Jump to content

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


Recommended Posts

11 hours ago, rvpopeye said:

 From a 1 shovel sample...............👁️‍🗨️👁️‍🗨️ 

 

 

As stated, that was the best pan of all the ones we did. Evidently someone found it humorous. This was just above bedrock.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites


33 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

As stated, that was the best pan of all the ones we did. Evidently someone found it humorous. This was just above bedrock.

We also worked with a geologist out on that area back in 2013. He told us the area has a crazy history for finding gold. There can be ounces per yard or yards per ounce. There were over one million ounces of gold taken there by the hydraulic miners back in the 1800's when they hit a huge kettle which is actually called a drop zone fault. The hot spots we have found so far don't hold up long but there is hope that we fine one that does.  

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are also heavy black sands in that area. Here is a picture of the results of a larger test showing what the old crew up there was after. Some nice pickers, coarse, and fine gold. 

IMG_20190420_100223648.jpg

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a better picture of the collapsed drift referred to in the journal as well as a picture of the "hill" they mentioned.

WP_20150125_12_34_28_Pro.jpg

WP_20150927_12_31_36_Pro.jpg

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

   July 1   1937

 

   This morning Will and Hudson rested up at camp while John and I took Luther into town where he was placed under arrest. Deputy Dan said there was a big investigation going on into the widespread corruption in the county. It seems the corruption did not end with the sheriff and judge but was also deeply seated into many of the county agencies as well. Dan seemed confident that they would get a handle on it and make quite a few changes. To our crew this was neither here nor there as we only wanted to be able to mine gold in peace.

   We filled Dan in on what had taken place in Nevada and he was a bit shocked to say the least. He was concerned that there could be an investigation into all that had taken place. I informed him that neither Will, Hudson, John, or I had given any information to anyone out there as to our true identities. I also informed him that we had only acted in self defense. I made it clear that if any law dogs attempted to come for us we would fight them to the end and would never allow ourselves to be placed in a prison. With that being said, we headed back to camp.

   When we got back we all had lunch and I suggested we do a little mining before the day ended. So John worked the tom with Hudson on guard duty while Will and I went up to the Eastern Drift Mine area and worked the rich gravels. We ended our day with 70 buckets. We were finally back to doing what we all came out here for. 

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 3
  • Oh my! 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

   July 2   1937     Part One

 

   This morning we weighed up a whopping eight ounces of gold from yesterday’s run. The gold is real coarse with plenty of small nuggets and pickers. We all had a shot of whisky and prepared to get the day underway. Will was the watchman today while Hudson and I do the digging chores. 

   About the time we were ready to head up to the hill Deputy Dan made an appearance at camp. What now? I was thinking about more trouble. He told us that there was a phone call from Nevada about an investigation into the death of the thugs at the mine out there. Dan said that he was worried about Luther possibly making a deal with them. He said Luther was the only one other than himself that could positively identify us as the crew that took out the gang. I laughed and told Dan that the law dogs from Nevada ought to give us an award for doing their jobs for them. Dan shook his head and said that ain’t the way things work.

   He had an idea. He knew people who could get Luther Shanghaied out of the country. They operated a ring in San Francisco and could make him an imprisoned sailor never to be heard from again. He wanted $100 to get it done.  I placed the money in his greedy little hand and told him I didn’t want to hear about it again. He gave me a nod and quickly headed out of camp. With that out of the way we headed out to work the mine.  

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 2
  • Oh my! 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

   July 2 1937     Part Two

 

   When Hudson and I got up to the dig site we could see some of the empty buckets we kept there were nowhere to be found. I sent Hudson back down to camp to get more of them. Obviously, someone had been up here digging and hauling out buckets when we were in Nevada. They also had to know by now that this was a very rich gold deposit. No doubt they will come back. We may need to guard this area at night. Our resources are stretched thin. We don’t have the manpower to post enough guards and there are very few if any trustworthy people in this shit hole of a county. It seems like we are fighting an uphill battle every day.

   When Hudson got back we got to work digging. After about an hour we were at country rock which suddenly plunged nearly vertical. We cut laterally across the base gravels and were able to determine that the drop continued to the west for nearly sixty feet. This took us the better part of the day and we worked like devils to try and determine the depth of the kettle deposit. By sundown we had got down ten feet in the west corner with no sign of country rock yet. I took a quick sample from this depth over to the wash tub and panned it out while Hudson held a lantern for me to see. We had only dug twenty buckets from the higher level which had been taken down to John earlier. Hudson held the lantern directly over the pan and when I took a good look I nearly passed out. The pan was chuck full of small nuggets and coarse gold. There had to be half an ounce. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ..............

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 2
  • Oh my! 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  July 2   1937     Part Three

 

   Seeing as we had devoted our dig time to determining the breadth of the kettle and only brought a small amount of buckets down to John which he had finished we decided to do the weigh after supper. We ended up with three ounces with nearly a quarter of that from the bottom gravels we had placed in one pan. We now knew that this entire area was a gold bonanza with super rich gravels and we hadn’t even found country rock in the drop of the kettle. There was no determining how much gold was in there but we were starting to think in very large terms.

   After we completed the weigh and hid our gold we gathered around the fire and talked about our current situation. The crew was rightly disturbed to find out about someone working in our dig site while we were in Nevada. We decided to rotate guard duty in a hidden area with a view of the site. If someone came back to steal our gravels we would be ready for them. No one was in favor of hiring an extra man at this point. 

   I volunteered for the first shift as night watchman while the rest of the crew turned in to get some sleep. I grabbed a bottle of Bushmills as well as my Thompson and headed up to the mine on foot. I got to the watchpost and settled in for my shift. It wasn’t long until the cold night air settled in over the mountain. 

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 2
  • Oh my! 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

   July 3   1937

   There was nothing moving on the mountain last night except for a bear and some mule deer. At breakfast we had a brief meeting and were concerned that whoever had taken those buckets out of the mine while we were in Nevada most likely knew we were on rich ground. We would need to keep a close watch on the mine.

   Will and I got an early start as the sun was coming up behind the trees. The intense heat was back once again. We worked at a good pace and cut a trench trying to find the depth of country rock. We hit it at twelve feet. I took a sample pan over to the tub with Will and we couldn’t believe the result. The pan was full of small nuggets and pickers as well as coarse gold. We had never seen a pan like this. It was even richer than last year's kettle dig. We still didn’t know how far back into the hill the kettle went. The deposit had the potential to be massive. 

   I kept a thermometer in the shade and it was already reading 98 degrees. It had to be 110 or more in the sun. I sent Will back down to the creek with a lode of buckets filled to the brim with rich gravels for John to wash. I told him to bring up more water and some cool Lucky’s we kept in the creek. When he got back up to the site we found a shady spot and drank a few of them. I have to say that I have never had beer that tasted better on a sweltering hot day.

   We got back to work and didn’t stop until dusk. We had removed a total of 170 buckets of super rich pay. The weigh tomorrow was going to be a good one as most of the material we took down to John was from deep in the kettle.


 

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 2
  • Oh my! 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...