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


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9 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   Based on info we got as to buried treasure and gold from the mysterious person who stopped by our claims as well as advice from Jacob we went treasure hunting. Not with a pick and shovel but with a proper digging tool. I won't say here if we found anything but keep reading.  

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The Trac hoe was there while Jacob was with you guys?

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9 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   One of the areas with the marked boulders Jacob showed us. Were there actually some with the circled  X  he talked about? Yes. We were 65 yrs too late as usual.  

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I'm confused on the timeline. I would have sworn that the marked boulders were in the fiction part of this gold tale. 

So if not fiction this means that there's actual Spanish gold coins stashed up there somewhere. 

Plus a whole bunch of gold 😂. Nice!

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11 hours ago, Bedrocker said:

The Trac hoe was there while Jacob was with you guys?

No. A bit later.

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11 hours ago, Bedrocker said:

I'm confused on the timeline. I would have sworn that the marked boulders were in the fiction part of this gold tale. 

So if not fiction this means that there's actual Spanish gold coins stashed up there somewhere. 

Plus a whole bunch of gold 😂. Nice!

Remember,  part of the journal was based on some actual events. 

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   April 24   2002     Part Six

 

   It was mid afternoon by the time we got up to the boulder field area. Jacob wandered about for quite a spell trying to get his bearings when he suddenly recognized a familiar rock. We followed him over to take a closer look and sure enough, there in the massive boulder was a circled X. My partners and I just looked at each other in amazement. He had actually found one of them. They were real. Jacob said there were more that could be found but he was too tired to look for them today.

   He told us that a temporary camp had been set up somewhere around here but the ground had changed and he couldn’t remember exactly where it had been. He said that the crew had hidden some of the treasure east and north of this area. Some of the crew may have also hidden gold up here. It seemed it was all done by the seat of the pants so to speak with no real plan or map. Or was there. According to Jacob he had seen several crew members making drawings. It was the rule not to ask questions of other crew members and they took this agreement very seriously. Jacob was worried that if any of those possible maps had been found after the crew was murdered the killers may have found locations of buried gold and treasure and dug it up. There was just no way to know for sure. But he figured his was still there. 

   He walked slowly around the grounds trying to get a bearing on certain landmarks but was having trouble. After about an hour he told us he was getting tired and wanted to go back down to camp. It was nearing supper time by now anyway and there was plenty of time to search for treasure.

   For supper I emptied a bunch of cans of stew into a big pot and set it on my propane stove outside my camper. We had a nice campfire going and I heated up some biscuits and dinner rolls as well as bread. We all sat around the fire and had a feast. Jacob said the stew tasted better than the Hoover Stew Jed used to make. He said he had missed being with a crew and thanked us for inviting him to join up with our team. I told him we were more than thrilled to have him with us. 

   We sat outside for a while and looked at the stars and talked about gold. Jacob brought out a bottle of whisky and we all put a little in our cups. He said he didn’t drink nearly as much of it as when he was young but still liked to have a drink or two nearly every day. He brought up the idea of posting guards like they used to. I told him I didn’t think we would have any problems and things out here had changed since the 1930’s. Jacob looked over at me and stated flatly that nothing ever changes when there is gold. It got me thinking. 

    

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

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Jacob looked over at me and stated flatly that nothing ever changes when there is gold.         ....          How True         .... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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   April 25   2002     Part One     DIGGING GRAVEL WITH JACOB

 

   I got up before sunup this morning and Jacob was already done with his breakfast of canned hash and biscuits. He was pouring out a cup of coffee and offered me one which I readily accepted. The rest of the crew was still sound asleep in their campers. It was a cold morning but Jacob had a nice little fire going. He said he preferred to be outdoors and not in his camper unless it was raining.

   We sat close to the fire and I heated some water to make oatmeal. Jacob was going on about how rich parts of the claims were. He had the buried gold and treasure out of his mind for now and wanted to help us find some places to take samples. He said the Northern Drift Mine was a good place to start. Over the years the slides had buried all the virgin ground. He wanted us to get out our picks and shovels and drive a sampling drift into the mountain. He wasn’t exactly sure where he had found the glory hole area but told me that if we went into the hill about 20 feet or so we should hit virgin gravels. 

   I told Jacob I was up for it and my partners would be as well. We had no approved plans so old fashioned hard work was called for. Jacob said he wanted to do a little digging with us. He was thinking he could still do hard labor but at a slower pace. I just suggested he take it easy and not to work too hard. He laughed and said hard work was all he had ever known.

   Eventually Vern and Jim got up and made their way over to our spot by the fire. The sun was up now. Vern asked Jacob when he got up. Jacob told him he usually got up an hour or so before sunup and sometimes earlier. Jim said he was to be admired for all his hard work. Jacob just laughed and said hard work was something he had been taught as a young boy.

   Around 8:30 AM we placed our shovels and picks in the back of the truck along with pans and buckets and some five gallon water containers to pour into a wash tub. My truck had a cab and a half so all four of us could ride inside if they chose. Jacob sat up front with me.

   On the way up to the site Jacob spotted a big mule deer and gave me a nudge. It was a big one for sure. He said there used to be lion up in this area back in his day but I told him we hadn’t seen any yet but hadn’t been here too many times. Jacob laughed and said we were still green. I agreed. What else could I say?

   Jacob suggested we set the panning tub in a shady spot which we did and then  we filled it with water from the containers. The sun was up and it was nice and cool. A great working day for sure. We got the picks and shovels off the truck bed and walked over to the base of the mountain. Vern, Jim, and I looked at the  mountain and we felt overwhelmed. The slides had come down at a steep angle and somewhere behind all the overburden would be gravels we wanted to test.   Jacob could tell we were a bit intimidated by the job facing us and he gave us a talk. He said nothing good ever came of inaction and once you took the first step the rest would easily follow. He told us not to think of digging out a drift into the mountain but just think about opening some ground a little at a time. He said this was our beginning and the first step to mining gold. Then he took a pouch out of his pocket. He opened it up and dumped the contents out in one of our pans. It was gold. He said there was one ounce there in the pan and it came from right here where he was telling us to start digging. We looked at each other. Vern and Jim had big smiles on their faces. The first picks hit the base of that mountain and rang out as they struck the gravel. We were spaced out a little farther than shoulder to shoulder and Jacob was working right beside me. It seemed like a dream. We were mining with a legend.  

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

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4 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   April 25   2002     Part One     DIGGING GRAVEL WITH JACOB

 

   I got up before sunup this morning and Jacob was already done with his breakfast of canned hash and biscuits. He was pouring out a cup of coffee and offered me one which I readily accepted. The rest of the crew was still sound asleep in their campers. It was a cold morning but Jacob had a nice little fire going. He said he preferred to be outdoors and not in his camper unless it was raining.

   We sat close to the fire and I heated some water to make oatmeal. Jacob was going on about how rich parts of the claims were. He had the buried gold and treasure out of his mind for now and wanted to help us find some places to take samples. He said the Northern Drift Mine was a good place to start. Over the years the slides had buried all the virgin ground. He wanted us to get out our picks and shovels and drive a sampling drift into the mountain. He wasn’t exactly sure where he had found the glory hole area but told me that if we went into the hill about 20 feet or so we should hit virgin gravels. 

   I told Jacob I was up for it and my partners would be as well. We had no approved plans so old fashioned hard work was called for. Jacob said he wanted to do a little digging with us. He was thinking he could still do hard labor but at a slower pace. I just suggested he take it easy and not to work too hard. He laughed and said hard work was all he had ever known.

   Eventually Vern and Jim got up and made their way over to our spot by the fire. The sun was up now. Vern asked Jacob when he got up. Jacob told him he usually got up an hour or so before sunup and sometimes earlier. Jim said he was to be admired for all his hard work. Jacob just laughed and said hard work was something he had been taught as a young boy.

   Around 8:30 AM we placed our shovels and picks in the back of the truck along with pans and buckets and some five gallon water containers to pour into a wash tub. My truck had a cab and a half so all four of us could ride inside if they chose. Jacob sat up front with me.

   On the way up to the site Jacob spotted a big mule deer and gave me a nudge. It was a big one for sure. He said there used to be lion up in this area back in his day but I told him we hadn’t seen any yet but hadn’t been here too many times. Jacob laughed and said we were still green. I agreed. What else could I say?

   Jacob suggested we set the panning tub in a shady spot which we did and then  we filled it with water from the containers. The sun was up and it was nice and cool. A great working day for sure. We got the picks and shovels off the truck bed and walked over to the base of the mountain. Vern, Jim, and I looked at the  mountain and we felt overwhelmed. The slides had come down at a steep angle and somewhere behind all the overburden would be gravels we wanted to test.   Jacob could tell we were a bit intimidated by the job facing us and he gave us a talk. He said nothing good ever came of inaction and once you took the first step the rest would easily follow. He told us not to think of digging out a drift into the mountain but just think about opening some ground a little at a time. He said this was our beginning and the first step to mining gold. Then he took a pouch out of his pocket. He opened it up and dumped the contents out in one of our pans. It was gold. He said there was one ounce there in the pan and it came from right here where he was telling us to start digging. We looked at each other. Vern and Jim had big smiles on their faces. The first picks hit the base of that mountain and rang out as they struck the gravel. We were spaced out a little farther than shoulder to shoulder and Jacob was working right beside me. It seemed like a dream. We were mining with a legend.  

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

One of my favorite entries in my personal journal from 2002. Brings back great memories. 

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   April 25   2002     Part Two

 

   We began the task of reopening the mountain at a slow and steady pace. Even though the temperature was still cool it wasn’t long before the sweat was streaming down my face. After about an hour we were ready for a break - that is all of us except Jacob. We paused and watched him continue to chop away at the gravels. He was oblivious to anything but the work at hand. I could only imagine what he was like in his prime. 

   Eventually he paused and looked over at the three of us as we watched him digging. He stopped and rolled a smoke. I told him he was still one hell of a miner. He smiled and said he didn’t hold a candle to his brother Jed. He said Jed was a machine that never seemed to tire and could outwork any man on the crew. 

   We hadn’t gotten into the mountain very far yet but I grabbed a pan of gravels  and washed them in the tub. There was no gold. Jacob laughed and said it was garbage from the slides and we weren’t anywhere near the gold yet. He said it was going to take some hard work to get to it. He finished his smoke and we all got back to work.

   After a while it seemed like we had all developed a steady rhythm. There wasn’t much talking but the sound of the shovels striking stone seemed to have a language of its own. Before we knew it the sun was beating down on us and it was noon. I hollered out that it was time for lunch.

   We drove back down to camp and ate and talked some with Jacob. He was giving us encouragement and telling us we would get used to the work. He said it would take a few days or maybe weeks but eventually we would build up our bodies to withstand the digging. I laughed and said if I do this all Summer I won’t have an ounce of fat on me. Jacob gave me a grin and said yes, but you’ll have plenty of ounces of gold to replace it. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

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Welp... back in the old days someone would have been shooting at y'all by now lol 😂.

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