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

[GhostMiner]

   June 3   1937

 

   Yesterday John and I did a patrol of the grounds surrounding the camp to make sure no one was watching our area. It was clear and the crew set about hiding the cache of treasure. Then we had supper as twilight crept in. I stoked up a good fire and we all sat around it drinking whisky and talking about all that had happened to us. It felt like the old days except Jed was not with us.

   After a few cups we decided to make a new plan. We were a crew on our own once again. We would need to take turns on guard duty. We decided to have one well armed man on high ground overlooking camp at all times. We would divide the shifts. John would run the tom during the day and the rest of us would take our turns on watch and digging. I told the crew I would travel to Reno and purchase some heavy weapons. We needed to be well armed and have superior fire power if we were attacked. John took the first shift of night watch with his rifle and Will and Hudson got some sleep. I sat by the fire for another hour drinking Bushmills and rolling smokes. I felt restless and couldn’t sleep. I still kept thinking back to the visit by the Shaman. Sometimes I felt like I had little time left. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[Mike_Hillis]

I would say this group is now totally blind as to their condition.  They should have left all together as a group.  It can only end badly from this point forward.  There is no happy ending if they stay and mine any more.  

[GhostMiner]

1 hour ago, Mike_Hillis said:

I would say this group is now totally blind as to their condition.  They should have left all together as a group.  It can only end badly from this point forward.  There is no happy ending if they stay and mine any more.  

   I would say that the crew itself is hell bent on mining gold and they have it to mine in spades. Gold Fever.

[GhostMiner]

   June 4   1937

 

   I went to Reno and purchased some heavy weapons. I bought two BAR’s as well as four Thompsons. I also purchased 45 auto’s for each man to wear at all times. The crew also all have their own rifles. We are now well armed. During the evening before dark we all practiced with the new weapons. I hope we never need to use them but history here has proven this is unlikely. 

   It was nearly dark before we ate supper and we had a few drinks and turned in to get a good night’s sleep. I took first watch and took one of the BAR’s as well as my new 45 auto. Along about midnight I was ready to wake Hudson for his shift when I noticed some rustling just north of camp on the mountain. I had high ground and a good view with a three quarter moon and a clear night. I scanned all directions from my watchpost and there was no other movement. It could have been a mule deer or bear and there was no way to tell. I debated with myself as to waking camp but decided to wait a while. 

   After about fifteen minutes I headed down towards camp to wake Hudson. As I got near there was the crack of a rifle shot followed by several more. It seemed to come from the north. I opened up with the BAR and sprayed the area I thought the shooting came from. By now the crew had woke up and were crawling out of their tents and getting behind the cover of stacked logs we had placed for just this scenario. John had the other BAR and I heard it barking. It was only a few seconds and the Thompsons were also firing. Then everything was quiet.

   We waited about ten minutes and John said he was going to loop around and head up north where the gunfire had come from. He said he would fire three rounds with his 45 if everything was clear and five if he needed help. 

   

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

[GhostMiner]

   I know I posted this in season one but thought i'd post them again. These are photos of the actual camp and first digsite the journal is based on as well as pictures of Jed, Jacob, John, & Will. Also a picture of gold we removed from the digsite.

[GhostMiner]

15 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   I know I posted this in season one but thought i'd post them again. These are photos of the actual camp and first digsite the journal is based on as well as pictures of Jed, Jacob, John, & Will. Also a picture of gold we removed from the digsite.

   One thing is for certain. If you look at the picture of the first excavation I based the beginning of the journal on there is no doubt the actual 1936 crew could dig. It was all done with pick & shovel work. Then they opened up more ground along the southern faultline later on. Hard work.

[GhostMiner]

   I am no expert on gemstones but here is a picture of everything besided gold we found along the creek there. 

[GhostMiner]

   Not sure if I ever showed this picture. This is an old White military truck that sits near the digsite. It gave me the inspiration to come up with Sarge's charactor in the journal.

[GhostMiner]

   June 5   1937

   John eventually gave the all clear with three shots and came back down to camp. He said he had found a dead body up at the edge of the woods. Evidently when we all sprayed rounds up there someone had struck him and killed him. John brought the man’s rifle down with him. He said the thug was one of the foreign buyers. This is what we had all feared. Now we knew they intended to get their money back and most likely knew we had more treasure as well.

   It was soon to be daylight by now and we kept a close watch until the sun came up. There were no further troubles and we buried the body. The dead man had no identification on him. As far as we were concerned he was just another hooligan who had come up against our crew and met his match. We never looked for trouble but were becoming experts at handling it.

   After breakfast Hudson took watch on the high ground post and John got the tom ready to wash gravels. Will and I went up to the dig site. We got a good trench going into the last area we had worked before all the treasure hunting had started. It felt mighty good to be digging again. Will was nearly all healed up but I told him to just work slow and ease into the labor over the next week. We were in no hurry. I planned to be here until snow fell in late Fall.

   We ended the day with only 110 buckets but the test pans all showed good gold and it looked to be coarse.

   

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[GhostMiner]

   June 6   1937

 

   We did a weigh this morning. It was the first in over a week and we got one ounce. It was good to see gold back in the pan and I felt confident that we would produce a great amount from our new location. We just need to get back on track and stay with it. It is going to be much harder now that Sarge and Ben are not with us but I can’t blame them for leaving. We are playing a dangerous game where the losers can die. I will not be run off my claim by thugs and if they want a fight they will get one.

   Will and I went up to the dig site bright and early. We worked at a steady pace and carved a nice channel into the bottom of the mountain. My plan is to drive a drift in and work it to the west along the base of the hill. That way we are staying at or near country rock and should not need much timbering for support. The gravels here are solid and stable and the channel rock is rounded but not large enough to cause us much trouble. Once we get a good start we should be able to make hay. 

   Will drives the truck down to the tom when we have a load of buckets on it. Then he brings the empties back after dumping them on John’s big hopper he built. John feeds the gravel into the tom by shovel and sometimes bucket work. The creek is flowing good and we are mining. Today we ended with 155 buckets. I think we will slowly pick up the pace now.

   

   TO BE CONTINUED ................