GhostMiner

   May 8   2003     Lantern Lights In The Night

   The crew  was up and working by 8:00 AM. Everyone knows we don’t punch a time clock but each member of the team always wants to pull his own weight and contribute towards our goal which is gold. Clay was telling us at breakfast that last night around midnight while he was still drinking beer he thought he had seen several lantern lights north of camp. He said they were flickering and did not look like flashlights. Clay said the lights would come towards camp slowly but only get so close before retreating back into the trees. Then they would go out. The process was repeated several times before stopping after about half an hour.

   Jacob was listening to this story and when Clay was finished he started talking about phantoms and ghosts and all kinds of things like that. He was absolutely convinced they were the ghosts of the old timers who had died out here on this forsaken mountain. I didn’t say a word but I think he had Conor and Clay believing him. I guess I’d rather think Jacob was right and that the lights were not from earthly people who were up to no good.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..............

30 minutes ago, Old Miner Don said:

Am I seeing correctly? Are all of your thumbs up's missing again?

I think its the same with everyone again. 

NOT IN THE JOURNAL  :  Sometimes at night on that 2003 mining season Clay would open up two beers at a time and use both hands to drink them. He'd alternate his chugs between hands and could have two beers gone in a couple of minutes. Then he'd open up two more. I saw him nearly finish off an entire case one night but usually he was ready to work the next day. As long as we kept him out of the whisky he was fine.

 May 7   2003     A Hungover Crew And Beer Guzzling Clay

   I had a restless sleep last night. I am worried about what the crew may be getting themselves into. Last night at the campfire Paul and the crew were getting into the whisky pretty hard. Even Jacob had one too many I think. Paul started going on about how we should expect trouble this Summer. He said there would no doubt be bad people coming in and out of Dreamwind. He seemed certain and I didn’t like the sound of it. I’d seen enough trouble last year to last me a lifetime.

   We got a late start to working because the crew was hung over from all the heavy drinking. The temperatures today got hot and Clay and Conor got sick. They were holding their heads and puking all afternoon. We called it a day well before dusk and went back to camp. Jacob had canned stew and hotdogs cooking. Clay ate some of the stew and started hollering about it being bad. He said it tasted spoiled or overcooked. This set old Jacob off and he told Clay to shut his mouth and either eat it or get the hell away from his camper where he had everything set up on a table. Clay took his plate of food and tossed it in the garbage. Then he proceeded to do what he liked the best - drink beer. He was pounding them down and we all started to have a good laugh. Even Jacob was laughing. We told Jacob his supper tasted mighty good. Then Clay started to laugh and he apologized to Jacob saying he was just hung over and his stomach was jumpy. As soon as he had guzzled down a few ice cold beers his mood changed and he became jovial. Everyone turned in early except for Clay who must have sat up into the late hours of the night because I counted fourteen beer bottles by his camp chair and he was still sitting in it sleeping when I got up at 5:00 AM.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

   NOT IN THE JOURNAL  :  One of my mining partners has been testing the southern area of the faultline. Tests were done along the side of the fault just south of the old kettle area the 1936 crew worked by running water line up there. That kettle is a big pot hole in the top of the fault . The tests were taken using multiple bucket samples processed through a portable 12 Volt recirculating highbanker and the cons were run through my Gold Magic spiral wheel. Sample depths were 1 to 3 feet. Bedrock and upheaval are quite scattered in this area. So the tests were very good averaging around $90/yard. We have an approval to build a road in there in order to get a trommel set up. We are still waiting for the final plan approval for that location as well as several others 2000 feet to the east (the Upper Dig Site in the journal). Be fore warned gold, we are coming for you. 

8 hours ago, Tahoegold said:

Mountain Lions can sound like a woman screaming for her life. Did it sound like that?

No, I don't think so. 

This one's dedicated to my good friend Conor. 

   May 6   2003     A Blood Curdling Cry

   We all got to working on the trail early this morning. We are making good progress. Around noon we stopped work to have lunch. Paul pointed up in the direction of the canyon and told us no one had ever worked an entire Summer there as far as he knew. As a matter of fact, he said he hadn’t heard of anyone working or exploring there for years with the exception being himself. He admitted that even he could not bring himself to stay in that canyon for more than a week without getting out for a break. Between the heat and the critters it was more than most could handle. Paul did say there may be people going in and out of the area in secret. We would have to keep our eyes open for any trouble. Unfortunately we are used to that.

   By dusk we were tired and ready for supper. As we headed back towards camp we all of a sudden heard the most blood curdling cry you could imagine. It came from the direction of Dreamwind Canyon. I couldn’t tell if it was an animal or human. It made my skin crawl. Clay asked Paul what he thought it was. He shook his head and said coming from there it could be damn near anything. Whatever it was it sounded like it just got murdered. It creeped me out knowing Paul and I were just in there yesterday.

   When we got back to camp Jacob had supper ready once again. We told him about the cry and he didn’t make much of it. He just flatly stated that’s why we carry guns out here. I just have a bad feeling about this deal. I can’t get that sound out of my head.

   TO BE CONTINUED ............

   Now we need to ask - is Paul for real or just another crazy prospector? 

May 5   2003     Part Two     Paul’s Secret Map

   I asked Paul when he discovered that outcropping of gold rich quartz and he just laughed. He said there were other areas in the canyon with the same thing. Evidently he had wanted to keep this a secret in case something fell apart before we initiated our partnership and project. I can’t say that I blame him for keeping this a secret. He was just getting to know us as we were him.

   I was frustrated because I didn’t have anything with me to take a sample back to camp. Paul just laughed once again and told me not to worry about it right now because he had taken samples all over the canyon during his many years of exploration. He assured me that the samples were quite rich and worthy of our efforts. He was being just a little mystical about this but I let it pass. We turned back to head out of the canyon. We had a tough hike out of there and eventually met up with the rest of the crew. Paul and I helped with the trail work until nearly dusk. I was exhausted by the time we got back to camp.

   We had radioed Jacob half an hour before we headed back and he had a big supper of hot dogs and beans waiting for us. I told the crew about the quartz vein and then Paul told us all about how much gold was in that canyon. Some of it was in quartz and some was in the gravel. He proceeded to bring an old map out of his camper. There were numerous X’s marked all over it. Some had a Q beside them and some had a P. The Q was for gold in quartz and the P was placer gold. He had the sites marked numerically from 1 to 10. He said 10 was sizable tonnage (very rich) and 5 was rich. There was nothing under 5 and most were higher with numerous 10’s. Jacob brought out a bottle of his prized Bushmills whisky and poured everyone a cup. Paul lit up a big cigar and leaned back in his camp chair. He calmly stated “Gentlemen, the project we are about to begin will be considered the new California gold strike of 2003.” The rest of us just looked at each other and toasted Paul with our cups of whisky.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

   NOT IN THE JOURNAL : Lumberjacks & Goldminers. Why did Jacob and his brother Jed dislike the lumberjacks back in their day? Both jobs demanded hard work in the outdoors. To hear Jacob talking it was always the lumberjacks that started the trouble but I have a hard time believing it. I think it may have been a mutual macho thing. Two groups trying to show each other how tough they were. And believe me, they were tough. I think some of the disputes might have got started from times when they got in each others way out in the mountains. Gold miners might have interfered with the tree cutting and the lumberjacks might have slowed down the gold mining. It only took a wrong look or muttered word to kick off a fight. And fight they did but almost always with their fists and not guns. I'm not saying that a knife didn't come out of its sheath occasionally or a chair might be broken over a head in a bar fight. I heard plenty from old Jacob about those days and experienced it first hand the night we went to the tavern. Even at his advanced age Jacob wanted to fight them. What will be will be and what was is long gone now. I say this - if you are a prospector or miner and you come across a crew of jacks as Jacob called them, tell them you admire their hard work for a days pay. Shake their hand and buy them a whisky and a beer. And vice versa. 

May 5   2003     Part One     Wire Gold

   Paul and I hiked up ahead on the footpath to get an up close look at Dreamwind Canyon while Clay and Conor were busy clearing debris and making the trail. I noticed that as we got up near the entrance there wasn’t a sound to be heard. No birds, animals, nothing but a slight wind rustling through some pine and underbrush. 

   Paul wanted to show me his secret entrance from the west. As we got near an opening the rock walls rose quickly and the change in temperature surprised me. It was a beautiful early May day and the temperature must have been around the mid 70’s up to here but as we entered the canyon walls the temperature had climbed a good 15 degrees or so. Paul’s entrance was on the west side of what appeared to be a solid rock wall but actually was a narrow slot about eight feet wide and  50 feet in length. No one would ever know it was there and I was impressed by Paul’s scouting abilities.

   I mentioned the quick change in temperature to Paul and he just laughed saying that this was nothing compared to the Summer here. At least our camp would be just outside of the canyon walls and much cooler. Paul had camped inside those tall rock walls many times and it must have been rough. He told me that you can get used to the heat if you survive the first few days. I started feeling a little uneasy about this whole deal but made my mind up to stick with the exploration. I just hope the others will as well.

   Once in the canyon I looked up at the top of those cliffs. They were a good 250 to 300 ft or more in height and there was no climbing them. Paul said Dreamwind Canyon ran for miles to the north and the walls got even taller. We worked our way along a rocky path on the west side. Paul said this was the easy way to travel but also the riskiest. I asked him what he meant by that and he said it was used by mountain lion as well as occasional humans. He said that in his experience any men that were in this canyon could be desperate people either looking for gold and treasure and possibly on the run from the law. In other words, the canyon was sometimes used as a hideout by criminals. I hadn’t heard this from him before and was a little upset that he was just now telling me this. Paul said that over the years he had run into some pretty strange people out here. It’s just not a normal place for most people to want to go and most have a reason for wanting to be in such a remote place. 

   We continued moving north for about an hour and the hike became extremely difficult. Brush and rocks became tough to get past and there were numerous steep elevation changes that required nearly straight up climbs and severe drops of 50 feet or more. All inside of those steep canyon walls.

   After going a little further I told Paul I was exhausted and needed to get in better shape to deal with the heat and terrain. He convinced me to go just a little further before we turned east into the thickest brush I’d ever tried to walk through. We went another 100 yards and stopped at a rock outcropping. Paul walked over to it and placed his hand on a quartz vein that had poked out of the rock and then quickly disappeared again. He told me to take a good look at the quartz. There was visible wire gold running all through it. I just looked at it with awe. I looked over at Paul and he was smiling. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

  May 4   2003

   We continue to make progress on our trail. We have not heard or seen anyone in the entire area including camp at last year's dig site. It’s completely quiet. I can’t explain it but I have a sort of ominous feeling about the trail and Dreamwind Canyon. It’s as if I can feel bad energy as we are working. We are all just going about our business without any distractions so everything is off to a good start. Paul is a real work horse and is doing more than his share of labor. We are making great progress and I am hopeful that we will have the new camp set up within a few days or maybe a week. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

1 hour ago, Old Miner Don said:

I'm thinking those reapers know where the big gold is.

I was thinking the same thing but something else as well - they might be there to protect it.

  May 3   2003     Phantoms And Reapers

   Last night we were sitting around a small campfire discussing our new exploration project when the temperature dropped a bit and a light mist rolled into camp. It was not enough to get us to move into our campers and we tried to ignore it for a while as we drank a few beers. I threw some extra wood on the fire to ward off the night chill and we resumed our conversation about the canyon with Paul. 

   He seemed to know the canyon pretty well and had spent many Summers there. He told us it was unpredictable. Weather changed quickly and sometimes he saw strange lights flickering in the distance at night. He’d heard voices many times as well but could never find where they were coming from or make out the words. He said he had gotten to the point where he wouldn’t camp there alone. Not even near the entrance where our new camp would be located soon. He said there was something weird going on there but couldn’t figure out what it was.

   Paul told us that one night he heard voices that woke him up out of a sound sleep. He came out of his tent and saw two figures carrying lanterns but when he hollered out to them they vanished right before his eyes. Jacob just shook his head and said those were phantom reapers. He said he’d seen them back in the 1937 season. He went on to say they are there to collect souls when ready. They might be spirits of miners who died out here.

   Now all this talk was starting to creep me out some and I did my best to change the subject but Jacob and Paul kept right on talking about them. Finally, I had heard enough and retired to my camper for the night. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

 May 2   2003

   Today we began building our trail up to Dreamwind Canyon. Paul had made a rough walking path in some areas from his previous years of exploration  which at least was a beginning. Jacob will be staying at camp and also acting as camp guard while the rest of the crew works on the path. It won’t be anything to drive a regular truck on but it will be good enough for a Willys jeep. 

   Everyone is looking forward to getting the camp moved up to the new location we picked out. We will be in a very remote area where few prospectors or hikers have ever been. I haven’t seen any signs of previous activity which is a good sign. Jacob is convinced that if there is big gold there we will find it. The crew is tough and dedicated. We are not afraid of hard work. Moving rock off our path is the main job so the vehicles don’t get damaged. There is some brush we are dealing with as well. So far things are moving along at a decent pace. 

   TO BE CONTINUED .............

   May 1   2003     Part Two

   Everyone used the rest of the day to get themselves unpacked and situated at our temporary camp. At supper we started to discuss the plan for tomorrow and probably the next several days or weeks. We needed to make a trail up to the canyon entrance fit for our 4 wheelers and jeeps. It was priority number one. To top it all off, we could not use any machinery. A skid steer would have gone a long way towards building a trail but we had no formal plan of operation. This exploration was clandestine in nature and we aimed to keep it that way. Everything we do will be by hand. We needed to cut brush and use picks and shovels to make a rough trail. Several miles of it. Lucky for us Paul already had the beginnings of a walking trail in place from his years of exploration there. Every Summer for the past thirty years he had come out there and lived either in or near the canyon while he explored it. 

   Paul had gold to show us as well as beautiful quartz crystal. Some of the quartz also had gold in it and he had done some placer mining with drywashers as well. He knew of a number of areas that produced some gold when sampled but had never found the big strike that the old timers all talked about. The lone exception was the three ounce nugget he carried around with him. We all turned in early because we knew we were in for some mighty rough work starting tomorrow.

   TO BE CONTINUED .........

   Dreamwind Canyon quartz veigns. Rich in gold as well as crystal.

   LOST GOLD AT THE DEAD MAN’S MINE  *  DREAMWIND CANYON GOLD

   May 1   2003     Part One     The Crew Meets Up

   Spring was here and our new mining season was about to begin. Perhaps I should call it our new exploration and adventure season for now. I was the first to arrive at camp a few days ago and got most everything set up for the crew. The camp was temporary and located at the area we had used last year at the upper dig site. At some point we would need to relocate camp further northeast near the entrance to Dreamwind Canyon. A trail would need to be cut to get up there using off road vehicles. This was going to be quite a project and I was not sure how long it would take.

   During the off season the crew had stayed in touch with each other and we worked out a rough plan to begin exploration. We purchased three side by side off road 4X4’s with beds on the back to carry equipment as well as two old Willys Jeeps and small trailers for hauling supplies. Along with that we added new and more powerful walkie talkies. We were all well armed as well. We would be heading into totally unknown and dangerous territory - Dreamwind Canyon. 

   Dreamwind Canyon was half legend and half myth. There were no markings or names for it on the maps but it was a remote section of a larger canyon just to the south. The name had supposedly been given to it by the Indians who claimed that when the hot winds blew through the 300 foot high canyon walls they would take control of your mind and cause you to hallucinate and see all kinds of crazy things. I take all of these old stories with a grain of salt but there are very few people who will venture into this area. There are credible stories of prospectors disappearing up there and never heard from again. Some say the canyon is haunted and cursed. Rumors of huge quantities of gold have also been talked about by the old timers. There are no trails to get into the canyon and the hike is extremely difficult. Supposedly the area is infested by rattlesnakes and plenty of mountain lion. Yet somehow our crew has agreed to throw in with Paul and explore this place.

   By late morning Clay and Paul had arrived and not long after Jacob and Conor pulled in with his truck and trailer loaded up with supplies. We all shook hands and fixed up a nice lunch. It sure felt good to be back with the crew again. 

   We all liked Paul. He was  73 years old and in very good shape. He was the prospector we had met last year and had done so much exploration in the canyon previously including finding a large gold nugget. Paul and Jacob had become good friends and Paul was able to convince us that there was a large amount of gold in the canyon just waiting to be discovered. He figured the canyon was the source of the gold for the Dead Man’s Mine. If he was correct there could be millions of dollars in nuggets up there.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..............

   So What's With This Dreamwind Canyon??   

   I learned a lot about Dreamwind Canyon from several old time prospectors in the area. One of them was with us for a short spell during the 2002 mining season. He and a prospector buddy of his walked straight into our camp after supper one night in June and he and Jacob became friends. One was named Paul and the other Jerry. Paul talked about this canyon which was a bit northeast of our mine and very remote. He said he had been in and out of the canyon many times and knew of several trails where nobody ever went. 

   According to him, a number of prospectors had died in the canyon back in the late 1800's and also in the early 1900's. Some from snake bite, some from lack of water, and some from bullets. Supposedly there was a large amount of gold in the mountain up there somewhere and people claimed it was a source of some of the gold we had been mining. Because of the extreme difficulty of getting in and out of that area it had never been mined. I'd estimate that Paul was in his mid to late 70's at that time. He was looking for fellow prospectors who would be game enough to go into the canyon and try to find the gold.

   One night Paul and Jerry were sitting with us at the campfire and drinking whisky with us. Jacob had become extremely interested in this place and wanted to find out as much as he could. You won't find the canyon marked by name on any map I've ever seen. Jerry was getting ready to head back to his home in Nebraska and Paul was living up on the mountain somewhere. Every now and then he would come down to camp and say howdy and talk about the canyon. It started to become a sort of obsession to Jacob and the rest of us were also getting more interested every time Paul told us his stories. Then he showed us a 3 ounce nugget that he claimed to have taken out of one of the canyon walls. He hadn't found any more but was convinced there was a lot more of it hiding up there. He couldn't go there alone. It was way too dangerous and you needed a crew. People just a little gold crazy and not afraid to take on a challenge that could get you killed. The temperatures in the canyon in Summer could reach 120 degrees and there was very little water. Paul said he knew where there was a spring that ran underground and could be used. The rattle snakes were a big problem as well as mountain lion although in the heat of Summer the lion sometimes chose higher and cooler territory. Based on what we had been told by Paul and also what we had heard from others we decided to throw in with Paul for the start of the 2003 mining season. We told Paul we'd give it a try and see how things went but made him no promises that we would spend an entire season chasing old stories. So at the end of our 2002 mining season we made plans to head into Dreamwind Canyon in May of 2003. It would be Paul, Jacob, Conor, Clay, and me. A bunch of half crazy gold prospectors/miners chasing legendary tales of gold in a deadly place. Get ready for the 2003 season of "Dreamwind Canyon Gold."

48 minutes ago, Old Miner Don said:

Haha I was hoping that you had more to tell. Sure am curious to know what happened with Jacob and Connor and the other guy who I can't remember his name.

I also have I think almost been with this journal since day one and for sure I've read every page lol. I had a different handle on this website up until 2-3 weeks ago, then but you probably know that.

It's been a pleasure to look forward to new posts almost daily and I'll say it again...Thank You very much!

When you get up to the Sierra's soon and get back to mining ⛏️ are you planning on somehow to continue writing and posting?

Good luck up there and I hope you guys make a killing! (On the gold that is)

Thanks Old Miner Don (I think I am pretty sure who you are) but not sure why the name change. I will be posting an Epilogue to the 2002 season later this week. Not sure about this Summer as we are in the Plan of Operation approval process and not sure when that will happen. I do know where some good gold is located on the claims. About $3 million worth that is still in the ground just in one of the locations. Cheers, GM.

43 minutes ago, MikeT said:

I like several others have been with and enjoyed the stories since the very beginning. Look forward to anything new (or old) that you come up with in the future. Thank you.

Mike

 

Thank you Mike. 

2 hours ago, geof_junk said:

GhostMiner  I have followed you on 4 forums and happy you settled on detectorprospector even after the disappointing episode on an Australian forum. Thanks a lot for your effort is was very interesting.

🦘

Thank you very much.

8 hours ago, matt said:

I too have read every post since the beginning and have really enjoyed it. Lots of times after a hard day of work it is nice to take my mind to something else. Thanks.

Thanks Matt.

1 hour ago, peterinaust said:

Thank you GhostMiner, I really did enjoy following this and looked forward to seeing the entries every day.

Cheers

Thank you very much. It has been a pleasure.