GhostMiner

   August 10   2002     Part Five     An Old Chest And A Poem

   Bill shined his light in as well and it quickly became evident this area was some kind of old storage room. The walls looked to be cedar. It was about fifteen by twenty feet in size and at the north wall was another five foot wooden door. We opened it to expose another tunnel heading straight north and inclining up the mountain. The dimensions were five by five by six just like the others. We could feel fresh air coming in from somewhere which meant ventilation of some sort.

   We took a good look around the big room. There wasn’t much of anything in there except some old gloves and rags. Then in the southeast corner we saw an old blanket that seemed to be covering something. We went over and uncovered an old wooden chest made of pine. There was a latch but no lock. I took a look at Bill and his hands were shaking a bit. Without saying a word he opened it up. The only thing in there was an old piece of yellowed paper with some words written on it. It looked to be a poem of some sort. Here is what was written.

                                                     THE GHOST MINER

   I dig a hole

   cover up my tracks

   far as I know

   I ain’t comin’ back

   A mystery

   they may never solve

   hidden gold

   from the motherlode

   Ghost Miner is 

   the name he’s called

   a thousand ounces

   in a casket culled

   The old Ghost Miner

   starin’ down a forty five

   out in the Sierra Nevada

   he didn’t survive

   The graveyard train

   rollin’ down the track

   will never bring

   that miner back

   The gold is gone

   sad and blue

   gone for good

   without no clue

   I looked at Bill and he was just staring at the paper with the flashlight illuminating it. What the hell was this supposed to mean?

   Some of you readers may have wondered how I came up with my name GhostMiner. I have spent over 23 years of my life prospecting, mining, & exploring old gold mines in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Ghost mines you could call them I suppose. Sometimes I swear I can still hear the old timers working them. I've lived off grid on them with crews and also by myself. I've got so many interesting stories aside from the journal that someday I may write a book about it all. This all started when I quit my business I ran for yrs to chase a dream of gold. I knew nothing about prospecting or mining before 2002. I learned on the go with the help of some good people who were also chasing golden dreams. Not a good plan but somehow it worked out for me. I no longer have to work and am able to live off a nice retirement plan thanks to gold. I am thankful that my wife and love of my life was able to put up with all of this and my being gone for so much of the time. She did travel with me at times but mostly stayed at home to take care of things while I chased gold. Many of the areas I explored were dangerous and remote. Too dangerous for me to bring her. I've had some close calls including several bad falls that should have killed me. I've been shot at, robbed, and involved in a few all out brawls both on the mines and in bars. A crazy Humphrey Bogart life at times. But getting back to my nickname and how it started is coming up in the next entry of the journal today. I just thought I'd take a minute to explain it first. Also, I'd like to dedicate this song to my wife Lindy and thank her for sticking with me all these years. 

1 hour ago, Bedrocker said:

Oh man Ghostminer. You really got the cliffhanger thing down pat lol.

Do you have photos to share with the readers?

I will look. I might have some from the ladder looking up on one of the levels in the shaft. 

So much gold we might "Walk Like An Egyptian."

   August 10   2002     Part Four

   This northerly tunnel seemed to head in a fairly straight direction and climbed a gentle slope. There were signs it had been worked and after about 100 feet it gradually began to incline a bit steeper and slowly turned to the east but only slightly. After another 50 feet we came to a wall of rubble. There had been no sign of a vein. 

   I turned to Bill and said his specimen of quartz may not have come from this mine after all and perhaps he had been chasing a myth all this time. Bill shook his head no. He said he was going back to the junction for his pick and shovel he had brought in. As I waited on him I shined my flashlight around the walls and ceiling. There was no quartz to be seen. There were timbers in some of the areas that required shoring. It was a creepy place and I didn’t much enjoy being in there by myself. 

   Eventually Bill made it back with his digging tools. He also had a five gallon metal bucket. Bill said that he didn’t think the mine ended here. He advised me to take a look at the rocks and rubble that ended the drift. He said this had likely been pulled down to close the rest of the tunnel. He figured that whoever was working it had to leave and didn’t want anyone finding the rest of the mine. So we started to work by pulling away the loose gravel and rock and after clearing about a foot of the loose wall I spotted part of an old wooden door. It looked to be about five feet across and six feet or so in height. It completely sealed another entry.

   We hurriedly moved the lower part of the false wall away to fully expose the old mine door. It was hinged to a heavily timbered opening. I pulled it open and shined my flashlight in. I hollered for Bill to take a look at what I was seeing. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

   HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE GhostMiner. 

   August 10   2002     Part Three

   As we rounded a curve the tunnel began to flatten out and continued to curve slightly south. It was obvious there had been a lot of work here in the heavy ground. It was void of any artifacts though. Once we were in a ways we shined our flashlights along the walls. We didn’t see much of anything but as we slowly kept walking in there it was. A large quartz vein that poked out of the south wall. It had been chopped by pick and shovel work and there was a long streak of it running along the wall. Bill poked me and said quietly “There she is!” 

   The drift continued on for another 50 feet and then started to descend quickly to the southeast. The quartz vein had disappeared. After another 100 feet or so the drift popped out of the side of the mountain about 150 feet above the lower creek. We could look down on it from there. The opening was hidden by lots of Manzanita bushes and small pine trees. A hiker could walk right past it and never see it. That’s where the air was coming from. I radiod Jacob and let him know what was going on. Then we went back to the intersection and started to explore the tunnel that headed north.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

August 10   2002     Part Two     We Enter The Hidden Mine

   Jacob and Conor made their way over to our discovery. Jacob told everyone to stand back a ways from the timbers. He said we needed to inspect the opening and make sure there was nothing ready to collapse. Bill and I carefully started to remove the old lumber that covered the entry. The shaft seemed stable and was about 5 feet by 5 feet in diameter. An old wooden ladder made from cut timber disappeared into the dark down below. We shined our flashlights down. There was a wood plank a few feet below the surface and fastened against the wood side wall supports. On it was painted a crude skull and crossbones with the words dead men tell no tales. Bill laughed and said the old miners must have put it there to scare off unwanted intruders.

   I volunteered to be the first to go in. Bill shined his light on the ladder and I carefully tested each step as I went down. At about the 10 foot below surface level there was a wooden floor with a hole cut for the ladder to continue down. Everything was still solid and Bill came down and shined his light through the opening as I continued down. Each level of 10 feet in depth had a floor. We did this for 80 feet until we made it all the way to the bottom. Then the shaft opened up quite a bit with tunnels running south back towards the buried opening we had been working on and also to the north and east. Everything that needed support looked to have it at this junction. I radioed to Jacob at the top and told him that Bill and I had made it all the way down and were going to check the three tunnels. I could feel fresh air coming from somewhere so we figured there must be at least one or more air shafts or pipes that were still functioning.

   The first tunnel we took was to the south. We didn’t get far. The entire drift had collapsed. There were cracked and broken timbers and heavy rocks lying in with the gravels. We didn’t see any sign of a quartz vein but it may have been buried under tons of material. It would have taken our little four man crew a full year to make entry from our initial sight.

   We carefully eased on out of that tunnel and headed into the one that went east. We shined the flashlight down the drift and it looked to make a slow turn south and sloped upwards on a gentle angle. There were big support timbers on the sides and ceiling which was high enough for us to stand upright. There was also a lot of overhanging rock. We carefully made our way in. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ..............

  August 10   2002     Part One     A Discovery Is Made

   I was up before daylight but Jacob and Conor had already made breakfast for the crew. Bacon and eggs with pancakes as well as a cup or two of Jacob’s Irish Coffee. We trudged up the mountain as the sun was coming up. Everyone was in a good mood and my worries had been laid to rest for now. We were back to being a gold mining crew of determined partners. We all went back to moving gravel and rock. For some reason Bill decided to take a walk around to the northeastern area of the slide and then further north of where the slide ended. I went over to the area with him to see what he was doing. Bill told me he’d never looked in this area for another entrance or air shaft to the mine. He said that he was told there was another entrance way up to the north farther from here but he never could find it. 

   The two of us started poking around with our shovels. We were about 200 feet from the front of the slide where the main entry was located. Our elevation was a good 80 feet or so above that location. I started moving some flat rocks away. They looked out of place and were on a fairly flat part of ground. As I pushed them away I could see some heavy timbers partially covered by gravel and smaller rocks. I hollered over to Bill and he came over to have a look. He started getting real excited when he saw the timbers. He told me he didn’t know how I did it but I had found another opening into the mine.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

1 hour ago, geof_junk said:

A few ???

I'll let you in on something - during the hot days of Summer the cold beers tasted mighty good after supper. I averaged 6 - 8 of them every night. 

9 minutes ago, JamesB said:

GhostMiner, I appreciate you sharing the contents of this journal. I love hearing about old mining ventures.

It's a long & hard ride. Enjoy the read.

   August 9   2002     Part Two

   We worked into the early evening even though the temperature had topped out at 108 degrees. There was little talk between the crew and it was dusk when we got back to camp. I washed up and started cooking up some hash and beans and grabbed a cold beer. Everyone was sitting around the campfire after supper as it was getting dark and the temperature had cooled some. I had called a meeting and I wanted to get some things settled. I stood up and addressed the crew. 

   I told them that we were all in a partnership out here as far as the work and the gold. However, I told them that these were still my claims with my name on them and I would not tolerate anyone disrespecting me. I didn’t mention names but everyone knew who I was talking about. To my surprise, Bill and Jacob quickly came to my defense and agreed with me. Then Jacob turned to Conor and gave him a good scolding of sorts. He told Conor that Jed ran a tight ship out here back in 1936 and he would have kicked his ass for back talking. He told Conor that he had gold fever and he needed to control himself. He also said that I was his close friend and he appreciated being on the mine. Conor looked a little sheepish and stood up and faced the crew. He said he had a lot to learn about mining and gold and then he turned to me and said he was sorry for the way he had acted. We shook hands and put it to rest. Then I handed him a beer and we all had a good laugh and Bill said the fever can do that to people sometimes. We all had a few more beers and hit the sack. I felt relieved and I am hoping this will be the end of any problems between the crew.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

2 hours ago, rvpopeye said:

 Hey Ghost Miner .  Sounds kinda like being leader of a band huh ? 🙄

 

Not quite but close LOL.

47 minutes ago, Mike Furness said:

So now you not only have a pissed off Conner but Jacob as well. Not sure which one I would be afraid of something happening. I guess I would watch Conner and beware of Jacobs experience and history. I would not want to be on the wrong end of Jacob's tommy gun! As for Conner if he does one more stupid thing with that 45 I would be taking possession of it. But then that is just my way of handling things. Looking forward to how it plays out in the story.

Not a good situation for me.

5 minutes ago, Bedrocker said:

The tunnel that you guys were trying to uncover was on your claims? A mile and 1/4 away from where you were working? You had a lot of ground under claim.

That Conor dude would have p_ssed me off royal. Must have been very unsettling when you realized that you were the only person with a stake in the operation. I feel that!

Still have all the claims. 

  August 9   2002     Part One     Loose Cannon

   The temperature had not cooled overnight as much as we hoped and we all knew it was going to be a real hot one today. We got up to the Hidden Mine right around 9:00 AM. Everyone was ready to work. We took up the same positions and resumed the work of moving that massive slide that kept us from the supposed big gold treasure. All of a sudden I heard a loud clang and turned in Conor’s direction. He had thrown down his shovel and was half running half sliding down the hill. I hollered out to him but he didn’t answer. He had now pulled his 45 and had it pointing to the west. Then he started hollering at someone to stop or he would shoot them. There were two hikers out there. A man and a woman and Conor had them at gunpoint.

   I yelled as loud as I could for him to put the gun away. So did Bill. Jacob hadn’t seen the two hikers and was walking in that direction to see what all the hubbub was about. The hikers had their hands up and looked terrified. It was obvious to Bill and I that they were just innocent hikers out for some morning sightseeing and exercise before the heat of the day. 

   Conor was hollering at them and telling them they were trespassers and claim jumpers. He told them they weren’t going to get any gold from us and they’d better move on or else. All I could think of was oh no, this is bad. He was not listening to Bill or me but when Jacob came over he put the gun back in his holster. I tried my best to de-escalate the situation and told the hikers we had been having trouble with robbers and it was all a big mistake. Luckily they calmed down and seemed to believe me and moved on. Then I turned to Conor. I was mad as hell. I told him he had no business pulling a gun on people without a good reason and I'd had it with him. Jacob tried to take his side and said he was just trying to protect the crew. I told Jacob that he was a loose canon. He didn’t like that and walked back off to the bottom of the hill. Bill just shook his head and headed back to work. That left Conor and me standing there face to face. He said he didn’t like being talked to like that and I’d better watch my mouth. I thought to myself that these are my mining claims and who does this smart ass think he is to come out here and give me grief. I told him he was on shaky ground with me and he’d better get back to work. Conor gave me a dirty look and went back to digging. Then something occurred to me that I hadn’t thought about. I was out here in the middle of nowhere with three people who had no names on my claims and maybe nothing to lose. What would happen to me if we found the big gold strike? I didn’t know Bill at all really. He seems like an ok guy but who knows for sure? It was also obvious that Jacob would probably side with Connor seeing as they were related. I never said anything to Jacob but when he invited Conor out here he should have discussed it with me first. It now seemed like I might be the odd man out if push came to shove. All of a sudden I had an uneasy feeling. 

   TO BE CONTINUED .............

   August 8   2002     Part Three

   After supper we were sitting around camp and listening to Jacob give a long lecture to Conor. He was warning him about not only working in the heat but also about the dangers of gold fever. Jacob told him it could get him killed or maybe even one or all of us. Evidently Jacob had witnessed what Bill and I had watched up close. Conor had become a crazed lunatic when he got to the dig site. I’d seen gold fever before but this was on another level. Jacob was attempting to talk some sense into him.

   Conor had come around pretty well by dark and had gotten some food and hydration into his body. The heat never seemed to bother Jacob for some reason. We were sitting there in camp with a couple of lanterns for light and drinking some cold beers. We didn’t bother to build a fire and the temperature was not cooling as much as it usually did after sunset. Suddenly we heard some kind of ruckus and growling off in the dark. I shined a flashlight over in the area of the disturbance and caught a quick glimpse of a mountain lion. It had something in its jaws and was scampering back up the mountain. Jacob had his flashlight on it for a few seconds as well. He said it had caught a jackrabbit. 

   Conor cracked open a cold beer and started going on about how rich we all were going to be when we got into the Hidden Mine. He still had gold on his mind and said he was anxious to get back up to the dig site. I was wondering to myself if he was going to be a problem.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..............

10 hours ago, snakejim said:

"Badges? We ain't got no badges! I don't have to show you no stinking badges!"

Watch the movie! It's my favorite! Jim

Mine also. I have the DVD.

Fools Gold

2 hours ago, dig4gold said:

You are on a roll with this story now. 

D4G

   Funny you mention that. Yesterday I was shocked to see the journal had 2000 views. That is 2nd highest ever. The top was 2900 views in a day back in season one. For perspective, it's had 300 so far today. Not sure why the views were so high yesterday.

5 minutes ago, Mike Furness said:

Heat exhaustion is no joke ... good thing he collapsed when he did because heat stroke is the next step and that far up the mountain could prove fatal!

Absolutely.

  August 8   2002     Part Two

   We stopped for a lunch break around noon. The temperature was starting to climb but we do have some nice large pines up in this area. I was advising Conor to make sure he drank lots of water. When we got back to work Conor was still outpacing Bill and I by quite a bit. We had learned that a slower and steadier pace was more productive in the long run as well as being easier on the body. I always like to place a thermometer near the work area and by 3:00 PM it had climbed to 103 degrees. All of us were ready for another break in the shade except for Conor who refused to stop. Bill told him to take it easy and that he wasn’t going to open the mine in a day. It fell on deaf ears.

   After our break we resumed the digging and rock moving. Conor was off to my left and I had heard his pick and shovel banging away all day but it suddenly went silent. When I turned to look Conor was on his knees with his head down. His clothes were soaked with sweat. Then he rolled over on his side. I hollered over to him but there was no reply. I hollered for Bill and we headed over to where he was lying. He appeared to be unconscious. I grabbed my water canteen and poured some of it over his head. Bill did the same. He seemed to come out of the stupor and was groning a bit. I gave him a little water and then Bill and I carried him down the slide and into some nice shade. He finally started talking to us and said he felt sick. Jacob came over and was shaking his head. He told him he needed to slow down. Conor nodded in agreement. We left him in the shade with water and Jacob stayed with him while Bill and I resumed our work. I told Jacob to give us a holler if anything changed with him. 

   We worked for another two hours and decided we’d had enough. Conor said his legs felt weak but he thought he could walk back to camp. We took our time and finally made it back after several breaks. Conor had learned the hard way that the big heat out here in the Summer was no joke and could take you out.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

   The main reason to own a mining claim or claims is commercial. Then you need to own them or lease them. If you're a recreational miner just doing it for fun then you must weigh the monetary costs against the emotional (fun) aspect just like any other feel good hobby. Some people don't mind spending money & losing it if they feel it is worth it on the fun factor scale. To each his own. I personally wouldn't waste my money on a claim unless you are making money every year. You have fees & taxes. With gold pushing $2100 / ounce & likely climbing higher next year you will see a lot of dreamers get taken to the cleaners. The Greenhorns are easy prey for the less than honest. It has always been this way. It will only get worse. HEY -  Be careful out there.

  August 8   2002          Part One     Attempting The Impossible

   Conor and Jacob were up before dawn and they made the crew’s breakfast while talking up a storm. There was a full pot of hot coffee awaiting Bill and I and Jacob spiked our cups with Irish whisky. The bacon and eggs with biscuits tasted great in the cool mountain air.

   Conor was beyond excited and straining at the bit to get up to the Hidden Mine and start digging. He had armed himself with a Colt 45 and carried it in a holster on his hip with a band of extra rounds strapped across his shoulder and chest like a Bandelero. We trudged up the mountain with barely enough daylight to see where we were treading. There was no slowing down Conor.

   Eventually we made it up to the mine. It was a sight to behold. The sun had just made it over the big pine trees and was shining down on our digging tools laying in front of the work area. The shovels were actually reflecting the light and glistening. Some of the white quartz that was laying in chunks looked to be lit up as well. I thought to myself that this was all surreal and what a hell of an adventure we were on up here in the Sierra Nevada. 

   Jacob stayed down at the bottom of the slide and worked slowly at moving rocks while the rest of us climbed up the slide and began the work of pitching and pushing rocks off the side. They would tumble down and crash to the right of where Jacob was working. When we had enough rock moved we worked the picks and shovels moving smaller rocks and gravel. By mid morning the temperature was already 80 degrees and we were drenched in sweat. I looked over at Conor and he was working like a mad man on fire. I tried to warn him to slow his pace but it was no use. He had the worst case of gold fever I have ever witnessed.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............