GhostMiner

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 ..............

No.

NOT IN THE DREAMWIND CANYON JOURNAL : These posts are the result of a conversation with a man named Clint Storm (name slightly altered at his request). I have his permission to write about his experiences in the canyon. Clint explored the canyon alone back in 1980. He is not a prospector or miner but an adventurer. It seems he had heard similar stories about this area from some old timers who had been in there several times and caught the bug to go check it out himself. He actually camped inside the walls of the canyon during the Summer heat and he also knew about the so called secret spring where potable water was available. The first issue he had was with rattlers. One morning he woke up with one of them actually inside his sleeping bag. He was afraid to make a move for fear of getting bit. He said he was forced to lay there in the bag until mid afternoon when the snake finally decided to exit the bag. The temperature had climbed to well over 100 degrees and he was drenched in sweat when he finally got out of the bag. Another time he was climbing a rough outcropping of rock when he heard a thud just behind him. A rattler had struck at his back side and just missed him. He pulled his side arm and shot the snake. He was lucky two times. One night he was sitting in his camp gazing at the stars when he swears something came cruising down into the canyon from maybe a quarter mile to the north. Clint said it was a white glowing disk and made no sound. Then he said the fun started about half an hour later. While he was watching the sky and also the area in the canyon to the north of camp he saw several metallic objects or figures floating through the air about 50 yards away. They looked to be silver in color but at times became transparent. The objects sometimes took the shape of humanoids but also reverted back to oblong shaped things. They floated up the canyon walls and eventually out of sight. He didn't see them for the rest of that night. There's more that Clint told me and I will post it when I have the time.

I got a call from a guy named Clint Storm who claims to have worked in Dreamwind Canyon back in 1980 and man does he have some wild stories about that place. He gave me permission to tell them so I will put them on as NOT IN THE DREAMWIND CANYON JOURNAL.

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 ...............

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 ...............

Now we will begin the 2003 adventure of the infamous & legendary Dreamwind Canyon exploration. Everyone has been waiting for this story & I think it may be the wildest in all of the journals. I can't stress how dangerous and difficult this part of the series became so read on. Make sure to pack your snake gaiters as well as plenty of water and beer. Maybe some whisky for courage as well. Also bring your rifles, shotguns, and sidearms as well as a boatload of guts because you are about to enter Dreamwind Canyon. Enter at your own risk. Some of you may not make it back out.

September 30 - October 14 2002 Closing Out The Season We spent the next several days processing the bottom gravels and finally all the top gravels. We barely had enough water to finish but were able to get all of the gravels processed. The weather has remained warm and dry and our water is gone. A meeting was held and the crew unanimously decided to call an end to the season. The pit ended up producing 879.6 ounces of gold from this last dig. Adding that to our previous amounts we came out of the glory hole with a whopping 1342.3 ounces. Adding up all of the gold we mined gave us 2038.5 ounces for our mining year. There was no way we could have achieved this great success without my good friend Jacob. After we finished the reclamation work there was a discussion about Jacob and Conor staying on the mine for the Winter. After much debate they decided to head back home which for me was a relief. I shook hands with the crew and gave Jacob a big hug. I watched everyone drive off the property and out of sight. My truck was loaded up and ready for the long drive home. Before I left the rain started coming down and the temperature dropped. Some of the rain was mixing with snow. All of the year's memories hit me all at once. I took one last look around and jumped in the truck and drove into town. I stopped and gave my wife a call with the news she had been waiting a long time for. I told her I was on my way home and had a big cache of gold to show her. END OF THE 2002 SEASON.

September 22 2002 Part One Back To Mining Last night’s trouble ended as quickly as it started with no further incidents. The five men had vanished into the night. We must have scared them off. The question for us now is did they leave the area or are they still hiding out on the mountain waiting for the right time to rob us? There is no way to know. This morning we all got back to the work at hand after we had a quick meeting over breakfast. We will need to take turns on night guard duty for the remainder of the season. The weather remains in our favor and we will push on and hopefully get all of the gold out of the glory hole we are working. The mining season is growing short and I am anxious to get back home with my gold. September 22 2002 Part Two Conor and I were working gravels through the tom when I got a call on my walkie talkie. It was Jacob and he wanted me to come up to the dig site. He said he had something to show me. When I got up there he had shut down the excavator and was standing near the edge of the giant hole he had been expanding. He pointed to the west side of the pit and said he had struck a solid wall of sloping bedrock. He had found the lateral boundaries of the rich material. Then he told me that the bedrock continued to drop in that area with no sign of a bottom. He showed me a test pan from and there was still plenty of coarse gold there. The area of the second stage drop zone was about 20 feet by 20 feet. He figured the best gold was still to be found wherever the bottom of that drop contacted bedrock. There was no way to tell how deep he would need to dig. He had a nice platform sitting on the first area of bedrock to start the next section. He would be able to go down about 20 to 25 feet from there without expanding his footprint. If the bedrock was still deeper than that he would need to back out and come back in from the south side by digging what would amount to a massive trench that would slope downward deep into the channel. If that was needed it might require timbering the sides for safety or digging a very wide cut. In other words, a big project. All we could do was hope he struck bedrock from where he was presently stationed. September 22 2002 Part Three We finished up our day without any problems or interruptions with 100 yards of washed gravel. We will do the cleanup in the morning. Guard duty will be shared in shifts tonight starting at dusk. I am ready to get the season finished up and head for home. I have not talked with Jacob or Conor about their plan to stay the Winter out here but I think it is a bad idea. September 23 2002 The Gold Fades Conor and I did the gold cleanup today while Jacob and Clay worked the dig site and hauled pay. The gold weigh was disappointing and surprised us. There were 35.5 ounces. This was about a third less gold than the last cleanup gave us and I was puzzled. However, Jacob told the crew he thought he knew why the gold total had dropped. He said that he was no longer digging at the bedrock level he had been at but now digging at the top of a new area where the bedrock dropped deeper as he had shown me. Therefore, the gravels from this weigh were well above bedrock but still fairly rich in gold. He continued on to say that what he believed about a huge pot of gold in the bottom of this digsite should still be correct. The only way we would know for sure was to find it. Our gold count from this pit now total’s a whopping 419.7 ounces. Our total for the year now sits at 1115.9 ounces. Jacob actually believes that we could double this total when our current pit is finished. September 24 2002 Digging Deeper We all got an early start to our workday. The weather is still holding up with temperatures in the 70’s and no rain. The haul road is in great shape and we are trying to get our glory cut finished before the next storms set in. Jacob said we are on borrowed time and the weather could change quickly. Even snow could be here soon which would likely end our season. Jacob is still working his way deeper and the test pans are fair with some coarse gold. Nothing like we are thinking we might get but we are absolutely convinced that there is a big pot at the bottom. If only Jacob could get down there with the excavator. He is trying his best and that’s all we can ask. We washed another 100 yards and will do a cleanup in the morning. Not expecting anything great but it will add to our totals. I called my wife tonight and told her we are getting near the closing of the mine for this year. Can’t wait to get back home. September 25 2002 The weather has turned on us again. Temperatures dropped overnight and the rain is falling. Conor and I cleaned up the concentrates and ended up with a slightly disappointing 27.9 ounces of gold. This is not what we are looking for. The haul road is holding up fine so far but the rain just keeps falling. It’s not a hard rain so hopefully we won’t have any issues like the last rain brought us. I went up to the dig site and checked the pit. Jacob has gotten down quite a bit deeper and the walls of bedrock are sloping inward so the dig is getting narrower by the day now. If he doesn’t hit bedrock in the next couple of days he will max out his excavator digging depth. Then he will need to back out and come in from the south. He’d require a very large footprint and the trench into the site would be massive. It is getting late in the year for a project like that and if the rainy season is here the walls of the new dig would become unstable and dangerous. I have decided to give him the time needed to max out his depth and if we haven’t hit bedrock I would like to call it a season. We can resume the project next Summer under better conditions. We’ll see what happens. Conor and I processed 20 yards of gravel in the late afternoon and called it a day. September 26 2002 Part One Haul Road Troubles It rained all through the night and the temperatures are in the upper 40’s. The rain is not overly hard but it is steady. Clay and I took a walk up the haul road and it has deteriorated in a few places. He said he and Old Bulldog could handle it so we all got started with our work for the morning. Around 10:00 AM the rain started picking up in intensity. It wasn’t too long after that when my radio came to life. It was Big Clay and he said Old Bulldog had slid off the road. Conor kept the tom running while I jumped in my truck and headed up the mountain. It had gotten very slick and parts of the road were washing out. A little more than halfway up I saw the truck. Clay had gone off the side on a tight turn and slid down into a depression about ten feet below. There was no getting out of there in these conditions without help. He was extremely lucky not to have rolled the dump truck over. He dumped his load of gravel between the road and where his truck was sitting. Then I went up and got Jacob. He brought the excavator down and used his bucket to build a little ramp back up. Then I hooked a logging chain to his bucket and the back of the dump truck. It worked and we got him back where he needed to be and Jacob reloaded the gravel back into his truck. It was looking like our time here was running out. September 27 2002 Moving The operation Clay was not able to get much pay gravel hauled yesterday and today was no different. The rain has let up but the road needs work. Conor and I finished up running the gravels yesterday and we weighed up the concentrates from 60 yards. We ended up with 14.3 ounces. Not too bad but now we are out of pay gravel to process. I hiked up to the pond and got a surprise. It was over one half full of water. All the recent rain had started to replenish it. The seasonal north/south creek was starting to run again as well. We all talked over the idea of moving camp back up to the dig site and using the pond as our water source once again. I asked Jacob what his opinion was and he thought it was worth one last try. If the pond held up for a week or two we might hit our jackpot. If not then at least we had given it our best effort. We all worked like dogs and had our camp set up near the digsite before dark. We will need to run water line and set pumps tomorrow morning. If it rains hard again it will only help us by replenishing the pond. Now to see what lies in the bottom of that pit. September 28 2002 Gambling Gold For Gold We worked all morning and afternoon setting pumps and running water line the long distance needed. Of all things the weather decided to turn sunny and hot. The forecast on the radio says it may last a few days. We are caught between a rock and a hard place. If there is no more rain for the next week or so we will quickly use up what water is in the pond. There is not near enough water in the seasonal creek up here to help us at all. So now we are hoping for more rain. The haul road is a mess and not worth the effort of fixing again this late in the season. Jacob came up with an idea today and we talked it over and agreed. He suggested not processing any more upper gravels in the cut even though they contain decent gold. The water supply is limited and his idea is to wait until we get the bedrock gravels and use the water to wash them. Those gravels are what we are after right now. All of us have the fever to see what’s down there. We will stockpile the upper gravels and either run them if we have the time and water or leave them to start our next season. It’s a bit of a gamble but we are all willing to take it. September 29 2002 Part One Nearing Bedrock The weather today is hot and dry. This morning we started digging deeper into the pit and followed the sloping walls of granite down. The dimensions of the pit are narrowing quite a bit now and Jacob believes we are nearing the bedrock. The crew is watching as the excavator takes away each scoop. No one is saying a word but you can feel the excitement in the air. The gravels are being stockpiled as per our plan in order to ensure we will have a water supply to run the bottom gravels first. I have been test panning and the gold seems to be getting coarser than before. We must be close. September 29 2002 Part Two We Hit The Big Strike We are stockpiling gravel in piles according to their depth. That way we will know we are running the lower gravels and work our way up. It’s basically a highgrading operation at this time. Around mid afternoon I heard the excavator bucket strike something very hard. Everyone came over to the pit to have a look. Jacob hollered to us that he thought he had hit bedrock. He tried to get deeper in several areas but was just scraping the hard bottom of the glory hole. Jacob said “We are there boys” and let his machine idle. I grabbed two five gallon buckets and placed them in the excavator bucket and I stepped in as well. Jacob slowly lowered me into the deep pit. The walls were smooth and nearly vertical. When I got to the bottom I filled them with gravels right off bedrock and Jacob raised me back to the surface. We classified the material through a quarter inch screen and then Jacob and I started panning. The black sand was heavy and so was the gold. When we finished up the panning we poured all the gold into a pan. Everyone was quiet as we set it on the scale. We figured the two buckets made about 1/20th of a yard. When I saw the numbers on the scale I couldn’t believe my eyes. The entire crew let out a holler and a cheer that probably was heard in town that night. Jacob said that yardage doesn’t mean a thing when you’re at the bottom of a glory hole. And he sure was right. There were .8 ounces in the pan from those two buckets. That figured to 16 ounces to the yard. We had finally hit the jackpot. TO BE CONTINUED .................

September 16 2002 Everyone had breakfast together this morning and we were all talking about what had happened last night. I don’t know for sure if we are banned from going into the tavern now but we all agreed to stay away from that place for the rest of the mining season. The weather has made a turn for the better. We listened to the radio forecast and the prediction was for hot and dry weather again. This was good news. It will help dry things out. As of this morning the creek is still running hard and there is water all the way across the floodplain to the base of the mountain. We walked across the bridge and inspected the footings which still looked ok. Then we walked up the haul road. There are several areas that have been washed out and need attention. The water isn’t too deep around the processing site and we are going to use the skid steer to take some coarse tailings up the road and at least get the first washout repaired if possible. Then hopefully tomorrow Clay can get Old Bulldog back in action and we can finish the road work and start hauling pay gravel again. September 17 2002 The weather today was bright and sunny and temperatures were in the low 80’s. The rains are long gone now and the creek has come down some. Yesterday Conor and I worked until nearly dark on the haul road while Clay and Jacob did some maintenance on Old Bulldog. We were able to get the washed out areas repaired so Clay could get his truck about halfway up the old mountain road. We dumped rock in the bottom of the bad areas and then we were able to scoop loose gravels from the side of the road into the washed out places. I mixed in some coarse tailings with the gravels and the repaired areas are good enough to drive a car over. Clay got his Mack over the bridge and close to the processing area. I loaded him up with tailings and he proceeded up the mountain in reverse. Conor followed him with the skid steer. There was no room on the haul road to turn a truck around and until we got the last part of the road repaired Clay had to drive up there backwards. There was just room enough to get the skid steer out of his way so that he could drive back down the mountain. It’s not an easy task going up there in reverse as the turns are tight with a few bad drop offs but Clay was more than up to the job. We had the old mountain road completely repaired by dusk so tomorrow we will begin hauling pay gravel and running the tom. There is nothing to stop us now. September 18 2002 We got back to mining this morning. Conor and I got the tom set up while Jacob and Clay started digging and hauling pay gravel. The weather is sunny and warm and things are beginning to dry out. The creek is still running fast but the water is back within its banks. I test paned the first load of gravel before we started processing and the gold is there in spades. We let Clay bring down three loads before we started running at 10:00 AM so as to give a cushion for the transport of material and we won’t run out or have to wait on him. One of the Forest Service people came by this morning as well and checked on us. I showed him the repaired road and he also took a walk down along the creek to check the waters and floodplain. He seemed pretty impressed that we had already repaired the haul road and were ready to mine so quickly. He said there was a mining operation along the creek about ten miles west of ours and they had lost their small trommel in the flood. We had a good day and were able to process 70 yards of gravel. We are going to run until around noon tomorrow and do a cleanup. Jacob has gotten deeper into the dig site with still no sign of bedrock. The gold seems to keep getting better. September 19 2002 The Gold Vault It was a beautiful morning. The sky was clear and the temperatures were warm. We ran the tom until noon and shut down for lunch after having run 30 yards of gravel. That put us at 100 yards which is what we like to run now before doing the cleanup. I could see visible gold in the black sands and there was a load of it. More than we had ever seen. Jacob told us he had finally hit one area of sloping bedrock as he worked the pit north. Then he backed the excavator back away from the sloping wall and got another five feet deeper and hit bedrock again. He was around 30 - 33 feet in depth. He said the wall looked to be traveling across the back of the pit to the west and he would start following it tomorrow and see how far it went. He had a good feeling about the digsite and so did the rest of us. Conor and I finished up the gold weigh while Jacob and Clay dug and hauled pay. We finished the cleanup around 6:00 PM and set the pan on the table near the scales. There was a lot of gold in that pan but we waited until Jacob and Clay finished up for the night around 6:30. Clay’s eyes glazed over when he saw the pan. Jacob gave me a smile and a wink and said to weigh it up. There were 77.4 ounces. Conor suggested we name the pit and I came up with a name that everyone liked. The Gold Vault. September 20 2002 The weather was in our favor once again today. Conor and I really like running the tom. There are no moving parts to worry about breaking on us. The downside is it will only process about one third of the gravel the trommel is capable of and it is not catching as much of the fine gold. However, it is doing its job and we may build a bigger one for next season. It would be something like a Pearson Box with a big grizzly and hopper capable of running much more pay gravel. The only issue is the fact that you aren't breaking up all the clay. If you are not in heavy clay it would work fine. I plan on getting some good opinions on all of this during the off season. We got a good start this morning and worked until nearly dark to get our 100 yards washed. Tomorrow will be another cleanup. I went up to the digsite this afternoon and Jacob has got himself quite a pit going. He’s down about 35 feet in depth and slowly widening the diggings towards the west. There’s lots of rounded river rock and the bedrock seems flat. He’s having to send upper gravels that are not as rich along with the bottom bedrock gravel. We are definitely on the gold with no end in sight. September 21 2002 Part One Here They Come The weather is still in our favor. We stuck with our routine. Conor and I cleaned the concentrates while Jacob and Clay dug and hauled the pay. We have a good system going now. There is still no word on the trommel but we have not really missed it much. Around 1:30 I radioed Jacob that the gold weigh was done. To my surprise he said he and Clay were going to keep working straight through to about 5:00 PM before coming down to camp for supper and to see the gold. So Conor and I got back to washing gravels and worked until 5:00 PM as well. We were able to get another 20 yards of gravels processed. About that time I heard Clay’s truck coming down the mountain with Jacob riding shotgun. I really wanted them to see the gold in the pan.Finally, just before supper, everyone was gathered around the table with the gold pan and scales. Clay let out a low holy sh.. and sat back in his chair. I just smiled and put the pan on the scale. There was 119.4 ounces. This was the bedrock gold we were dreaming of. And it looked like we might not be finished yet. Clay let out a whoop that shook the mountain and old Jacob did one of his Irish jigs. Conor had tears in his eyes and I just sat there stunned. It was getting on towards dusk now and Jacob brought out a bottle and we all had a drink and then another drink. As I set the bottle on the table near the gold we looked over at five men walking down the creek and coming towards camp. We didn’t recognize any of them and they sure weren’t Forest Service personnel. I didn’t like the looks of them and neither did anyone else. September 21 2002 Part Two These guys looked to be middle aged but it was getting hard to see clearly in the fading light. The sun had just set when they appeared out of nowhere. Clay hollered over to them and asked them where they were going but they ignored him and kept getting closer. They weren’t on a path directly towards our camp but were following the creek about 100 feet away. I stood up and shined my flashlight in their direction and asked them what they were doing. The one in the front turned toward me and said they were prospecting for gold. Mighty funny I thought as they weren’t carrying anything with them. Not even backpacks or shovels. I asked them where their gear was and all five of them stopped walking. I saw the one in front say something to the others and before a few seconds had passed two of them walked away down the creek and three of them cut up the floodplain north towards the base of the mountain. Then I heard one or two of those three trampling through the brush just above us to the north. They had us surrounded. Conor said he saw some side arms on them. Clay said he did as well. Jacob said they might have been watching us weigh the gold and waited until dark to make their move. It was almost as if they had walked up near enough to size us up. Jacob said that if it's trouble they want he will give it to them in spades. He had his old Thompson ready for action. I was thinking to myself that what the hell is all this? Have we gone back in time to the 1930’s ? None of us were ready to give up our gold. If they wanted a fight they would get one. September 21 2002 Part Three The only place we had to go would be back into the creek and they had quickly gotten the high ground and to the north as well as blocking us east and west. I hollered out and asked them what they wanted. There was only silence. Then I heard Jacob holler out. His voice was loud and deep and enough to scare off a grizzly. He told them that if they wanted a gun fight then they would get one. He called them every foul name I had ever heard and maybe a few others I hadn’t heard. He told them we were well armed and would shoot them to pieces and bury them in a hole on the mountain where no one would ever find them. One of the thugs hollered back to Jacob saying we misunderstood what they were doing and they only wanted to talk with us about possibly leasing a spot to mine on our claims. I hollered out that they had a mighty suspicious way of approaching us about a lease. Then I told them we were not interested and to get off our mine. Once again there was complete silence. Suddenly, without warning, Jacob opened up with his Thompson. He discharged an entire magazine up into the woods in the direction where the voice had come from. The rest of us opened up with our guns but kept our shots high. It sounded like a war was on. They did not return fire and all was quiet. Once again Jacob challenged them to fight like men. I heard some rustling of bushes up to the north and it sounded like they were leaving. We all fired more rounds up that way and also a few to the east and west but kept them high. Then it got quiet again. I was thinking they might not have realized what they were up against but now they knew. Would they leave or come back? TO BE CONTINUED .............

Looking good so here we go. Let's get caught up.

I had one of those pauses this morning as well. I am on Spectrum high speed cable so I rarely have slow loading unless there is an issue with the website. It has been good sense the one delay. Best of luck to us all.

Due to not knowing how things on the website will go I will take another pause but am hoping for the best. There is so much more to tell including Jacob's final years. I think what made the journal so interesting is its mix of fact & fiction. Taking real events and adding to them like they do when they make a movie that is based on history but no doubt parts of it are created by the screen writer. Sometimes the truth is even better than fiction. Only I know which is which. Cheers, GM.

It's a shame your having these problems. I have enjoyed being here & you are kind enough to allow me to be here. As I get older I try to eliminate as much stress from life as possible. I spend time with my 4 yr old grandson who will one day take over the the mining claims I write about in the journal. After 20 yrs of not riding a motorcycle I bought one last year and having a blast on it. Back into music part time as well and playing at events. Life is short. Use it wisely. You are a good guy Steve.

I am starting to think about throwing a big party out in Paxton later this year. Live music, beer tents, lots of food, gold panning competitions, and more. Big Clay and Old Bulldog from the journal would also be there. It would be a three day event over a weekend. If I get the logistics of it figured out I'll post it here.

Old Habits.

September 15 2002 Part One Let’s Pan Gold When I woke up this morning I checked the weather. The rain had not stopped but had let up some. I walked over from where my camper was sitting and looked down at the creek. It was flowing hard and our camping area was under water. The excavator and skid steer had been pulled up to high ground on the haul road and were a good 40 feet above the flood. It was possible to get back across the creek using the bridge but then as the road dropped down it disappeared under several feet of hard running water. There was no way we could do much until the rain stopped completely and the flood waters receded. It was just daylight and the rest of the crew was rousing out of their bunks. Clay looked like he was in rough shape. I think he downed half a bottle of whisky and who knows how many beers last night. I started cooking up a big breakfast of bacon and eggs with biscuits. Everyone came over to my camper and took a seat at the table. Jacob took one look at Clay and poured a shot of whisky in his coffee. Irish Coffee he called it. After breakfast we tried to decide what to do for the day. We finally decided to pan out the cons from the gravels we’d processed yesterday. I pulled out the awning on my camper and we set up two big tubs of water and started to work the cons. We could see the gold jumping out at us and that put everyone in a better mood. September 15 2002 Part Two Old Habits We were working away at the cons all morning and didn’t get finished until 3:30 in the afternoon. Jacob brought out the scales and we weighed up the results of the 60 yards of gravel we had managed to process. Everyone had a big smile on their faces and I just couldn’t help but laugh. There were 38.7 ounces in the pan. This figured out to around 20 grams to the yard. I couldn’t believe it. Jacob was laughing and told us we still hadn’t seen the good stuff yet. We hadn’t even stopped for lunch because all we wanted to see was the gold. We cooked up some canned hash which Jacob loved and I also heated up canned stew. We had some bread with our meal and now it was past 5:00 PM. Clay threw out a suggestion. He wanted to go into town and celebrate and relax from all the stress we’d been under. I looked at Jacob and Conor and they nodded in approval. So we secured everything and piled into my king cab truck. The rain had completely stopped now but the creeks were swollen and overflowing their banks. When we pulled into the tavern parking lot we could see the place was packed. I was kind of surprised because it was Sunday night. When we walked in we could see there were two large crews of loggers in there and a bunch of worthless hooligans as Jacob would call them. Evidently the bad weather meant no one was planning on getting up on Monday to go to work. Clay led the crew over to the bar where there were a couple of empty stools. All the tables were full. The juke box was blazing old country tunes and the room was completely filled with smoke to the point that it was hard to see from one side to the other. Jacob gave me a nudge and pointed down to the opposite end of the bar where two pretty well worn gals were sitting with their drinks. There were several rough looking loggers hanging all over them. I looked at him and shook my head no. Jacob took a stool and I told Conor to take the other one. Clay hollered over to the bartender who seemed to know him well and ordered rounds of double shots and four beers. He said he would get the first few rounds. I knew then it was going to be a long night. September 15 2002 Part Three We were all at the end of the bar drinking and everything was fine. I was talking with Clay and Conor and suddenly noticed that Jacob had wandered down to the other end of the bar and was talking with the two women. I didn’t think too much about this at first but after a few minutes I could see several of the loggers getting agitated with Jacob. The music was kind of loud and I couldn’t hear what was being said. I pointed this out to Conor and Clay and we walked over there to see what was going on. When we got there Jacob was confronting two of the loggers from one of the crews. I knew from experience that loggers stick together, even if they are from different crews. And they like to fight. These two in particular looked to be in their thirties. I don’t think either one of them had seen a shower or bathtub for more than a week. One of them was wiry but the other one was burly. They were what I call dirtbags. Now we didn’t look a whole lot better than they did but we had cleaned up some before heading to town. These guys still had saw dust on their filthy clothes. Conor asked Jacob what was going on. Jacob laughed and said that the low life loggers didn’t like him talking with the two ladies. I for a fact knew that Jacob despised loggers and he may have come over there just to get under their skin. Or he may have genuinely been interested in the barroom gals. Hard to tell. Well, when Jacob used the words low life that ignited a spark in the two lumberjacks. One of them grabbed old Jacob by the front of his shirt and pinned him up against the bar. I had just started to holler “Hey” when a big arm and fist came sailing past me and into the face of the logger. Big Clay had let a punch fly before anyone could say howdy. I saw the logger go flying backwards over a bar stool. His partner stepped into the action and was about to hit Clay from the side but I caught him with a good right hand that grazed his jaw and stopped him in his tracks. Now the rest of his crew was up from their table and coming towards us. The second logging crew was still watching but I figured they’d get in the mix as well. It was looking like we might have started something we might not be able to finish. September 15 2002 Part Four The guy that Clay had sent flying over the barstool was not getting up but the one I had punched was turning towards me. I started to raise my hand to block his punch but it turned out I didn’t have to worry. Clay clocked him but good with a blind sided right hand from hell that sent him flying back over a table near the crew that was still sitting and taking everything in. Now there were five more coming towards us and cursing up a storm. By now Conor was looking for a weapon and latched onto a beer bottle. Jacob had pulled his buck knife and was standing with his back to the bar ready for action. All I could think was that this awful place hadn’t changed much since the 1930’s and the plan of having a relaxing evening had vanished with the first punch. Somebody in the barroom hollered that the police should be called but I heard the bartender behind me say that there was no one on duty right now. We decided quickly to make our stand at the bar by letting the loggers come to us. Jacob was hollering for them to come on ahead and he’d cut them to ribbons. He looked half crazed. Come ahead they did and the punches were flying. Conor and I took care of one of them while Clay sent two of them reeling backwards. Conor turned and caught another one of them on the head with the bottle he was using as a weapon. Then I got caught with a punch that sent me crashing back into the bar but Jacob grabbed the guy from behind. He had a hold of his hair and had stuck the knife across his throat. Everything stopped. Jacob told him that if he even breathed hard he'd cut his throat. And I think he meant it. Lucky for us the logging crew was drunk and they didn’t have a lot to bring to the fight. The two gals that had been sitting at the end of the bar were long gone. The second logging crew had not made a move. There were only two of the loggers we were fighting still on their feet now and one had a buck knife to his throat. Before we could figure out our next move the bartender had pulled a shotgun out from somewhere under the bar and he squeezed off a shot into the ceiling. The entire place went quiet except for the jukebox. He told us to clear out. He said he was going to close the place for the night and wanted us gone before anyone else left. I looked over at Clay and he said “Let’s go.” Jacob released the logger and we eased on out of that sh.. hole. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

September 14 2002 Part One The Never Ending Rain It rained hard all night long and it is not letting up this morning. It would be a waste of time and effort trying to work on the haul road today so instead we will run gravel through the tom. There is enough stockpile for at least today and maybe a little longer. Yesterday Jacob had brought the excavator down to the tom in order to feed it while I was going to run the skid steer up the road to repair damaged areas. However, he will use it to feed the tom and if the rain stops I will take the skid steer up the haul road loaded with coarse tailings. We will have to see how the weather acts later today. I just keep thinking what a battle this season has been. I am learning a lesson on how difficult it is to make it as a gold miner. You need a will of iron and we are forced to constantly think on our feet as one thing after another comes at us. The mountain fights back almost every day. We stopped for lunch and everyone ate in my camper. To the crew's surprise the rain had actually gotten worse. We were watching the creek rise and begin to creep out of its banks and onto the floodplain flats. Jacob said he had never seen it rain like this back in his two years here. Clay told me that if it kept up we might need to evacuate camp. He was worried that Old Bulldog would get trapped down here and take flood damage. We worked the tom until 5:00 PM and the water was starting to get close to camp now. We had managed to process 60 yards despite the conditions. Now we had a decision to make. Should we abandon camp? September 14 2002 Part Two The way the rain was coming down we knew the creek would get much worse. Water from the higher ground up on the mountain was sending water down the north to south running creek that emptied into the lower west to east running creek where our camp was located. There was a bridge that crossed that creek to get us back to the main road. It was old and could possibly get washed out. If that happened we would be trapped on the mountain with no way out and be forced to ride the storm out on any high ground we could find. We needed to get out and soon. Clay brought Old Bulldog over to camp where the water was starting to infiltrate now. We placed the tom and all the loose equipment including pumps on the old dump and told him to get across the bridge. Then he walked back over and helped us load up the cons and the rest of the camp supplies on our two pickup trucks. It was getting dark and the rain was torrential now. We hooked up two of the campers to the trucks and drove them across the bridge. I drove my truck over to the main road where there was a pull off area and dropped the camper. Then I went back for the third one. The water was now a foot deep and rising. I was able to get it out and over the bridge to the main road which was higher above the creek than where our camp was located. We figured we’d be ok here for the night but would have to keep an eye on the creek just to be safe. We all went into my camper and I turned on the lights and heater. The temperature was in the upper 40’s and we were all soaked. Jacob said he was going into his camper and would be right back. When he came back in he had two bottles of Bushmills. He told me to get some cups and we all sat at my little table and proceeded to drink some good Irish whisky on a miserable night. TO BE CONTINUED ..........

September 13 2002 Part One Dangerous Haul Road The weather this morning is cool and rainy. Jacob and Clay are already up on the mountain and Conor and I will clean up the concentrates. I woke up at 2:00 AM last night to the sound of gunshots. It seemed to be quite a distance from our camp but it went on for a good 15 minutes. Sometimes I think the longer we stay here the more chance there might be for trouble. The mountains seem to attract every kind of person from good to bad. I figure the first snow could take place in a few weeks as well but we will see. If that were to happen the steep haul road going up the mountain will turn to a death road of slick mud and ruts. There are several drop offs where a truck could roll right off the side and into one of the old hydraulic pits left by the old timers. Clay was already mentioning that after the rain he had started to cut ruts into the road base. We had spent very little time on getting the road ready and it was too late to worry about it now. We need to hit that big strike Jacob keeps talking about. Conor and I were working the cons when Clay came down the mountain with a heavy load of gravel. The rain had turned to a hard downpour with no sign of a let up. The temperature had dropped into the upper 40’s as well. I went over to where he was dumping material and asked him how the haul road was holding up. He shook his head and said it was getting slick up there in a few places. He told me not to worry and said he and Old Bulldog could handle it for now but warned that if this weather kept up he might have to stop hauling. With that I watched him drive away. I could hear Old Bulldog straining to get up the old mountain road. September 13 2002 Part Two Around noon Conor and I were getting close to finishing the cleanup. Then I got a radio call from Clay. He said he had gotten hung up not too far from the dig site. He had also radioed Jacob but evidently Jacob didn’t hear him or had his walkie talkie turned down. I told him I’d drive up there with the skid steer and we’d get him going again. The rain was coming down even harder now and the haul road was turning to soup. Clay had cut deep ruts in on his deliveries and was struggling each time to make it back up the mountain. When I got up there I could see Old Bulldog had slid sideways on a tight curve and was nearly crossways on the road. There was a drop off to his left side of nearly thirty feet. There was no way to get past him. I got out of the skid steer and walked a few hundred yards up the road and over to where Jacob was working. His radio had died so he never heard Clay calling him. We took the excavator down to the dump truck and hooked a chain up to the back end. Jacob tugged away while Clay put the Mack in reverse. The Mack was empty and the road was slick enough to get the truck's back end turned at an angle so it was facing down the mountain instead of up. Clay said he would drive it down to the bottom of the mountain and park it until we figured out what to do about the road. That was the end of hauling gravel for the day. September 13 2002 Part Three The four of us finished up the gold weigh as the downpour continued. There was a whopping 62.9 ounces in the cleanup which figured out close to 15 grams to the yard. Jacob is right, the gold is getting better as we go deeper in the cut. I don’t know how much longer the rain is going to last but we will need to spend some time repairing the haul road. I will use the skid steer to scoop up coarse tailings and try to fill in and smooth out some of the worst areas the rain is washing out. It is not a quick or easy fix. I figure at least a day or two when the rain lets up. At least we have enough pay gravel stock piled so we run the tom while the road is being worked on. Despite the rain everyone is in a good mood. Seeing all the gold coming out of the mountain is keeping spirits high. I am confident that we will get back to hauling pay soon. For now we are all taking a rest this evening because tomorrow will be a busy day. TO BE CONTINUED ............

Hello readers. I am now beginning the process of getting the removed journal entries back on the forum. We lost over 57,000 views as well LOL. See you all back at the mine site and eventually Dreamwind Canyon.

I wouldn't put too much stock in any of these gold TV shows. They are made for entertainment purposes. Just my opinion based on some conversations with their producers.

September 12 2002 Part Two We worked the rest of the day and stopped around dusk. Conor and I had washed 90 yards of pay gravel. We were tired and hungry. Jacob said he was down another five feet with no sign of bedrock but the gold was still holding up. He was bound and determined to find the jackpot. If anyone could do it Jacob could. We have 130 yards of gravels washed and the concentrates are ready to be cleaned up tomorrow. I see a lot of gold poking out of the black sands. That’s always a good sign. Big Clay was telling us that he loved hauling the payloads down the mountain because he knew there was gold going to the processing plant. He was happy as could be and told us he wanted to be a miner now. Jacob said he was welcome to stay on our crew as long as he wanted. Conor’s attitude had changed quite a bit. He has calmed down and has not lost his temper one time. He isn’t drinking like he was either. I think the crew is becoming the best bunch of guys since I’ve been on the claims. We had a bobcat run right through camp after supper. It startled Clay and Conor went to get his shotgun but by the time he came back it was long gone. Maybe it smelled our food. We really haven’t had too much trouble with critters. There are lots of black bear in the area and we see them on occasion but they haven’t bothered us much. We all had a couple of beers and turned in for the night. Tomorrow will be a good day I am thinking. The gold should be there in abundance. TO BE CONTINUED ................