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

[GhostMiner]

   Some other info not in my journal of 2002 : I am posting a couple of pictures of one of the more dangerous areas of the claims back in the old days according to what I was told. This is an area above one of the creeks where armed thugs would lay in wait for unsuspecting prospectors down below. They knew that anyone working the miles of creeks would have to pass this area on their way north. There were numerous gun battles, fights, and robberies in this area. It was the wild west. Even up to the WW2 era. One story I was told by a historian was that a prospector was cooking a piece of meat on a fire near the creek. He didn't have a pan handy so he was using his shovel to cook on. Suddenly, he was jumped by several armed men who took his gear, his money, and even the piece of meat he was cooking. There were also local ranchers who came out there to shoot it out with the miners who they hated. Very rough times.

[GhostMiner]

   May 4   2002     Part Two

 

   The bedrock here didn’t seem to fall away like the other area we abandoned. Jim, Vern, and I were digging side by side and heading northward into the gravels. I was surprised at how easy the digging was. Jacob laughed and told us not to get too relaxed as it would most likely get tougher. 

   Jacob was taking samples about once an hour and I noticed he had his flask of whisky with him as well. We took a break around 2:00 PM for a late lunch and I walked over to the table where the test pan sat. There was some nice gold in the last pan. Jacob said that if there was gold in the samples there would be lots of it in the tom. That made us get back to digging like crazy.

   Around 6:00 PM Vern went up the mountain and shut down the pump and we pulled the mats out of the tom. We washed them out at camp and ran the heavies through the concentrating sluice. I estimated we had processed about five yards of gravel. After supper we finished up the panning and Jacob gave us one of his winks when he weighed up the gold on the scale. A quarter of an ounce. We were throwing our hats in the air and jumping up and down like maniacs. This was the most gold I had ever seen and we took it out of the mountain. He said this was most likely a rich spot and we had done good. We all had a shot of whisky with Jacob. I was dog tired but too excited to sleep. Jacob hit the sack and the rest of us stayed up talking about gold and had a few beers. The fever has struck us.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

[GhostMiner]

   May 5   2002

 

   We couldn’t wait to get back to digging gravels this morning. We got water down to the tom and went to work. Jacob was even doing a little digging. He took a sample over to the tub and came back and showed us the contents of the pan. There was a nice little picker and some coarse flakes. This kept us going. There is nothing like seeing gold in the pan to keep you working.

   We stopped for lunch and got back to work around 1:00 PM. The sound of those shovels all ringing off the gravel and rock was music to my ears. We have a nice cut beginning to open up and are making it wider as we continue into the hill. So far the digging has been easier than I expected and we are getting used to the work. Jacob tells us each man should be able to move close to a ton of gravel per hour unless there is big rock to slow us. We will have to build our bodies up to achieve that number as we are nowhere near working that fast yet. 

   By day's end I estimate we processed about six yards of gravel. I would like to double that amount at some point. When we finished up the gold weigh after supper we had 3/10 of an ounce. While we were sitting around the campfire a black bear came down the creek not too far from us. We banged some pans and hollered at it and it kept on going. There seem to be a lot of them in this area. Jacob said his crew saw plenty of them as well. We have not seen any mountain lion yet but were warned about them by the ranger. It has been a good day on the claims. We are all tired and ready for sleep. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

[GhostMiner]

   May 6   2002     Part One     Jacob Deals With A Claim Jumper

 

   I awoke to a near disaster today. There was someone over at the creek near our gold cleanup area and I heard yelling. Jacob had the Thompson but was not pointing it at him. I pulled on my boots and ran over there to find out what was happening. The guy was hollering at me to get this crazy old man away from him and take his gun away. Jacob told him to shut his mouth or he’d hang him for claim jumping.

    Jacob said the guy was a hooligan and had come out here to steal our gold and other goods. When I finally got things calmed down I learned that the man was a prospector and hadn’t realized the area was under active claim. Jacob then called him a liar. I was finally able to convince Jacob the man had made an honest mistake and the prospector walked back down to the main road. I apologized to him which seemed to help and we shook hands. Then I went back up to camp and had a long talk with Jacob. Hopefully this won’t happen again.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

[GhostMiner]

   May 6  2002     Part Two

 

   After breakfast we got to work. Jacob was pointing out a mule deer on the ride up to the site. There were a lot of them out here. It was already warming up and we quickly loosened up to the digging. Jacob was in a rare mood and was hollering and giving everyone encouragement. He was working a pick and shovel right along with us. 

   I hit a couple of rounded rocks about a foot in diameter and Jacob said we were on the channel. We took a break around 10:00 AM and sat down on some chairs I had taken up there for break times. They beat sitting on logs. Jacob took a slug of whisky from his flask and rolled himself a smoke. He said he was going to start taking samples after we started digging again. He wanted to closely monitor the gravel values. Vern, Jim, and I decided we were going to pick up the pace of digging. We were hell bent to get gold. The hopper of the tom was kept full with rich gravel and we didn’t stop for lunch until 2:00 PM.

   When we went over to the wooden table near the tub, Jacob had several pans sitting there for us to look at. Each one looked to contain some nice gold. Jacob told us the samples were improving and he thought we might make some money here. He said it would take some hard work but if the deposit was in there deeper we would start seeing ounces soon. Jacob said the damn fools who took over the claims back in 1937 didn’t know squat about finding gold. He was hoping they had left us some rich pay.   

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

[GhostMiner]

   May 6   2002     Part Three

 

   At lunch Jacob was talking about how good it was to be back here mining gold again. I told him how bad we all felt about what had happened back in 1937. He got real quiet and I decided to change the subject. We all just started speculating on how much gold was still buried in the side of the mountain we were working. Jacob said he wouldn’t be surprised if there were thousands of ounces. He said the deposit could run west clear down to the creek and way north into the mountain for hundreds of yards or more. He said there wasn’t anyone who knew and the only way to find out was to work like hell.

   We got back at it mid afternoon and worked until dusk. We were beginning to move lots of rounded rock and Jacob’s samples were showing promise.It was dark when we finally got back to camp with the mats so we decided to do the cleanup bright and early tomorrow. It was canned hash and canned stew for supper and a few beers for dessert. We sat and talked about the claims for a while. 

   Jacob got on the subject I had brought up at lunch time. It was one of those  times when he took close to a full cup of whisky and he started opening up about the old days here. He rolled himself a smoke and asked if we wanted to hear a story about miners and loggers. What could I say? I told him we were all ears.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

[GhostMiner]

Pictures of some of the gravels and rock in this area. We pulled good gold out of there thanks to Jacob.

[GhostMiner]

 May 6   2002     Part Four     A LONG STORY FROM JACOB BEGINS

 

   The fire was burning low and we were all sitting in a circle around it. I could feel the night chill coming on and threw a couple small logs on the fire to get it going better. Jacob took a sip of whiskey from his cup and a long drag on his smoke and began to unwind what was on his mind that night.

   He pointed up to the north along where the pines come near the creek on the east side. The ground begins to climb there as it winds up the big mountain. Jacob said the crew from 1936 had been sitting in camp one night in June just about where we were now. They were drinking and swapping stories when they heard what he called a bunch of rowdies coming down the trail towards their camp. When they got closer they could see it was a bunch of loggers from a local company. He said the loggers hated the miners and the same held true as far as the way the miners felt about them. 

   He said his brother’s crew was real surprised to see them out there, especially at night. Before they could figure out what was going on the loggers came walking straight into their camp uninvited. This didn’t set well with Jed and his crew. There were six loggers and Jacob said they were pure trash. They were drunk. Jed asked the loggers what the hell they were up to. The crew leader told him they had been sent out to look over a job further up the mountain and had set up camp about two miles north of ours. Their crew leader’s name was Roy and Jed didn’t like him much. Roy said they came down to drink with us and see how much gold we were getting. Well, Jed squared up face to face with Roy and we all got to our feet. We were waiting for one of them to throw the first punch and the fight would be on.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

[GhostMiner]

   May 6   2002     Part Five

 

   Jacob said the crew knew that the loggers were up to no good. He said they were born troublemakers. Anyone with half a brain knows you don’t walk into a gold mining camp at night without an invitation. Jacob told us some of the loggers had revolvers and one had a shotgun. They had gotten liquored up and wanted to see what we had to steal.

   Jed and Roy stood face to face for about a minute. Neither one said a word. Then Roy backed down and the loggers headed back up the mountain. No doubt they were still trying to build up their courage by drinking some more. We had noticed they were carrying bottles of whisky. We figured we were not done with them and we were right. 

   Jacob said they were still up around midnight when sure enough the loggers came back down to camp. Roy hollered out he was coming in and didn’t want any misunderstandings. Jed told him that if they came in they would get all heck kicked out of them or possibly shot. He meant it too. Jed never bluffed. 

   The fools came into camp despite the warning and started running their mouths at us with Roy saying they knew we had gold hidden and they just wanted to see it. He also said they were running low on whisky and wanted to get some of ours. At this point Jed had enough of them. He walked over to Roy who was drunk and still running his mouth. Jed cracked him on the jaw with a short right handed punch and Roy went down. The others decided they wanted some and the fight was on. To say they got beat was an understatement. Jacob said that the fight lasted about two minutes and the loggers got the worst of it. The mining crew relieved them of their weapons which they never gave back. The loggers had to carry Roy back up the mountain as he was passed out. Jacob said they ran into this crew in the tavern about two weeks later and none of them said a word to them. 

   Jacob told us that his brother loved to fight. He wouldn’t look for one but if a fight presented itself he was always willing. According to him, Jed wasn’t a real big guy and some thugs underestimated him until he built up a reputation in the area. Then no one messed with him unless they were newcomers and didn’t know him. He said that was the same for the entire mining crew. People stayed clear of them, even the deputies. They had become a real mean bunch and never backed down from anyone. He said it was just the way things were back then.

   TO BE CONTINUED ............

[GhostMiner]

   Some info not in my journal of 2002  :  In my long talks with Jacob in 2002 it seemed there was a lot of tension between miners and loggers, miners and farmers, miners and ranchers, and needless to say, miners and thieves. The old reports get into some of this. Some of it is told by local historians. I think there is truth to some of it and perhaps some exaggeration to some of the stories thrown in for good measure. There is really no way to know for sure. For someone like me who has actually mined and done gold exploration in this area and is writing about the old timers of the 1930's era it has become a treasure trove of wild stories and supposed events. At some point I will also get into the post WW2 era at this location. There were two crews who worked these claims in the early 1950's. Both met with failure as far as old reports go. I am still researching some of the 1950's info which was written about in the same government report. I have made at least one good connection to this era and hope to talk more about it soon. I know it's been a fantastical, wild ride up to now but there is still much more to come. Hang in there with me, we'll get it all told  -  the good, the bad, and even the ugly. I promise.