure to get his Thompson as well. By then Sarge was in camp. He was stunned. Ben was bleeding and had been cut across the upper right arm. Lucky for him it was a cold night and he had a coat on. The wound was not too deep and we dressed it with a bandage.

   Hudson asked me what in the hell was happening to us. I couldn’t give him a good answer. Will said it was the curse. He remembered that the Indian Shaman had warned us we were walking dead men. He began to shake.

   Sarge and John told everyone to calm down. They said there was no such thing as a curse. Ben was shaken but told us he was ready to resume guard duty. John and I had one more day of digging to do at the rocks. I was willing to die for the treasure. I wasn’t sure about the rest of the crew. I knew that if Jed was here he’d tell everyone that nobody runs him off his claim. And they might die trying. If only my brother was here with us now. 

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

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 May 24   1937

 

   Yesterday John and I dug to a depth of nearly thirteen feet. It was a large trench with nothing to show. We decided to stop all work at this site. We had amassed a great fortune in treasure but had paid a heavy price. The crew was beaten up and stressed out but no one had quit. Before we left the treasure site I made a speech to the crew. I told them how proud I was of every one of them and we now had riches beyond our wildest dreams. Once again I told them that anyone who wanted to leave could do so and there would be no hard feelings. Again no one wanted to quit the crew. We were a tough bunch of men and were willing to do what few men are, and that is to die for what we believe in. That put us a step above all the scoundrels and rif raf we had dealt with out here. 

   Will and Hudson were coming along good and mending up. I left them to guard camp with Ben. John, Sarge, and I went up the mountain on the hunt for the treasure X. By late afternoon we had found it. It was very obvious because of the map and the way the big rocks were sitting. The problem would be finding the exact location of a buried treasure. The X was marked between the large rocks and the base of the mountain to the west. There was about 100 feet of ground between the rocks and mountain. There were no further clues.

   John let out a curse and said we might be digging up here for a month of Sundays and we didn’t even know for sure if there was anything in the ground. The new site was about a half mile higher up the mountain and very remote.

   I suggested to John and Sarge that we kind of walk the ground carefully to see if there might be any clues. After about 15 minutes Sarge hollered for us to come over to his location and have a look. There was a good sized stone about five feet high and by itself. On the west side was a faint X that was nearly worn away. I told Sarge he had a good eye and he had found the location. Now we just needed to move camp up here and start digging. John and I just looked at each other knowing this might be something even more historic than the previous site. We set about moving camp and by the time we were done it was nearly dark.

   I cooked up some beans and bacon and we broke out a bottle of whisky and some Lucky’s to ward off the cold night air. It was real quiet. Almost too quiet.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

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   May 25   1937     Part One

 

   Last night got really cold. I kept hearing branches breaking all around the outside of camp. I got up a few times and shined a light into the trees but saw nothing. We had breakfast and John and I went to work. He took the west side of the rock and I took the east side. The plan was for each of us to dig a trench around the rock and join them making a closed loop. We would go down fifteen feet if need be and then widen the trench from there. We were hoping to find something by the second or third day but there were no guarantees in treasure hunting.

   Now Will and Hudson were acting as guards along with Sarge and Ben. They watched all directions just outside of camp so we could dig without constantly watching our backs. John and I also had our rifles close by. The morning was cold with a north wind and it felt good to be digging. About three feet down I hit a flat stone and bent over to lift it out of the trench. I brushed away the dirt and saw a Spanish cross carved into it. I showed John. He got excited and said we are on top of it. So we both started digging on my side of the rock. About three feet further down we hit another flat stone and it also had a cross carved into the face. The two of us were now digging as fast as we could. About two feet further down was yet again another flat stone. This one had a cross as well as an X inside a circle carved into the face. John said he thought we were getting close.

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

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4 hours ago, dig4gold said:

Sounds a bit like "The Curse Of Oak Island" with the different levels having the boards across & then the 90 foot stone.

D4G

That show always puts me to sleep lol.

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   May 25   1937     Part Two

 

   We continued down another five feet without finding treasure or clues. It was mid afternoon now and we decided to take a break and have some lunch. Our camp here was set up just forty feet from the rock so we could keep an eye on the spot. I took some lunch over to Will and Hudson and Sarge and Ben as well. We all felt like we were sitting on something big here. 

   John and I eventually got back to digging and worked up a good head of steam. We had only dug for about twenty minutes when we hit another stone. This one was double marked with two crosses and two X’s in circles. We set the stone on the ground just outside the trench and kept working. Three feet further down was once again the gruesome sight of human remains. Six skeletons. At this point we slowed the work and began to carefully excavate the bones. We worked at this for two hours and took another break. We had removed everything we could find. After a short break we started to dig down again. We dug until the light began to fade and set up some lanterns for light. Then we heard the familiar sound of the thud of a shovel against dense wood. It was nearly dark now and we tried to widen out the trench a bit to completely uncover the lid. The chest seemed to be much larger than the previous chests we had found. Then John said to have a close look. I held a lantern close to the lid. When I did I could see there was a second lid next to the first. Two treasure chests. John and I were standing on top of the lids. Most likely we were standing on top of a massive fortune of untold wealth.

 

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

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