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

[Jim_Alaska]

I don't want to take this thread off topic, but wanted to ask a question of those that know. It may sound ignorant, but how can anyone tell what an actual fault is? How does anyone differentiate a gulch, gully, or even up-thrust of country rock from a fault?

I have examined the pics that GM supplied, but to me they just look like a lot of places I have seen.

[GhostMiner]

8 minutes ago, Jim_Alaska said:

I don't want to tale this thread off topic, but wanted to ask a question of those that know. It may sound ignorant, but how can anyone tell what an actual fault is? How does anyone differentiate a gulch, gully, or even up-thrust of country rock from a fault?

I have examined the pics that GM supplied, but to me they just look like a lot of places I have seen.

   That's a good question. Jed was working with a prominant geologist who identified the fault. I'm going to disclose his name after the journal is posted. I have the reports from the geologist from the company in the 1960's who worked in that area as well. He also identified it as a faultline. There is bedrock at the top & bottom and a lot of fractured rock & bedrock as well. It was caused by a shift in the tectonic plates. I also have our own geologist who identified the faultline. I have all the maps from the 1960's geologist who worked up there. The maps identify it as a fault. That's all I know. 

[Jim_Alaska]

OK, so it sounds difficult to impossible for the general prospector to identify, unless trained to do so. Thank you, now I don't feel so stupid.

Back to topic.

[GhostMiner]

2 minutes ago, Jim_Alaska said:

OK, so it sounds difficult to impossible for the general prospector to identify, unless trained to do so. Thank you, now I don't feel so stupid.

Back to topic.

I wouldn't have known it either. It's straight up & down in some areas where the old hydraulic companies hit it hard and sluff didn't slide over it. Some of the fault is still buried up to the north and no one would know it's there unless they had the geologists maps. Jed's dig was right in the area where it started to disappear. I found out he had help fro the geologist. It was in the 1966 report. I'll put his name on here at the end. 

[Cal_Cobra]

3 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

 My whiskey and gold are my comfort.

Great read, and I suspect these words held true for a lot of miners 🤠

[GhostMiner]

   Here's some interesting info on how I got posession of the journal. While researching info on our claims I came across an old report from the Dept of Interior on the most northern area of our claims. A company from Los Angeles had been out there in the mid 1960's doing some work. This was on the faultline north of Jed's diggings. Out of the 282 page report Jed was included in 2 pages. It referred to his workings and gold take in U.S. dollars. It didn't have any personal info on him except what happened to him and just talked about what he did on that particular claim. It showed his dig site on their mapping & said he hit a glory hole. 

   The report had the companies info but they had been out of business for a long time. It included the president of the companies name. I started researching him. He was a mine engineer as well as holding a degree in economics & business. I was hoping to find him if still alive and see what he knew about that area and particularly Jed. I wasn't having much luck until I found his picture in an old cigarette add that was in a magazine. It was a cigarette company advertisement using business people who smoked their cigarettes. There he was standing next to a rig that dug shafts in a business suit and hard hat and smoking their cigarette. Unreal. It gave his name and said he was a mining engineer from Tonopah Nevada. Bingo. It turned out he had died in the 1970's at the age of 45. Some kind of accident. He had some relatives in Tonopah & after a couple of phone calls & emails I was driving there to talk with a relative.

   When I arrived I was hoping they might know of some other records or info on our claims & Jed's diggings. The lady I spoke with said she knew nothing but she had been given an old journal that had once belonged to a miner of that property. The mine president had gotten it somehow, she wasn't sure how. I asked her if I could read it & take some pictures & notes. She just chuckled & said why don't you just take it if it's about your mine, I have no use for it. Wow, I couldn't believe it. So that's how I got it. It was still in fairly good shape except there are a few hard to read pages here & there. Of course when I started reading it I was floored at what had taken place. It all started with an internet search. 

[maxxkatt]

3 hours ago, Jim_Alaska said:

OK, so it sounds difficult to impossible for the general prospector to identify, unless trained to do so. Thank you, now I don't feel so stupid.

Back to topic.

I worked one summer with Larry Otwell a state Geologist for Georgia. One think I learned that most geological maps have most faults identified by type of fault. There are numerous types of different faults. But the key here is finding an ancient buried stream and pot holes or glory holes or kettles. I don't think there is any direct relation like where there is a fault there is an ancient buried stream. I am not implying that is what you are saying, but just putting forth my idea finding buried ancient streams and ancients rivers is a whole different matter. Speculation on my part is that maybe faults can alter the flow of ancient streams and cause the stream to move elsewhere and eventually the original stream being buried over time.

There are two major faults in the Dahlonega, GA gold bearing area running from the north east down to the southwest with a bulge around Dahlonega and tapering off down toward northwest Gwinnett county and down to Carrolton, GA area. We found it was rather rare to find any gold mines outside these two major fault lines.

Gold in this area is volcanic in origin and was formed about 360 million years ago when this volcanic area was in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and plate movements moved it to its present location in north Georgia. The gold in this area is in hard rock and in quartz rocks that have eroded and washed down into the steams and rivers and when the rocks are broken up by rushing water and rounded the gold drops out and settles in the bottom of the stream. The gold will move downstream until it reaches a deep place it cannot move any more. Of course we are talking about millions of years. In theory the process is still at work.

 

[GhostMiner]

27 minutes ago, maxxkatt said:

I worked one summer with Larry Otwell a state Geologist for Georgia. One think I learned that most geological maps have most faults identified by type of fault. There are numerous types of different faults. But the key here is finding an ancient buried stream and pot holes or glory holes or kettles. I don't think there is any direct relation like where there is a fault there is an ancient buried stream. I am not implying that is what you are saying, but just putting forth my idea finding buried ancient streams and ancients rivers is a whole different matter. Speculation on my part is that maybe faults can alter the flow of ancient streams and cause the stream to move elsewhere and eventually the original stream being buried over time.

There are two major faults in the Dahlonega, GA gold bearing area running from the north east down to the southwest with a bulge around Dahlonega and tapering off down toward northwest Gwinnett county and down to Carrolton, GA area. We found it was rather rare to find any gold mines outside these two major fault lines.

Gold in this area is volcanic in origin and was formed about 360 million years ago when this volcanic area was in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and plate movements moved it to its present location in north Georgia. The gold in this area is in hard rock and in quartz rocks that have eroded and washed down into the steams and rivers and when the rocks are broken up by rushing water and rounded the gold drops out and settles in the bottom of the stream. The gold will move downstream until it reaches a deep place it cannot move any more. Of course we are talking about millions of years. In theory the process is still at work.

 

   Very interesting indeed. According to the geology reports the ancient river ran from east to west and was nearly a mile in width. There were several massive "kettles" or as the geologist called them Drop Zone Faults. One of them is massive and was hydraulicked out by the old compamies of the 1860's & 1870's. This drop zone was 13 acres in size and about 40 - 50 feet deep. A massive pot hole in a big river of gold. There was a staggering 1.1 million ounces of gold taken out of it. 

[flakmagnet]

37 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

There was a staggering 1.1 million ounces of gold taken out of it.

I am properly "staggered" by that amount of ounces.

Like so many others, I am having a great time following Jed's journal entries.
Not many people would think of sharing something like this.

[GhostMiner]

5 minutes ago, flakmagnet said:

I am properly "staggered" by that amount of ounces.

Like so many others, I am having a great time following Jed's journal entries.
Not many people would think of sharing something like this.

Me too!