GhostMiner

August 2 2002 Part Five We continued our talk well into the night. Just the fact that Bill hadn’t been able to make access into the mine after all these years was a big concern to me. Jacob didn’t seem to make much of that point and he figured it would just take a few more people to clear overburden. I made the suggestion of filing for a permit and finding some investors to help get the old mine dug out and operational. This idea was not received well by Jacob and Bill who looked horrified by that idea. Bill said that he wouldn’t want investors telling him what to do and taking some of the gold. Jacob felt the same way. So that plan was dropped abruptly. Jacob’s idea was to form a partnership just on that particular mine with a three way split on expenses and gold. He figured we could hire some help to get the entrance dug out. We would have to keep any information as to possible gold strikes to ourselves. We would need to explain to any hired help that we were just digging out a buried adit that had been abandoned and leave it at that. Once the tunnel was opened the help would no longer be required or if needed we might make one or two of them junior partners. It was all speculation of course and there was no guarantee of any big gold in the buried mine tunnel. That specimen could have been from another location for all we knew. However, I could see that the evil gold fever was beginning to take the three of us for a ride. Possibly a wild ride into unknown territory. TO BE CONTINUED ....................

August 2 2002 Part Four At this point I would have taken Bill’s story with a grain of salt except for the fact that he had a remarkable ore specimen in his possession. Bill continued to tell us that he and one of the prospectors who had been run off went up to this mine. According to the way he told it it would have been five or six months after the initial discovery. The other prospector had given up on his golden dreams and went back home by then. The remaining prospector decided to show Bill the location in hopes of getting some help. The mine was way up the mountain a good mile or more and very remote. The prospector used some landmarks to find it. There was no trail and no markers but soon the two of them were standing in what was left of the miner’s camp. It was vacated. There were old cans piled up in one area along with lots of bottles. The prospector continued on past the old camp and after another 100 yards they were at the mine. Or at least what was left of it. The entire entrance had collapsed and been buried by mountain slides from up above. The prospector had ideas of talking to the miner about reforming the partnership along with Bill but obviously the miner was long gone. Eventually Bill and the prospector split up and he never heard from him again except for one little detail - Bill had the ore sample. Bill didn’t want to say how he ended up with it at first but when we pressed him all he said was the prospector had met with some bad luck and gave it to him to show possible investors and that the prospector told him he’d be back in a month. That was over ten years ago. Bill had kept the sample a secret with the hopes of digging out the old mine and had worked at it on and off since that time but never could remove enough of the overburden to make entry. There was supposed to be another entrance on the mountain somewhere but he could not find it. He was getting older now and if he was ever to get into this mine he was going to need help. He offered to take us to the area and show us what he thought needed to be done. He said there was no way to get an excavator up there because of the terrain unless someone took the time to build a road in. He didn’t want to do that as it would mean permitting and the word would get out. He believed the vein was so rich and went so far back in that even hand working it would make us millionaires. TO BE CONTINUED .............

August 2 2002 Part Three Bill told us that he had been out here for over twenty years. He had previously prospected up and down the Sierra Nevada mountains looking for the motherlode. The promised land. The glory of a massive find. It consumed his entire life and left him near broke today. But Bill was no quitter. He would prospect this area based on some of the old stories and truly believed it was just a matter of time before he became a millionaire. One night about ten years ago he said he was camped out on the mountain a mile above our camp. It was late Spring and the weather was cold. He was ready to turn in when two prospectors came into his camp. They were filthy dirty and told him they hadn’t eaten in two days. The prospectors had gotten into a fight with a miner up there. They told him that several miles from his camp higher up on the mountain there was a guy who had found big gold. It was an old drift mine and supposedly a huge source of gold was in there. They had tried to partner with the miner and he agreed for a short period of time until they discovered a quartz vein so rich you could take gold out of it by the hatful. Now Jacob and I started to perk up some. I saw Jacob’s eyes getting big as saucers. Bill continued to tell us that when the big strike was found the miner dissolved the shaky partnership and ran him off the claim at gunpoint. But not before they had landed a few punches to the miner’s face and hightailed it out with an ore specimen. As a matter of fact, Bill had brought it here to show us. Somehow he had gotten hold of it from the two prospectors and kept it. He had it wrapped in a big towel. Bill set it down on a table near the campfire and slowly opened up the towel. All I could say was holy s… as I fell back in my chair. Jacob’s eyes were glued on the specimen. We had never seen anything like it in our lives. There was a solid streak of gold several inches wide running through the quartz rock. Then Bill continued the story. TO BE CONTINUED .................

August 2 2002 Part Two We continued talking with Bill well into the deep night. He was full of stories about mining and the Sierra Nevada mountains. I got quite a kick out of listening to him and I could tell Jacob liked him as well. Bill had no idea who Jacob was or the stories behind all of his dealings out here back in his day. Bill had been working and exploring the old drift mine for quite a number of years and according to him he had hit a few good strikes and spent it all on women and whisky. To me it seemed like times hadn’t changed all that much here. Bill was convinced that there was a huge gold strike waiting to be discovered. He told us he thought he knew where the big strike was located higher up the mountain. He had also heard rumors of another tunnel further north at a higher elevation that contained a motherlode. I asked him where he heard this but he wouldn’t say. According to him the guy that had told him had been shot in a poker game in a logging camp out here yrs ago. I didn’t know whether to believe some of the things he was saying or not. Jacob was his usual stoic self like he had heard it all before. Along about 2:00 AM all three of us were deep in our cups and Bill was still talking about the gold out here. Then he said in a quiet voice as if to not awaken the ghosts who roamed these claims that he was going to tell us a story that was almost beyond belief. And according to him it took place right here on the mountain above our camp. Jacob rolled one of his smokes and I took a sip from my cup of Bushmills. Then Bill continued. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

August 2 2002 Part One The Graveyard Of Men And Dreams Last night we sat at the campfire talking and drinking beer & whisky with Bill Anderson. We got to know him better and seemed like an alright guy. He had been prospecting and mining out in the Sierra Nevada for many years. He’d had good times and bad times like most miners have. He was haunted by the mining tragedy that had taken place on the mountain where all four of his partners died. He called the claims here the graveyard of men and dreams. He was aware of the dark history here and talked about it not knowing that Jacob was a part of that history. He told us that he found out about how many men had died out here while chasing their dream of finding gold. It was all true. Jacob was as haunted by the tragic memories as he was. There were many nights where even I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking I heard distant gunfire or trespassers coming close to camp. This place could get to you in a heartbeat if you let it. Bill said he had nothing left to live for except gold. He had a fever that would never pass. It consumed all his thoughts and he craved gold. It had cost him his wife, family, and then his partners. I thought to myself as he spoke that gold can be as evil as it can be glorious. I didn’t want to admit it but I had the fever just like Bill and Jacob. There was no saving my soul now. I silently wondered if I would someday become a part of the tragic history here. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

August 1 2002 We had our cleanup finished around 1:00 PM and stopped for lunch. I actually felt like drinking my lunch as there was only 9.7 ounces in the gold weigh from the 380 yards of gravel we washed. Jacob shook his head and told me that running tailings is a crapshoot. Sometimes you can hit decent gold that the old boys missed and sometimes you don’t make enough to pay for the whisky and beans. I was expecting more gold and Jacob could see the disappointment in me. He, on the other hand, was as carefree about it as could be. About the time we were finishing up lunch Bill Anderson gave us a holler from just outside our camp. He asked permission to come in and talk with us. At least he had the good sense to know that you don’t ever walk into someone’s mining operation & camp without permission. We waved him in and he came over and took a seat with us. I offered him a beer which he happily accepted. He was smart enough not to ask us anything about our gold. Bill said he wanted to talk with us about the quartz vein in the drift mine. He believed the largest part of the vein had still not been worked. He had seen signs of it heading toward the north west but all the tunneling had stopped. He had been working north with only placer gravels and no quartz. He said the pay was sketchy and not all that rich. According to him he had talked with one of the crew from the 1960’s who had worked the tunnel and they had hit several rich veins. He said that crew had gotten into trouble because gold fever had taken over the camp and the crew had fight after fight until they disbanded and left the area. Bill wanted help in the form of manpower and money to do more exploration and chase the gold bearing quartz veins. He was convinced that there was a million dollar payday hiding in there somewhere. Jacob and I just looked at each other. Would it be worth it I was thinking? I sure wasn’t happy running old mine tailings. TO BE CONTINUED ............

Checking the post.

August 1 2002 We had our cleanup finished around 1:00 PM and stopped for lunch. I actually felt like drinking my lunch as there was only 9.7 ounces in the gold weigh from the 380 yards of gravel we washed. Jacob shook his head and told me that running tailings is a crapshoot. Sometimes you can hit decent gold that the old boys missed and sometimes you don’t make enough to pay for the whisky and beans. I was expecting more gold and Jacob could see the disappointment in me. He, on the other hand, was as carefree about it as could be. About the time we were finishing up lunch Bill Anderson gave us a holler from just outside our camp. He asked permission to come in and talk with us. At least he had the good sense to know that you don’t ever walk into someone’s mining operation & camp without permission. We waved him in and he came over and took a seat with us. I offered him a beer which he happily accepted. He was smart enough not to ask us anything about our gold. Bill said he wanted to talk with us about the quartz vein in the drift mine. He believed the largest part of the vein had still not been worked. He had seen signs of it heading toward the north west but all the tunneling had stopped. He had been working north with only placer gravels and no quartz. He said the pay was sketchy and not all that rich. According to him he had talked with one of the crew from the 1960’s who had worked the tunnel and they had hit several rich veins. He said that crew had gotten into trouble because gold fever had taken over the camp and the crew had fight after fight until they disbanded and left the area. Bill wanted help in the form of manpower and money to do more exploration and chase the gold bearing quartz veins. He was convinced that there was a million dollar payday hiding in there somewhere. Jacob and I just looked at each other. Would it be worth it I was thinking? I sure wasn’t happy running old mine tailings. TO BE CONTINUED ..................

July 31 2002 Jacob and I discussed the meeting with Bill Anderson this morning before we started work. Jacob figured the guy to be honest and hard working. He appeared to be scratching out a living. He has already set up a gas powered rock crusher near our camp by the creek. He hauls everything out by wheel barrow. It is hard work and he is living alone in a very remote area with no creature comforts. This is Jacob’s kind of guy. At least now he could process the ore from the drift mine in an easier and safer fashion. And we didn’t mind getting a little taste of his gold while we worked our current operation. As long as he doesn’t cross Jacob and get on his wrong side things would be fine. We got back to working the tailings dump and by days end had washed 170 yards of gravel. After a total of 380 yards of processing we were finally ready to pull the sluice mats and process the concentrates tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a good way to start August. TO BE CONTINUED ................

July 30 2002 Part Six Bill went on to tell us how the wreck happened. He said it was late one night and the crew wanted to haul ore down to the creek so it would be ready to process in the morning. Bill told them it was too late and too dangerous and they should wait until morning when they could see better. The ties and track dated back to the 1800’s and were in very poor condition. He blamed himself for not stopping them from going on that death ride. He also blamed himself for not repairing the bad sections of track, especially on that dangerous curve. Bill was the crew leader and he had four dead miners on his mind. The brakes on the cars had given way early on the ride down and they ended up dropping into the ravine. Those dead miners haunted his brain every night. I didn’t know what to say. Jacob just shook his head and told him that accidents in mining are common and not to be too hard on himself. Bill said he was real surprised when we discovered the buried entrance on our lower claim. He was aware of us mining but stayed clear. He asked us if we were going to give him trouble and kick him out of the drift mine. Jacob shook his head no and said he didn’t care if he worked the vein and he could start coming out of the entrance and over to the creek to work the ore if he wanted. The only catch was he said he’d have to give us a third of the gold. Bill quickly agreed and said that would save him a tremendous amount of time and work. Jacob said he'd leave the adit open until we left for the season but it would be closed and buried before we left. Then we shook hands and headed back down to camp. TO BE CONTINUED .................

July 30 2002 Part Five The Graveyard Train As we made our way further in the tunnel began to open up just a bit and we could feel fresh air. Jacob said we were getting near an opening. Sure enough, we shined the lights onto an old wooden ladder. It led upwards about 15 feet to a wooden hatch. I went up first and pushed the cover off the opening. We were higher up on the mountain now and in the middle of nowhere. I climbed out onto the surface and shined the light around. I was standing in an opening surrounded by pine trees. I looked to the east and saw old mine car rails heading into the woods. Jacob climbed out and we both stood there in wonder. We were higher up the mountain and a bit east of our claims. We followed the rails for several hundred yards and the track began to descend down the mountain in a steep decline. As we walked the tracking there was a fairly sharp curve that was there to avoid a large rock outcrop. There was about a 100 foot drop off at the curve and we could see three old mine cars laying on their sides down in the ravine. Jacob said there must have been a bad accident out here at some time in the past. The tracking was all mangled up and the rails had rotted out. They were very old and probably dated back to the mid to late 1800’s. We walked a bit further and to our surprise came to a camp. There was a small fire going and a large tent and scattered supplies and tools. Jacob gave a holler and shined his flashlight into the campsite. A man slowly stood up from an old wooden chair. He looked to be in his sixties and was alone. At first he looked startled but I quickly told him we owned the mine down below and had found the old tunnel leading up here. He motioned for us to come in. He was unarmed but I saw a rifle near his chair. I introduced myself and Jacob and he told us his name was Bill Anderson. He said he’d been mining out here for more than half his life. He told us there used to be some partners but they’d all been killed in a mining accident. He pulled out a bottle of whisky and offered us a drink. He gave us some cups and he poured us some whisky. We took a seat on a log across from him and he continued talking. Bill asked us if we’d seen the wreck of mine cars as we came to his camp. I told him that we did. He said his four partners were riding in them with loads of rich ore from the drift mine down below. They would hand carry buckets and push wheelbarrows up the tunnel and load the cars and ride them east and back down the mountain to a processing area at the lower creek. He said they couldn’t process ore at the lower area where we were now located because there were claim owners and he and his crew were working in secret. One day they were traveling too fast and the cars jumped the track and went into the ravine. They were all killed. Bill said he was not with them when it happened. He called it the Graveyard Train. TO BE CONTINUED ................

July 30 2002 Part Five The going was not too bad as we made our way slowly up the incline shaft. I let Jacob lead the way and his pace was slow as to be expected for his age. There was bracing at many points all along the old tunnel but it occurred to me that if this thing collapsed neither one of us would ever be heard from again. At several areas Jacob stopped and shined his flashlight along the walls and ceiling but there was no sign of any quartz vein. Jacob said this area must have been worked by old timers as a placer gravel deposit and not hard rock. The lack of any tracks led him to believe it was a small, independent operation. We were definitely climbing higher into the mountain. After a while Jacob needed to take a break. The air quality was poor and his breath was labored. I asked him if he wanted to turn back but he said no, he just needed to rest a few minutes. We had no idea how far this drift went or where it ended. These underground mine tunnels are full of frightening noises that get your attention. Low rumbles or falling stone and gravel with the occasional creaking timbers can get to you if you aren’t careful. You have to keep your mind in check and not panic at times. Then there are the periods of absolute quiet that can get to you just as much as the unknown noises. Jacob got his rest and onward we pushed deeper and deeper into the mountain. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

July 30 2002 Part Four Jacob went back to camp and brought some lanterns and a shovel. We got the area pretty well illuminated and started probing the side wall and floor of the old tunnel. There was an area at the east wall that looked to be shored up with light timber and boards. We shined the lights on it and saw what looked like some groove marks on the surface of the gravel. There also looked to be a few faint boot prints. Once we had better lighting we also could see that the quartz vein had some fresh gravel laying below it. Jacob pulled at the end of the boarded up area and to our surprise it swung open. There was a pull handle on the other side of it as well. It looked like someone was coming into the tunnel from another adit somewhere higher up on the mountain. When they left they simply pulled the wooden wall closed by using the handle. Jacob shined his flashlight up the secret shaft. It went deep into the mountain on a very slight incline. The newly discovered tunnel was not quite high enough to stand upright in and it was about five feet in width. The floor was void of tracks and very dank and creepy. When we inspected the floor it appeared to have boot marks and signs of recent activity. I looked at Jacob and said it seems like we aren’t the only ones that know about this rich quartz vein. He nodded in agreement and suggested we follow the secret tunnel into the mountain to see where it came out. I was all for it so we headed into unknown territory. We had no idea what we might find. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

Happy Thanksgiving to all the readers here & everyone else on this great website.

July 30 2002 Part Three We kept hollering for whoever was back in the tunnel to come out. There was no reply. We slowly walked further in and kept our flashlights pointing as we walked. Eventually, we came to the back wall where the old timers had stopped working. There was no evidence of any disturbance and the quartz vein had no sign of being worked since our sample was taken. Then I pointed my light over to the west side of the drift. There was an old pick axe and lantern sitting in the dust. When Jacob saw it he let out a soft whistle. Neither one of us had seen that when we had worked here. We couldn’t have missed it. Someone must have been back here but how could they have gotten out? Whoever was here would have had to go right past us and that was impossible. Could there be another secret shaft or drift somewhere? TO BE CONTINUED ..................

July 30 2002 Part Two We ended up processing gravel for the rest of the day and ended with 90 yards. Then we decided to run for another day before pulling the mats for a cleanup. I think it is going to be ok because we see lots of fines in the black sands. After supper Jacob and I were sitting by the campfire talking over the project when we heard a lot of sound coming from the drift tunnel. I looked at Jacob and he was already grabbing his Thompson and a flashlight. I got my flashlight and the two of us cautiously approached the entrance. It was nearly dark and we both shined our flashlight beams down the corridor. I could see the black flies in there but nothing else. The sounds were something like the clanging of shovels and picks off of hard rock. They were fainter now but we still could hear them. We decided to go back in and split up at the Y. Jacob went into the eastern drift while I kept going straight north into the bottom of the mountain. We had our radios with us as well. When I got way back in the clanging started getting louder. I radioed Jacob and asked him to come over to where I was standing. When he got there the pace of the clanging got faster. Jacob let out a number of curse words and said someone was back in there working the quartz vein. We walked deeper in and Jacob hollered out to whoever was in there. The clanging stopped abruptly. TO BE CONTINUED ................

July 30 2002 Part One An Old Log Cabin Is Found I was running the excavator this morning while Jacob fed the trommel with the skid steer when I hit something not expected with my bucket. I had been digging away at the west base of the tailings dump when I pulled up part of an old log. I didn’t think too much of this at first but then I began digging up more and more logs. I called for Jacob to come take a look. When he saw what was going on he said to shut down the operation. Then I carefully started pulling gravel away from whatever was in there. It soon became clear it was a structure of some sort. After about half an hour of cautious digging we could make out what appeared to be an old log cabin. Jacob said it must be a miner’s cabin from way back in the 1800’s. He figured it to be the living quarters of the small crew who was working the drift mine. It was fairly large and had been well constructed. The roof had collapsed inside what was left of the structure. Jacob shook his head and was telling me that the big companies up above must have sent a thunder load of mine tailings down the mountain and buried it. It may have been one of the reasons the claim down here had been abandoned. The miners may have been run off and their cabin destroyed. I bristled to think of that possibility but Jacob told me that from what he had heard the big companies back then were ruthless and would think nothing of doing horrible things to people who got in their way. There was little or no law and they had all the power including their own law or mine guards and some even had judges for court trials that would be held right on the mine site. He said that if you got on the bad side of them you could be tied to a pole and whipped or even hung or shot. All over gold. The way Jacob talked about them they were as evil as you could imagine. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

You're welcome. Yes, we had luck finding gold on the old hydraulic areas 300 ft above the creeks in height and 2000 ft in actual distance. We found areas that just were never worked and completely virgin. We don't metal detect but use excavators & trommels to mine. Perhaps metal detecting wouldn't produce enough results to make it worth while, not sure. I've found the gold values in our area to be all over the place. Sometimes many yards to the ounce or ounces to a yard. Many faultlines and displaced bedrock. The old timers from 1936 that my journal was based on had a big strike of over 1000 ounces in a single location. A part of raised bedrock about 25 ft by 30 ft on the west side of a partially hydraulicked faultline. The old timers from the 1800's had not gotten deep enough with their monitors due to water issues and left a nice treasure chest for the 1936 crew. This area was far from the creeks in a remote area higher up on the mountain. And the guy who found the gold in 1936 was murdered when he showed it while in poor company according to the government report I have.

Many creeks have been worked and reworked. You may want to explore remote areas away from them that have not seen as many prospectors. Try to get as much history on the areas you are interested in. Look for signs of past exploration as well. Some of the best areas on my companies claims are thousands of feet away from our creeks. Best of luck to you.

July 29 2002 We worked the morning searching for gold. By noon the temperature was close to 100 degrees and we weren’t having much luck. Jacob couldn’t understand how one lone test had produced significant results but then there was nothing. No gold to be found. Could this area have been reworked many years ago? We were starting to think just that. In the afternoon and more or less out of pure frustration we started to dig at the tailings dump. We started to do test pans at the base and also about ten feet up. There was fine gold and it was a welcome sight. Nothing really to write home about but it was gold. Jacob figured we should fire up the trommel and just start running the hell out of it. He said we might get lucky and hit a hot spot. Around 2:00 PM we were running gravel once again. It was a sight to behold seeing the big trommel churning away. We ran until 7:00 PM and processed 120 yards of the old tailings. When we shut down we looked in the sluice box and it was promising. We could see lots of fines in the rifles and even a few pickers couldn’t hide from us. Maybe we would make a mine out of this lower area after all. TO BE CONTINUED .................

July 28 2002 This morning Jacob and I talked over last night's weird occurrences. He chalked them up to old time ghostly miners. He believed that some never leave. We got down to business discussing our mining plans. Neither one of us wants to bring in a crew made up of unknown workers. It would be risky to say the least. We decided to consider reopening the old drift mine at some point in the future. For now we will continue searching for pay gravel in the base of the mountain and also in the floodplain. Our last resort will be to run gravels from the old tailings dump. Before we go home for the season we will bury the old adit to the drift mine and keep it our secret. Around 10:00 AM we got back to exploring for gold bearing gravels. We poked holes east and west of the adit with poor results. The gold was sparse and not worth working. I was getting frustrated. Jacob was stoic as usual. I could never tell what he was thinking unless I asked him. Even then he was sometimes vague with his answers. I need to see gold and soon.

Well, thanks to the readers here, the Journal has made another milestone. We now have hit 400,000 views. I just want to say THANK YOU!!