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


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4 hours ago, Bedrocker said:
 

 June 8   2000     Part One

June of 2000??? Are we going back in time now?

If only we could lol. I corrected it.

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   June 9   2002     Part Two

 

   We removed the sprocket and Jim and I took it along with the chain to a shop in town to see what could be done. The trommel itself was old and had seen a lot of mining in its day. At the machine shop they told us the best thing to do was order a new chain and sprocket as repairing them would not last and we’d be throwing our money away. It would take about a week to ten days to get the sprocket and the chain would come in five business days. So we were shut down.

   It was late morning when we got back to camp with the bad news. Jacob was still working away at the gold cleanup and we were now reduced to working with the tom again. So we set it up and by the time that was done it was nearly 2:00 PM and it was hot. None of us were in too good of a mood but we started to shovel pay gravel into the tom. At least we had the excavator to do the digging. By dusk we had processed 30 yards of pay gravel and called it a day. We cleaned out the tom and brought it over to Jacobs cleanout station for him to work on tomorrow. He had already finished up the concentrates from the 250 yard run and we were all anxious to see the results. There were 13 ounces of gold in the finish pan. Jacob didn’t like the number 13 much and said it was bad luck. Vern said he was thinking it would have been double that. We just laughed and said gold is gold and cracked open some cold beers as we fired up the cook stove. Jacob brought out a bottle of Bushmills and we all had a couple of shots of the good Irish whisky and chased them with the beers. We all had another round as the hot dogs and beans were cooked up and pretty soon we forgot all about the broken down trommel. 

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

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   June 10   2002     Part One

 

   We were up and at it around 8:00 AM. Jacob was busy with the gold cleanup chores and the rest of us shoveled gravel by hand into the tom. It was a giant step backwards and the weather was hot as all get up. Jim stockpiled the days pay gravel with the excavator first. This only took a short time because we could only process just so much by hand.

   After we’d shoveled for an hour we were all soaked in sweat and the temperature was already over 80 degrees. By lunch time it was over 90 and we took a break. I was too hot and tired to eat much of anything and had to fight the urge to have a cold beer. I told myself no, that’s for tonight after the mining is done. Around 3:00 PM the temperature was sitting at 95 in the shade. Then the water flow stopped. I hollered over to Vern who was the pump tender. I was angry and figured he had forgotten to keep the gas tank filled but he said no, he had been up there tending it not too long ago.

   The three of us hiked up the mountain to have a look. The lay flat line had been slashed and the pump's fuel cap was off. It wasn’t running. The oil cap was off as well. Upon inspection we realized someone had dumped some kind of grit into the oil reservoir and also something into the gas tank. The pump had seized up. Also, our hose had been slashed in about ten places in a 200 foot length from the pump and would need replaced. I was hot and tired and took it out on Vern saying he was responsible for guarding against this kind of sabotage but instead was down at the digsite working. I took off my hat and threw it on the ground and stormed back down the mountain in anger leaving Jim and Vern to look at the mess.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

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 June 10   2002     Part Two

 

   When I got back to camp Jacob was finishing up the gold weigh and had two ounces in the pan. I told him what had just happened and he was real upset about the situation. We had managed to process 25 yards before being sabotaged.

   Vern and Jim eventually came back down to camp and then Vern and I took the steer back up to the pump. We put it in the bucket of the steer and hauled it back to camp. There was nothing left to do but haul the pump into town to have a mechanic look at it. When he did he said he might be able to get it running with new parts but we were probably better off to just buy a new one. So we placed an order for a new pump and left the old one at the shop for the mechanic to look over.

   We still had the smaller pump and extra hose at camp. By now it was past 5:00 PM and we decided to call it a day. We’ll set up the old pump and replace the bad layflat hose in the morning and get a fresh start. 

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

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 June 12   2002

 

   The night had remained quiet and we got to work shoveling gravel into the tom. When we broke for lunch Jacob had the concentrates all cleaned up and there were 6 ounces of gold in the pan. He grinned and told us to shovel like hell because we were in a sweet spot. If only we had our trommel we could make a real killing I figured. But we went back to work and did the best we could. The heat was relentless. By the end of the day we had processed 35 yards. I figured that to be a very good days work in the heat. We were all worn out.

   Jacob took a few scoops of the concentrates and told us they were loaded with gold. He said maybe we didn’t need any trommel and had himself a good laugh. The rest of us looked at him and I thought he had gone mad the way he was laughing so hard. Jacob stopped and told us we didn’t seem to understand and that we had hit a jackpot. An area of concentrated gold deposit. Sizeable tonnage. Whatever you want to call it he said. Then he began to laugh some more. He said he’d seen this kind of thing several times on these claims. We might just have ourselves a gold strike. 

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

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   June 13   2002

 

   It was another peaceful night on the claim. The only movement I heard was a black bear who had ventured near camp and circled us a few times until Jacob let loose with the Thompson to scare the critter away. It no doubt smelled the remnants of our supper but was too timid to come all the way into camp.

   We got to work early and tried to send as many yards through the tom as possible before the heat came on. And come on it did. With a vengeance. By noon it was over 90 degrees and we took a short break for lunch. This time I gave in to my yearnings and had a cold beer as did the rest of the crew including Jacob and man, did it taste good.

   Jacob had the gold cleanup done and we drank out beers and looked at the pan of gold. All 11 ounces of it. And from only 35 yards of gravel. It was unbelievable but it was real gold. I even asked Jacob if he was tricking us and he just laughed and said to enjoy the view.

   We got back to shoveling gravel and worked until dark. I didn’t have any sweat left in my body and had drank gallons of water. The entire crew was shot to all heck but we had processed 44 yards of pay gravel. We were all pretty damn proud of ourselves as we sat down to supper. We were becoming a rough and tough crew like the old timers. 

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

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I'm assuming in 1936 they got their drinking water (when they drank water) from the stream, but in 2002 where did ya'll get your drinking water from, surely not from the stream??

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18 hours ago, Gold Seeker said:

I'm assuming in 1936 they got their drinking water (when they drank water) from the stream, but in 2002 where did ya'll get your drinking water from, surely not from the stream??

A pipe that comes down out of the mountain that is potable & is still there to this day.

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