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

[flakmagnet]

You're about to pass 50 thousand views in this thread GhostMiner,
just letting you know that about 5 thousand of them are mine. 🙃

[GhostMiner]

6 minutes ago, flakmagnet said:

You're about to pass 50 thousand views in this thread GhostMiner,
just letting you know that about 5 thousand of them are mine. 🙃

   Never ever thought this would be so popular. Hopefully the book does as well this summer. Also thinking of doing some videos of working at Jed's site. Thanks so much!!

[D&P-OR]

Hey GhostMiner----I'm ALWAYS chompin at the bit waiting for the next "installment" to come out!----So very interesting & I'm checking this thread constantly.-----I was thinking the reason for the name of the title was because Jed or one (or more) of his friends was going to be killed before they got out of there.----Now, with this new fire power---I'm wondering if it's going to be the other side.---I haven't had such suspense since the Castle Film series (back in the 50s) :)----------Del

[GhostMiner]

8 minutes ago, D&P-OR said:

Hey GhostMiner----I'm ALWAYS chompin at the bit waiting for the next "installment" to come out!----So very interesting & I'm checking this thread constantly.-----I was thinking the reason for the name of the title was because Jed or one (or more) of his friends was going to be killed before they got out of there.----Now, with this new fire power---I'm wondering if it's going to be the other side.---I haven't had such suspense since the Castle Film series (back in the 50s) :)----------Del

   Hello Del. The title has a meaning for sure. Of course I can't give the ending away until the end. Even then there is so much more. Thanks a bunch for reading. I love posting the journal & will be putting another entry on today. 

[GhostMiner]

   A note as I reminisce about Jed's mine. I was thinking back to the first time I was up there. After reading the old report and finding the journal I put a small crew together made up of me, my brother in law, one of my mining partners in the company, and his father. I got there three days ahead of the crew and started setting up camp. I couldn't get my truck up there because Jed's old road had been washed out and overgrown with brush so I carried everything in by hand which took me the entire morning. It was a beautiful day at the end of May. The sun was shining and the temp was about 70 degrees. 

   I checked out the dig site and couldn't believe all the work Jed's crew had done. I had a 10 X 10 Copper Canyon cabin tent and a 2 room shower tent. Showers were taken by leaving a 2 gallon hand pump pressure sprayer sit in the sun all day to heat the water. Meals were mostly MRE's. Kitchen was a propane stove set up on an outdoor table. That night I sat out as it got dark and realized there was no moon. It was so dark I could hardly see my hand infront of my face. I was warned previously about bear and mountain lion in that area and was told there had been some close calls. It's a beautiful place in daytime and creepy as hell at night. The diggings are in a small ravine against the faultline and there are plenty of critters roaming at night. I always carried bear spray and a handgun. The temps drop into the 30's at night early in the season and you wake up and make coffee in the cold mountain air with a heavy smell of pine in your nostrils. The Sierra Nevada mountains will take hold of you quickly & you get hooked. 

   I have camped up there alone several times but won't do it anymore. Too many bears & mountain lion and no cell service. It just feels safer with a group although that may not be the case. Now a day's I camp where Jed's crew camped which is down near the creek a few thousand feet from the mine. Anyway, the second day up there it was a beautiful day again and sunny until late morning when the temp dropped and a hail storm blew in depositing about an inch of chuncky hail on the mine. I just laughed it off and figured Jed would have done the same. 

[Pogo]

Did I miss a post,?   What dam?  When did they remove it..?

[Pogo]

Disregard, sorry I did miss one, just found it.

[GhostMiner]

   JULY 27   1936

   This morning Sarge and Ben were at their posts before the sun was fully up. John said they loved doing this kind of security work. After a good breakfast we weighed up one ounce of gold. We were ready to start the day when we heard Sarge’s BAR going off way up the mountain. John and me hightailed it up the creek with our rifles as fast as we could. Jacob and Will stayed down at camp and Ben was at his post just south of camp. We heard the BAR barking again and then it was quiet. 

   When we got near the dam area we hollered out for Sarge. He yelled out to get down. We saw him behind some logs on high ground above the dam. John and me spread out a bit and took good cover behind some trees. Sarge hollered over to us saying there were at least 10 guys out there somewhere that had started to rebuild the dam and open up the ditch. He said he fired off a few bursts and drove them back up the mountain. He said they were all armed but didn’t look like they wanted a fight. It didn’t look like they were coming back so we asked Sarge what he wanted us to do. He said to leave John up there with him and I should head back and start working but keep an eye peeled. He figured he’d surprised the co operative crew and scared them off. He said people like that will most likely quit because they have no dog in the fight. So I headed back down and went to work with Jacob while Will worked at the tom. We were a man short but at least we are working.

   We got a late start but not that late. The trench gravels were dug down another couple of feet and continued to show color on the test pans at the tub. We worked until dusk and got 157 buckets and were dog tired.

   Sarge and Ben came back to camp before dark and we had a chance to talk about the hooligans. Sarge said they didn’t have the heart to fight but I wasn’t so sure. They are sneaky and might not fight you man to man but could try to get the jump on you. Sarge had a shot of whiskey with me and took his post until Ben relieved him. We are all taking our turns as well. 

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

[flakmagnet]

🍿😳

[Cascade Steven]

fm:  I'm trying to run serious competition with you but you appear to be winning. 😉