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


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   April 29   2002     Part Three

 

   Jacob told us that the government agent was about as welcome here as a rattler at a square dance. Then he gave us one of his winks and we all busted out laughing. We eventually all got back to work digging. We had no idea what the gravels here would hold as far as gold values but intended to find out as fast as possible. Everyone wanted to start mining and seeing gold. We dug the rest of the day and got a nice cut going into the base of the mountain. Jacob took a pan of gravel for sampling and he let out a curse or two. Nothing but some black sand. Not one single flake.

   It was getting late and we had skipped lunch as well. We decided to call it a day. When we got back to camp what did Jacob want to eat? More of that canned stew. It seems like he can’t get enough of it. We sat around the fire eating and Jacob was going on about how life was at camp back in his day. They usually bathed down at the creek which he said wasn’t too bad after a real hot day but wasn’t much fun if the weather was cold. Jed kept saying he would fix up a hot shower with a tub heated by a fire and a pull chain but they never got around to it. Jed loved his hot water cornbread and cooked it up quite often. Sometimes it turned out good and sometimes not so good. Beans, bacon, stew, corn bread, and crackers mostly. And of course whisky and beer. He said the crew also played cards for gold some nights. Knife throwing contests were also popular with them as well as shooting cans and bottles set in various locations. The life of a mining crew up in the mountains. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

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   Posting my writings from back in 2002 is sure bringing back a lot of memories. So many things I didn't write about at the time. I am going to post them as I recall them. One that comes to mind was a hot Summer night sitting with Jacob outside his camper. It was dark out. Vern and Jim had gone into town for dinner at a bar they liked while Jacob and I decided to stay at camp. He kept thinking he heard voices up to the north of camp. This was creek and mountain on the west side of the creek. He always kept the old Thompson close. I didn't hear anything but he was convinced we were about to be attacked. He was clutching the Thompson and insisted that I arm myself which I did. After about half an hour and nothing happening he told me the hooligans may have left the area or they might be circling us. Another half hour passed and he finally put the Thompson down. I never heard a thing and he went to bed. A little later Vern and Jim came back from town and I told them what had taken place. We just chocked it up to Jacob remembering some bad things from the past out there.  

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  April 30   2002

 

   The morning broke clear and cold. We got ourselves back up to the new dig area and went to work. By noon we had a nice lateral cut started and broke for lunch. As usual, Jacob took a sample of gravel to pan. Nothing, not a flake. I noticed he had a concerned look on his face. He told us we were digging virgin material as far as he could tell. He said nothing had been disturbed at this location. Then he said that sometimes that’s a good thing and sometimes not so good. He said it might have been tested by the old timers way back and there were no values and they moved on. Or, we just may need to keep working in farther. He wanted to see some sign of gold there soon, even just a flake or two for starters. 

   After we had lunch we worked deeper into the mountain. We had a nice, steady pace going. No one was saying much but I knew we were all thinking the same thing, we wanted to see some gold.

   Around 3:00 PM I saw Jacob take another sample over to the tub and pan it out. We stopped digging and watched him. When he finished he just tossed the remains out of the pan with a quick shake of his hand and shook his head in disgust. Nobody said anything and we just went back to work.

   By 5:00 PM we were pretty tired and hungry. We decided to knock off for the day. Once again Jacob took a sample and once again there was no gold to show for all our hard work. I was feeling discouraged but Jacob said we needed to stay in this location a while longer. We all agreed. We’d give it more time.

 

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

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   I am recalling another occurance from the 2002 season that I never wrote in my personal journal. It was a hot Summer night sometime in mid July 2002. The crew was sitting around Jacob's camper as we often did until he signalled to us it was time for him to retire for the evening. A bear must have smelled some food we had previously cooked. We were always careful about cooking and garbage because there are a large number of black bears in this area. Well, this big old black bear came waddling down the mountain making it's bawling / low growling sounds. It was curious about our camp and started to circle it for about half an hour or so. It seemed like it was too timid to actually come all the way in. Well, after putting up with this for the half hour, Jacob got tired of it and grabbed up the Thompson. He put it on full auto and aimed it a little over the bears head and let it rip. I could see tree limbs snapping off and bark flying in the three quarter moonlight. The bear high tailed it up the mountain and was gone. Jacob never said a word as he took a sip of whisky from his cup. The rest of us had a good laugh about it. That was Jacob.

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   May 1   2002

 

   We worked all day at the new test site with only a few short breaks. Jacob has a slight elbow injury from when he struck a rock with his pick and is taking it easy but still doing sample pans. By mid afternoon we finally started to see some color and we all let out a whoop of relief. The crew took a rest in the shade and Jacob pulled out his flask and we all had a shot of whisky. He rolled one of his smokes and started talking about prospecting during his time out here. He reminded us that gold prospecting was hard work and gold mining was ten times harder than prospecting. He told us that if we eventually found a mineable spot and saw some gold every day we would know it was all worth the effort. Keep working hard is what he was telling us. We just might get rewarded. We ended the day close to dusk and the last sample pan was promising. Hopefully this area will get better with the digging and not prove to be a dead end. 

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

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   Some thoughts not written in any journal. Searching for truth has led to so many dead ends. Gold, guns, whisky, fights, murders, and treasure. Some days it's a bit overwhelming as the research continues. If I am to believe the information of three seperate people who came to the claims there have been three gold caches found and removed totalling 190 ounces of gold. Two of them were on the claims and one on an adjoining area very close to the claims. The murders for gold in 1936 and 1937 came in a government report and verified by Jacob. The initial gold strike of 1936 produced over 1000 ounces from an area of about 900 square feet. In 1937 Jacob's crew removed 218 ounces from another area even though they only mined part time in April, May, & June of that year.The fights and mayhem came from stories told to me by not only Jacob but also a knowledgeable professional person involved in gold mining. Some of the shootouts on the mine involved the gold miners against the ranchers in the area. Some were between gangsters and miners. There was also an incident that occurred in town between a local doctor and a miner over a woman. There was a shootout between the two of them on the main street and the miner was killed. The search goes on for gold and treasure as well as the truth behind the legend of the mine. 

   I am also now of the belief that there was another gold strike on one of the claims very near the southern faultline that occured in either 1964 or 1965. This was nearly half a mile from the 1000 ounce strike of 1936. This information was given to me in a report from a credible person. There was a vague reference to this in the original report I found but it left me hanging. Supposedly, a very large gold deposit had been identified and referred to as sizeable tonnage. There was a vague description of the location as it related to the big strike of 1936 and talk of taking a pay loader into the area. This led me to believe it may have been at or near the surface. There was no more about it in the information I have so I didn't know what they found. I'm guessing it may have been a good amount based on the information that has since been provided to me. Possibly several hundred ounces of gold. This was not a cache but a rich gold deposit missed by the crews in the 1800's and also 1936 - 1937. I was able to track down the location of the crew leader from that era. His location? A graveyard in Tonopah Nevada. He died not long after his time on the mine. Another dead end in the truest sense of the word. Maybe this place really is cursed as I have been told. 

   I still remain convinced there is a huge deposit remaining near the strike of 1936 that will be in the thousands of ounces. Getting to it would require shafts and drifting. This is something out of my wheelhouse. I may one day put a team together capable of taking on a project like this. More on all this at a later date.   

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   May 2   2002

 

   I think Jacob will be limited to panning duties for a spell as his elbow looks swollen and is quite sore. He refused to see a doctor but I am keeping an eye on the injury. We resumed working the gravels and set a steady pace of digging. Every hour or so Jacob would take a sample for panning at the tub. We were seeing some color in the pan each time. Not a lot but enough to keep us interested. 

   The bedrock was a bit deeper here, maybe five to eight feet below our starting point which was the base of the mountain. It took more effort to get there but the entire ten feet or so above bedrock was beginning to show promise. We broke for lunch as usual and got back to digging around 1:00 PM. We continued straight through until 6:00 PM with only two short breaks.

   We were into the base of the mountain enough that there was a bit of overhang. Jacob took the last sample of the day and panned it out. Then he set the pan on the table and gave us a wink and a grin. I knew by now that was a good sign from him. We looked at the contents of the pan. It was loaded with fine and some coarse gold and even a few pickers. Jacob said we had hit a rich area of gravel and needed to start our mine right here. We let out a whoop and I threw my cap in the air. We were finally going to mine for gold. I can’t wait to get started.

 

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

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18 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   May 2   2002

 

   I think Jacob will be limited to panning duties for a spell as his elbow looks swollen and is quite sore. He refused to see a doctor but I am keeping an eye on the injury. We resumed working the gravels and set a steady pace of digging. Every hour or so Jacob would take a sample for panning at the tub. We were seeing some color in the pan each time. Not a lot but enough to keep us interested. 

   The bedrock was a bit deeper here, maybe five to eight feet below our starting point which was the base of the mountain. It took more effort to get there but the entire ten feet or so above bedrock was beginning to show promise. We broke for lunch as usual and got back to digging around 1:00 PM. We continued straight through until 6:00 PM with only two short breaks.

   We were into the base of the mountain enough that there was a bit of overhang. Jacob took the last sample of the day and panned it out. Then he set the pan on the table and gave us a wink and a grin. I knew by now that was a good sign from him. We looked at the contents of the pan. It was loaded with fine and some coarse gold and even a few pickers. Jacob said we had hit a rich area of gravel and needed to start our mine right here. We let out a whoop and I threw my cap in the air. We were finally going to mine for gold. I can’t wait to get started.

 

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

Mornin'... don't forget a pic of Jacob when you get a chance.

That picture on the cover of your book isn't Jed and crew... correct?

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   May 3   2002     Part One     Setting Up The Operation

 

   This morning was real cold for early May. We even had hail, enough to coat the ground for an hour before the sun melted it off. Even that didn’t slow us down much. We all had breakfast in my camper which has a bit more room and over morning coffee we discussed our mining plan.

   We would not need to haul buckets to the creek as Jacob had done back in his day. The reason being we have a pond up on the mountain that was formed by a flooded out mine shaft in the low lying area of ground where the shaft was located. The shaft had been used by the 1960’s crew and the report told us it was 155 ft deep. We have our own proprietary well and pond thanks to them. It was only 300 feet west of this new dig site.

   I had built a fourteen foot long tom and set up a grizzly and small hopper with spray bars to shovel gravel directly into. We set it near the beginning of the dig to shovel into without hauling any pay by bucket or wheelbarrow. Jacob said we may be able to move the tom as we dig which will really make things faster and easier. We are pumping directly to the hopper and are using a low settling area as a natural small pond for fine tailings runoff. The ground is situated such that the dig site is above the water source so we just notched out a little ditch to take the water from the tailings pond back to the water source. By recycling we should have no water issues for quite some time if at all. We are using a three inch gas pump in conjunction with a water regulator to control pressure and flow. It’s a fairly simple setup. By mid afternoon we were ready to process gravel. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

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  May 3   2000     Part Two     Mining At Last

 

   Vern fired up the pump and we got water to the tom. Jacob was grinning from ear to ear and telling us to get to shoveling. Jim and I got busy and kept the tom fed for the next few hours with Vern pitching in as well. When we shut down we pulled the mats, put them in a small tub, and placed them on the bed of my truck. I figured we had roughly run about three yards of gravel.

   When we got down to camp we ran the concentrates through a little cleanup power sluice using a 12 volt pump at the creek. Then Jacob panned out the final weigh. It came to 1/10 ounce. Some fine and lots of coarse and some pickers as well. Jacob said this was pretty good for starters and proved there would be decent gold deeper in.

   We were all pretty excited about starting to mine and we all had some whisky with Jacob. It had been a great day. We are now gold miners at last.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

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