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

[GhostMiner]

   May 6   2002     Part Six     A SECRET LOOKOUT STATION AND VISITORS

 

   When Jacob finished his story he paused, rolled another smoke, and started into yet another tale of his adventures here. He told us about what he called a “secret lookout station” the old crew used on occasion back in 1936. He said there was an old logging road about a mile north of camp that wound its way up the mountain. It was very remote and sometimes used by outlaws as they traversed the range. 

   At certain times when the crew was put on high alert one of the men would be sent up there to guard against hooligans coming down to the south from higher up the mountain. Jacob said you just never knew what you might run into up there. It was a lonely and dangerous place inhabited by bear, lion, bobcats, thugs, and other things. 

   I asked him what he meant by other things. He took another sip from his cup and began to speak in a rather low tone. He said he was up there at the lookout station one night and there was a three quarter moon. It was a warm Summer night. He had his rifle and revolver on him. The station was actually placed about twenty feet up in a Ponderosa pine tree. He said it was about 2:00 AM and everything was stone quiet. He had about three more hours to go before he would head back down to camp. 

   A little further up the road he heard what he referred to as whoop and a loud growl. Then another one from further east of the first one. Then he saw what made the first noise which was close to him. Out of the trees came what he called a great ape. It was now standing on the logging road north of him. It let out another whoop and there was an answer to the call and very close now. Then he saw another one come out of the trees on the other side of the road. Two great apes standing side by side. They were about 100 feet away and didn’t seem to know he was there. Jacob said not too much scared him but when he grabbed his rifle his hands were shaking a little.

   He watched the two creatures start to walk up the road and away from him. They did not make a sound. He said they looked to be over seven or eight feet in height and weighed at least 400 pounds or so but it was hard to tell. They were covered in reddish brown hair and what he glimpsed of the eyes looked to be large and kind of pale yellow. They disappeared over the next hill and he never saw them again. He said he was not fooling with us and the story was true.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..............

[GhostMiner]

   Not in the 2002 journal  :  On the subject of what Jacob called the secret lookout station - I went up there with him once. It is on the northernmost perimeter of the claims and very remote. The old road is still there and winds up to the top of the mountain although you would need a Jeep or 4 wheeler to make it all the way as much of the road has been washed out. In 2019 I tried to get a Ford F150 4 wheel drive up there but got hung up after a short distance and had to back all the way down in reverse as there are no turn around places and the road is narrow with dropoffs on one side and a mountain rock wall on the other. If you ran into a critter up there on foot there is nowhere to go and you would be forced to deal with it. 

   The old crew had a tree stand overlooking part of the road but none of us including Jacob could find it. He did show me the area of the lookout though. Someday, I would like to hike up there and set up a one night camp just to see what happened. There is no cell service either. Not there or anywhere on the claims. That area is known as a bigfoot hot spot but I have never heard or seen anything like that while there. I would be more concerned with mountain lion as I have seen those on the claims before. 

[Old Miner Don]

2 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   Not in the 2002 journal  :  On the subject of what Jacob called the secret lookout station - I went up there with him once. It is on the northernmost perimeter of the claims and very remote. The old road is still there and winds up to the top of the mountain although you would need a Jeep or 4 wheeler to make it all the way as much of the road has been washed out. In 2019 I tried to get a Ford F150 4 wheel drive up there but got hung up after a short distance and had to back all the way down in reverse as there are no turn around places and the road is narrow with dropoffs on one side and a mountain rock wall on the other. If you ran into a critter up there on foot there is nowhere to go and you would be forced to deal with it. 

   The old crew had a tree stand overlooking part of the road but none of us including Jacob could find it. He did show me the area of the lookout though. Someday, I would like to hike up there and set up a one night camp just to see what happened. There is no cell service either. Not there or anywhere on the claims. That area is known as a bigfoot hot spot but I have never heard or seen anything like that while there. I would be more concerned with mountain lion as I have seen those on the claims before. 

Seems like I recall in the beginning of Jed's journal that Sarge saw something like a hairy man one night while he was on guard duty.

[GhostMiner]

1 hour ago, Bedrocker said:

Seems like I recall in the beginning of Jed's journal that Sarge saw something like a hairy man one night while he was on guard duty.

It was John.

[GhostMiner]

   Some further information on part of the claims  :  Yesterday, I received information on this property that I have been waiting for. It took me nearly 10 yrs to locate all of this paperwork that has been sitting in an old barn for over 70 years. There was a crew that took over the claims back in 1950 and worked at one specific location on and off between 1950 - 1959. The old report I found had some information about this time period and a little bit of information about what was done. I finally tracked down some relatives of one of the crew leaders and there has been an ongoing search for records of their project which up until recently had vanished. Well, I am happy to say that yesterday I took delivery of an old trunk measuring 32 inches long, 20 inches wide, and 21 inches in depth. When I opened it I couldn't believe my eyes. It is packed with the 1950's crew records, maps, notes. and something of what I would call a journal although not written daily. 

   The relatives of the miner told me they found the trunk covered up in several horse blankets in the corner of an old barn that was located on the miner's friends property. The friend had passed away years ago but the property is still owned by his family. The barn is still in fair condition but hasn't been in use for 40 years or so. I will begin to go through all of these old papers and start posting the story of the 1950's crew as well as my 2002 journal. The family only asked that I keep the papers safe and change the name of the miners from that project. I also signed an agreement with them giving them a % of any gold found at one specific location which is the place the 1950 crew worked. If there is the amount of gold still in the ground at this location that I think there is, a % of a strike there would make them very wealthy. From what I have researched up to this point over the last 10 years and now having this further information, I believe there are thousands of ounces of gold trapped beneath the ground in a very limited area of ground. I have named this area THE GOLD VAULT for good reason. As soon as I can finish the research and get my team put together, I am going after it in spades. There was no sleep last night at my house and I have been up all night reading and my wife was even helping. The only thing missing as far as I can tell is pictures that were supposed to be in this record log. No one has been able to find them yet. They would have been nice to have but I have detailed desriptions of the work done and locations as well as maps. Stay tuned on this. 

[GhostMiner]

   May 7   2002

 

   We got a late start this morning due to our staying up late last night. Jacob was full of stories and we couldn’t get enough. He said he had plenty more to tell us about these claims and we were all ready to hear more. I had a bit of a headache due to the whisky drinking. While I was sipping my morning coffee Jacob came over and poured a shot of Bushmills into my cup and gave me one of his winks and a smile. It helped.

   We did the cleanup and got ourselves another ⅓ ounce. That was all we needed to see and last night's fog cleared from our heads and gold fever grabbed hold of us once again.

   When we finally all got up to the mine it was nearly noon. We picked up the shovels which were laying there in the gravel waiting for us. Seeing as we started late we worked steady until nearly 3:00 PM and took a lunch break. Jacob had been taking samples and when we got over to the table we looked in the pan and saw gold. Jacob told us “You’re on it boys.” Then he started to laugh and asked us what we were going to do with all our money. 

   From 4:00 PM we worked until nearly dark. Vern shut down the pump and we put the mats in a tub and headed back to camp. It had been a late start but we made good time today and the samples were rich. We’ll do a cleanup in the morning. I need food and rest tonight.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[GhostMiner]

   May 8   2002     Part One     JACOB GIVES A PEP TALK

 

   We were all up before sunrise and had breakfast as the sun was coming up. The Sierra Nevada air is clean and cold this morning and I am living the life I have dreamt of. We weighed up the gold before 9:00 AM and had .25 of an ounce. 

   We had a quick meeting before heading up to dig. Jacob was giving everyone a pep talk. He was telling us that we needed to buckle down and shovel more gravel into the tom. Converting his tonnage to approximate yardage he wants us to process 12 to 15 yards per day minimum. He said there is no reason why we can’t do it as we get our bodies conditioned to the work. He also said that he would help out as much as he could. At his age we don’t expect him to be a laborer and we told him we are happy to just have him be the mine boss and do all the sampling and help find good areas to dig. Anyway, we will try our best to step up the pace. Jacob said that when they were digging the crew could go from sunrise to sunset with just a few breaks. He told us we are too soft and need to toughen up. He told us he came out here to get gold and wants the crew to be successful.

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

[GhostMiner]

   I will begin posting the 1950 - 1959 information today. It will be kept separate from my 2002 journal. The 1950's log of work and activities on the claims came to me a couple of days ago. As earlier stated, I had some info on this period of time from one of the old reports but now have the entire body of paperwork and records thanks to remaining relatives of the miners from that project. There were also pictures in these records according to what I am reading as I go through them but they are missing. We are trying to locate them if they still exist. The pictures included the operation equipment, dig sites, and some crew members. 

[GhostMiner]

      LOST GOLD AT THE DEAD MAN’S MINE

                                          THE 1950’s ERA

 

   This log is based on mining crew records and stories about the gold claims known as The Dead Man’s Mine during a period of exploration and mining from 1950 to 1959. The work was not continuous and some of the crew members changed over the years. At the request of remaining relatives of the old crew members, names have been changed.This record of mining activities comes from claim owner Jack Murphy and two people who leased the claim from him during this period and also includes additional information based on several old reports and stories given to me by local historians. 

 

   April 25   1950

 

   Attempting to re-open an old mine shaft on the north claim. It is flooded out and there are some safety concerns. Historical data indicates rich gold  deposits partially mined in 1936 but more deposits remaining at sloped bedrock to dropped zone bedrock from main shaft depth of 56 ft. Depth of deposit not yet known but according to geologist may be 20 - 50 ft lower than shaft bottom. Crew is assembling today and tomorrow with camp being set up on site. I was told that several of the 1936 and 1937 crew members were killed over gold here. This was confirmed to me by state geologist who had input in the previous work. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[Old Miner Don]

3 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   May 8   2002     Part One     JACOB GIVES A PEP TALK

 

   We were all up before sunrise and had breakfast as the sun was coming up. The Sierra Nevada air is clean and cold this morning and I am living the life I have dreamt of. We weighed up the gold before 9:00 AM and had .25 of an ounce. 

   We had a quick meeting before heading up to dig. Jacob was giving everyone a pep talk. He was telling us that we needed to buckle down and shovel more gravel into the tom. Converting his tonnage to approximate yardage he wants us to process 12 to 15 yards per day minimum. He said there is no reason why we can’t do it as we get our bodies conditioned to the work. He also said that he would help out as much as he could. At his age we don’t expect him to be a laborer and we told him we are happy to just have him be the mine boss and do all the sampling and help find good areas to dig. Anyway, we will try our best to step up the pace. Jacob said that when they were digging the crew could go from sunrise to sunset with just a few breaks. He told us we are too soft and need to toughen up. He told us he came out here to get gold and wants the crew to be successful.

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

Lol too soft and wants you to toughen up eh? Ohh...okay boss. A yard of gravel weighs well over 2,000 pounds.