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


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   May 30   1937     Part Five

 

   On the way out to the drift mine we speculated as to what might have happened to Ben. Sarge said maybe the foreign buyers had decided to get revenge and they could be laying for us. John agreed. I didn’t say anything but was thinking this might be something on the supernatural end of things. The Shaman had warned us. Where did that fog come from so quickly and then  disappear just as fast? We had disturbed the dead in our quest for treasure. We had fought and killed for gold but only to protect ourselves and our goods.  Were we now just like the gangsters we had fought since last year? I couldn’t make myself believe that we were like them. We had worked hard for everything we had achieved. We didn’t steal. Yes we had killed but not without being provoked. We were put in situations where we had no choice. My fear was that it was becoming easier.

   When we pulled up to the site we saw the glow of a lantern inside the tunnel. John and I had taken our lanterns with us. Who or what was in there and what were they doing? Sarge hollered out from just around the outside of the opening but out of direct line of gunfire if there were hooligans. He said if there was anyone in there to come out. He said there were heavily armed men outside and if no one came out we would open fire. There was only silence in response.

   I repeated Sarge’s order and said they had ten seconds to come out with hands in the air or we would spray the tunnel with bullets. Still no response. I looked at John and Sarge to wait for their signal.

   TO BE CONTINUED .............

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   May 30   1937     Part Six 

   Sarge gave the signal to hold off on any shooting while he edged around the side of the opening and shined his flashlight inside. He shook his head and said there was nobody in there. There was a lantern left lit towards the back wall. It appeared that someone had been inspecting our work. John said it had to be the foreign buyer group. Sarge said they probably came to rob and kill us but saw that we might be onto more treasure. Somehow they must have captured Ben in all that fog. He probably never saw them or heard them sneaking up on him.

   John said that they must be close by so we looked around for clues. We saw a few fresh footprints that looked like they led up the mountain to the north. We followed them but made sure to keep under as much cover as we could. We cut out the lanterns and moved in the dark heading north. There was a quarter moon which cast a small amount of light. The footprints had vanished and we just kept heading up the mountain hoping to find them. 

   We stopped and just listened for a minute. John said quietly that he heard something moving just up ahead. We moved forward trying to make sure we weren’t walking into a trap. As we moved higher up the mountain there was more noise. It was a rustling sound but we couldn’t quite make out where it was coming from. Then, without warning, there was a holler. There was no mistaking the voice. It was Ben.

   

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

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   May 30   1937     Part Seven 

 

   Ben was saying he would come down towards us. When he did we could see that he was in rough shape. He said he had been struck on the head with something and dragged up the hill a ways. He had passed out and never saw who had done it. We helped him into my truck and I took him back to camp. Sarge and John stayed at the tunnel to guard it. 

   When I got Ben back we got him a chair and told him to take it easy. I handed him the Thompson and he was mighty glad to see I had recovered it. Ben was thinking the same as everyone else, that the foreign buyer group must be trying to get their money back and is watching us. It just never seems to end out here.

   Sarge and John stayed at the tunnel all night and I stayed at camp. We had two places we needed to guard. Everyone is tired. I kept watch for a while until Will took over and everything stayed quiet. I heard no warning shots from the other site. Tomorrow morning I’ll get back to the site and continue digging.

   

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

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   May 31   1937

 

   I headed over to the dig site before dawn. I took some beans and coffee with me for Sarge and John. When I got there they said it had remained quiet throughout the night. They had taken turns on watch and both got a little bit of sleep. All three of us were really tired. I told them Ben was sleeping and hopefully would be ok. Will and Hudson kept an eye on him and camp.

   John and I went to work digging while Sarge stood in the tunnel entrance with the BAR at the ready. We dug straight down and were in a hurry to see if there was anything down there. After a couple of hours we were down over ten feet and had worked up a good sweat even though the morning air was chilly. By now the pick and shovel were like a part of my own body and I had the calluses to show for all the digging I had done. It was no big deal to me anymore and there wasn’t a pound of fat on my body.

   Along about noon we were ready to take a break when John swung down with the pick and we both heard a thump. We looked at each other and smiled. I called over to Sarge. I told him we had just hit something that sounded like wood. Could we possibly be so lucky and find even more treasure? And if we did what would it be? That’s what I was thinking as we carefully excavated around the side of a huge chest. We weren’t finished yet.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

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   June 1   1937

 

   This chest was about five feet in length by three feet in width and about three feet in depth. It was made of a dark hardwood and there were three locks securing the slightly rounded lid. The weight was such that John and I were unable to budge it. It took John several attempts to break the locks and he ended up shooting them off which damaged the trunk somewhat.

   When we lifted the old lid there was a rotted yellow and red cloth near the top. We carefully lifted off the cloth and there were some very old drawings on some kind of parchment that we were not able to completely make out. The chest smelled musty and was slightly damp. Beneath the parchment was a row of what looked to be fittings for swords. We removed them and there was a well fitted piece of hardwood protecting the lower contents. John and I carefully lifted it out and set it on the surface. Sarge was watching the drift opening as well as watching us. The entire bottom half of the chest was packed full of loose silver and gold coins. Some were blank while others had strange markings. What appeared to be a crescent was found struck into some of them. Others were blank. The quantity was massive. 

   We stood over the chest too stunned to say a word. Finally I told Sarge to come over and have a quick look see. He let out a soft whistle in amazement. We would need to unload the contents and get everything to a safe place. The problem was that there are few safe places out here. 

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

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Doesn't Sarge or John own a farm? I don't understand why they haven't used that farm for a place to bury some of that loot.

Of course you would want to make sure that no one follows you lol. Seems like no matter what precautions you take in this story somebody is watching you.

How in the heck Jed let someone sneak up on him and shoot him in the back of the head while he was burying his gold is almost unbelieveable.

Good story though man! Keep up the good work and thank you!

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1 hour ago, Bedrocker said:

Doesn't Sarge or John own a farm? I don't understand why they haven't used that farm for a place to bury some of that loot.

Of course you would want to make sure that no one follows you lol. Seems like no matter what precautions you take in this story somebody is watching you.

How in the heck Jed let someone sneak up on him and shoot him in the back of the head while he was burying his gold is almost unbelieveable.

Good story though man! Keep up the good work and thank you!

Many thanks for reading the story. I think Jed got careless. He drank way too much whisky. 

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   June 2   1937 

 

   The chest contained a fortune in gold and silver coins. We couldn’t make out anything on the faded drawings. They were a complete mystery. We brought the truck over near the tunnel entrance and unloaded the coins into our buckets and placed them on the truck with the original chest and put the drawings in the cab. Then we drove back to camp where we had a big discussion on what to do next. Sarge wanted to remove his take from the area.  So did Ben. The rest of us were not sure about that. We remembered what had happened to Jed when he took the treasure away to hide it. 

   I told the crew they were free to do as they wished. Sarge and Ben told us they had made their fortune and were leaving the crew. They had money and treasure and were going to head back home and work their farms. The rest of the crew wanted to keep mining. We would need to hide the money and treasure somewhere and soon.

   Later on in the day Sarge and Ben loaded up Sarge’s truck and headed out. We all shook hands and had a drink of whisky with them before they left. Sarge advised us to get out of this area before our luck ran out. I have to admit that I am giving it some thought.

 

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

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18 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

Will the 1937 mining season end before it even gets going? 

Good idea giving that some thought lol.

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