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

[Carolina]

2 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

Hello everyone. I will be posting quite a few journal entries throughout the day & evening. There is a significant event coming and a clue was given in one of Jed's entries. The event was not known to him at the time of his entry but it will prove to be prophetic. 

Bring it on. The more the better. Thanks for all you do.

[Old Miner Don]

2 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

Hello everyone. I will be posting quite a few journal entries throughout the day & evening. There is a significant event coming and a clue was given in one of Jed's entries. The event was not known to him at the time of his entry but it will prove to be prophetic. 

Something to do with "no trouble on the mountain"?

[GhostMiner]

 

[hawkeye]

Love The Traveling Wilburys

[GhostMiner]

 

[Gold Seeker]

57 minutes ago, hawkeye said:

Love The Traveling Wilburys

Yes they were a powerhouse supergroup!!

Roy Orbison sings in the End of The Line video but he had passed away in December 1988 shortly before the video was made, in his honor his guitar is seen in a rocking chair as well as a photograph of him when his part of the vocals are playing, RIP Roy!!

The video was filmed in an actual moving steam locomotive carriage train car.

[GhostMiner]

  SEPTEMBER 7   1936

   I got out of my tent this morning and thought Whiskey Jack was smoking his pipe. He said no, he wasn’t and pointed to the southwest. There was a smoky haze over the mountain. Jack said it was a wildfire and it was big. He was guessing maybe 10 miles away or so. He’d seen these before out here and they move fast. The entire crew was up now and looking in the direction of the smoke. I figured to keep an eye on it and do our work as usual.

   After breakfast we started digging at the pit and after an hour our water supply was gone. We walked down the water line and saw Will working on one of the pumps. One of the pressure release valves had blown off. He couldn’t find it and the threads where it screwed in looked like they were stripped out. Will said he could fix it but it would take some time and if he couldn’t find the valve that shot off under pressure he'd have to take one off another pump. I told him not to worry about it now and to unhook the waterline and me and John would bring up one of the extra pumps I had bought.

   So when we got down to camp I told Whiskey Jack the situation and asked him how the fire was looking. He said it hadn’t changed much and would keep a watch on it. Me and John each grabbed a side rail of the pump and carried it up the mountain and Will hooked up the line. It took a little while but we eventually got water up to the tom again and were back to washing gravel. Me and John decided to work straight through to the shut down time without stopping and ended up with 2 more ounces of gold for the day. 

   Back at camp Jack was a little worried about the fire. He said there was dry lightning last night and that’s what started it. I decided that in the morning I would head into town and see if anyone had an idea of what was what with it and which direction it was moving. 

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

[GhostMiner]

On 4/8/2022 at 12:22 PM, GhostMiner said:

No. Don't even have a last name.

   One more thing on this subject. I have reason to believe that Whiskey Jack may be buried somewhere in the Paxton, Ca area. I have talked with a person that claims his grandfather knew a guy that fit his discription as far as beard and age. He had worked for a big mining company on the claims and later with a small crew. The question is his last name and where they buried him. I don't think it was in a cemetary. More on this later.

[GhostMiner]

   SEPTEMBER   8   1936

   I went into town this morning and the crew got the mine up and running. John did the digging alone until I returned. I talked to the post office people and also stopped at the general store for a few supplies. Everyone I talked with was quite concerned about the wildfire. Jack was correct when he said it had started from a lightning strike and it was moving in the general direction of town. If it continues on its path it might hit my claims and we would have to evacuate the area. There is an attempt being made to contain the area of the burn. I secured a place to store equipment if needed as well. The only thing we can do is keep a watch on the situation.

   I got back to the mine and we all had lunch and I filled the crew in on what I knew. Whiskey Jack didn’t like the direction it was coming from and said there was a good chance the prevailing winds in the afternoons could bring it closer. The smoke was getting a little thicker but still not too bad.

   We went back up and finished our day with one ounce in the pan. Besides keeping an eye out for hooligans we now had to watch the fire. It seems like there is always something causing concern out here and I fear the crew is tiring.

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

 

[GhostMiner]

   SEPTEMBER 9   1936

   We woke up to some fairly thick smoke this morning. The fire seems to have moved a bit closer and also northward. I am hoping it doesn’t get any closer. Will has told me he may consider heading home if it gets too close. We are all worried now. Whiskey Jack said he would weather it out by laying in the creek if it passes directly across the claims. I think John and Jacob would do the same. The weather is hot and dry again and we worked hard all day with an eye to the fires. I think everyone is worn down now with having yet another thing to worry about but no one complains. I have no intention of stopping the operation here.

   The digging remains the same and we shovel gravels a few feet in depth and find country rock below. The middle area of the pit away from the side walls seems to hold less gold than the areas near the sides. It is tempting to just work the sides but we are taking everything in a planned dig moving from the south to the north. When it is finished we will know that everything was taken with no gold remaining. Today we ended with 2 ounces.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..............