GhostMiner

Mant Thanks.

Hello Everyone. It has been awhile. You are invited to join me at my YouTube Channel GhostMiner for the continuing tales of the Whisky Jack Mine up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Here is a song I wrote about a trip to the old mine. See you up at the Whisky Jack soon.

Just an update here - it is looking like I may be able to salvage the last part of the season. I finally got 2 small plans approved and am hoping to get up and running by months end. I've only got a short season to mine but with gold being where it is it's better than no season. Cheers.

Might be a hard place to get to.

Closed for good in 1957. Has anyone been out there?

Yea, this song will work for me tonight.

There's got to be a song here somewhere. But I'll keep on keepin' on.

That pretty much sums up my situation.

Shoot, I just changed my name to Jack. This sucks. The sun had long since set on the abandoned gold mine, casting a dark shadow over the once-thriving operation. Jack sat on the porch of his small cabin, staring out at the rusting equipment and piles of dirt that had been his livelihood for years. He took a swig from the whisky bottle, feeling the burn as it went down. It had all seemed like such a good idea at the time – reopening the old mine, bringing in a partner to help with the costs. But now, as he gazed out at the stillness of the night, Jack couldn't help but feel like he'd been punched in the gut. His partner had skipped town, taking some of the equipment and a chunk of the investment with him. The permits were still tied up in bureaucratic red tape, and Jack was left with nothing but debt and disappointment. He thought back to the early days, when he'd first started working on the mine. The thrill of the unknown, the promise of striking it rich. Now, it all seemed like a distant memory, a fleeting dream that had vanished into thin air. As the night wore on, Jack's thoughts turned to the future. He'd have to start over, somehow. Maybe next season would be better. Maybe he'd find a way to get the mine up and running again, to make it all worthwhile. But for now, the whisky bottle was his only solace, a temporary escape from the crushing reality of his situation. With a heavy sigh, Jack stood up, the porch creaking beneath his feet. He took one last look at the mine, the darkness seeming to swallow it whole. Tomorrow would be another day, another chance to start anew. But for tonight, the whisky would have to be enough.

I am very sorry to hear this Mike. All of my condolences go out to you & family. I lost my sister to Ovarian cancer. She was 46 yrs old. Take care & miss all you guys out there on the internet.

LOL. No. My partner had made a deal to use a guy's trommel in exchange for a cut of our gold that would be produced on our mine while using it. As of now I still don't have a firm deal in place to go mining. Plenty of tire kickers but no action as of now. In the meantime, I think I'll just have a few more drinks LOL.

Well, the first time I drove that area I was running 75 and getting passed by semi trucks lol.

I'll bet it is for sure. Those bridges they have seem like you could catch some air with a vehicle if you hit them at a high enough speed. Their humped a little. In 2020 I was driving a new Dodge one ton and had the speedo set at 95. It seemed like I was close to getting lift when I hit them.

Time for a drink, or two, or three, or.............

I like driving across Great Salt Lake. It's a nice relief after navigating Salt Lake City. About 90 plus miles of straight away with drowsy driver warnings LOL. I usually set my cruise to 85 & roll on into Nevada.

Yes. I guess I got lucky that day. Pulling a house trailer through that area must require a dose of nerve pills.

Here's one of the wilder things that happened to me when I was heading out to the mine. It was late May 2019. I had rented a new 2019 Ford F150 to drive out there in. I had the back of it loaded up with camping gear and supplies. One of my partners decided at the last minute to head out there with me. I drive I80 straight across the country until I get to Reno. Anyway, one of the more high traffic areas is Salt Lake City. People drive like they're in a stock car race. Well, as we were winding our way down the mountain towards town the road gets pretty twisty. The traffic picks up and before you know it you are winding in and out of lanes and most everyone is running over 80 MPH or more. To top it off we had hit this crazy town at rush hour on a Friday. I told my partner to grab ahold of his a_ _ with both hands because he was about to be in for a thrill ride. Little did I know when I said that how much of a thrill it was going to be. As we got into the heavy city traffic people were flying around us doing 85 - 90 MPH easy. Even the cops. I had seen wrecks happen right in front of me in this area before. There's I think six lanes and nobody stays in one for long. You have to be on high alert. I went to get around a slow driver and punched the gas pedal down. I passed him and let off the pedal but the truck kept accelerating. I couldn't get it to slow down. Now I was over 100 MPH and in heavy traffic dodging cars and big rigs. I figured we were going to wreck out. Then the truck suddenly slowed back down and was normal again. I looked over at my passenger and he was frozen in place with fear. The rest of the trip was without incident and I was careful not to mash down on the gas pedal. One of my partners lives in California and his dad is a retired auto mechanic. When they got to camp I told them about the truck and he gave it a thorough inspection. He said there were no mechanical issues so it must be something in one of the many computers they use. When I returned it I told the company to take it out of the fleet because someone was going to get killed driving that thing.

I swear that mine is cursed. My brother in law was heading out there to help us back in 2015. He was driving his F250 when he started having issues making the grades in Nevada. He limped it in to camp and we found out the transmission cooler line was leaking. He ended up waiting 2 wks to get the part. Crazy. Then there was the time back in 2020 when we started on a project there. One of the guys had a one ton Dodge pickup and he drove off to Oregon to get a trommel we had made a deal for. On the way back one of his fan blades literally broke off and exploded like shrapnel putting a big hole in his radiator. There's more stuff like this as well. Makes a person wonder if the old boys don't want us there getting their gold.

Something in the computer wasn't sending the right code. I hate newer vehicles. I'm going back to old school.

I have 3 new possible investors but I eliminated one of them because he was full of hot air. I'm working on it.

Well, things didn't go as planned when I finally got started out to the mine. Just west of Cheyenne my truck broke down. Just flat quit running out on I80. I really hate when that happens. I was supposed to be out in California to receive some equipment that was being delivered to the mine. So I called the company who was supposed to be hauling it and was told the delivery had been cancelled. I couldn't believe it. I asked who cancelled it and was told the name of the person. He was a silent partner/investor. It seems that after I left for California he had gotten cold feet and was afraid gold was going to collapse in value. So he cancelled the equipment without even telling me. My investor/partner had made some kind of deal for gold to get the equipment. So after a three day layover in Wyoming and pounding down as much beer as I could get down my throat I headed back home. And oh yea, to top it off I got a speeding ticket in Nebraska. Now I am re thinking how to get this project re started. I've already got two different groups going back and forth with me on a new deal. Hopefully this time no one will weasel out without telling me. My wife already thought I was crazy to get back in the gold mining game and this sure didn't help the cause any. But with gold where it is I just got to go digging. And one more thing, my hot water heater just gave up and flooded part of my basement. Welcome home. Cheers, GM.

An interesting contraption.

We are all very fortunate to have Clay on this website. His wealth of knowledge & common sense is appreciated by me & others. Thank you Clay.

Our claims have received water licenses to pump water out of our 2 creeks where the operations (digging with excavator & processing with trommels) take place. There were no issues. These licenses were approved in 2023 & 2024. Yes, these claims are in California. Cheers.

I will sell a small amount of raw placer but keep 80% because I believe gold is heading much higher over the next few years. Actually, gold will always head higher over time as it acts like insurance against inflation. Holding jars of placer gold is my plan for the future.