GhostMiner

Something not written in my 2002 journal : I am deep into the process of going into all the old 1950's era info I recently received. There is a bunch of info that I didn't have going back to the 1936 gold strike and what areas were worked. One of them was the shaft Jack Murphy is talking about in the first entry. Jacob told me once that neither he or his brother ever put all the info involving where they worked or how much gold was found in their journals. I also think the original government report is off as to the total ounces mined as well. The reason I think this is one day Jacob took us all up to the northern fault line. He said he wanted to show us something that they didn't include in their journals. I asked him what it was on the walk up there but he just winked and said it's buried deep and safe. When we got out to the area we walked into the woods and there was a drop off about 40 feet down. At the bottom of that was a hole filled with water. There were also some timbers laying there. Jacob told us they never put that part of the mining project in the journals. It was kept secret because they thought there was still big gold there but buried deeper. When I asked him how much gold the crew had mined there he wouldn't say. However, he did tell us they could have gotten much more gold there but they had removed enough for that time and went into easier areas to work thinking they'd get back to that place someday. He said the work would have involved going deeper and further out from the shaft. That day never came. The 1950's reports talk about a strike there at the 36 - 56 foot levels and it was big. I'll save that for the actual report being posted. Based on what I am reading from the 1950's info so far, I am beginning to think that the Stevens brothers only scratched the surface on the amount of gold in this area. They may have only gotten a very small % of what is buried there. The 1950's reports are beginning to tell me I may be correct.

An interesting reference to the state geologist here. This would have likely been Charles Scott Haley who was involved in many projects in California and Alaska and also wrote books on gold deposits and mining. He was listed in the old report I have. It said he was an advisor in the 1936 operation involving the Stevens brothers. In my opinion, I think he was some kind of partner in the 1936 project. I asked Jacob about this. I never got a straight answer. It was either memory issues or holding back info for some reason. The reason may be that the Stevens brothers owed Haley a gold royalty. A royalty they never paid. There is a brief mention in the old report of an unpaid gold royalty but to who it was owed was not mentioned. Probably no way to ever find out what the truth is on that point.

Yes. He always talked in tons but I converted to yards. I always use 2800 lbs to a yard. Not scientific but gives some reference. Jacob was a bit of a slave driver. The old timers were a tough bunch for sure or they were full of bs LOL.

LOST GOLD AT THE DEAD MAN’S MINE THE 1950’s ERA This log is based on mining crew records and stories about the gold claims known as The Dead Man’s Mine during a period of exploration and mining from 1950 to 1959. The work was not continuous and some of the crew members changed over the years. At the request of remaining relatives of the old crew members, names have been changed.This record of mining activities comes from claim owner Jack Murphy and two people who leased the claim from him during this period and also includes additional information based on several old reports and stories given to me by local historians. April 25 1950 Attempting to re-open an old mine shaft on the north claim. It is flooded out and there are some safety concerns. Historical data indicates rich gold deposits partially mined in 1936 but more deposits remaining at sloped bedrock to dropped zone bedrock from main shaft depth of 56 ft. Depth of deposit not yet known but according to geologist may be 20 - 50 ft lower than shaft bottom. Crew is assembling today and tomorrow with camp being set up on site. I was told that several of the 1936 and 1937 crew members were killed over gold here. This was confirmed to me by state geologist who had input in the previous work. TO BE CONTINUED ................

I will begin posting the 1950 - 1959 information today. It will be kept separate from my 2002 journal. The 1950's log of work and activities on the claims came to me a couple of days ago. As earlier stated, I had some info on this period of time from one of the old reports but now have the entire body of paperwork and records thanks to remaining relatives of the miners from that project. There were also pictures in these records according to what I am reading as I go through them but they are missing. We are trying to locate them if they still exist. The pictures included the operation equipment, dig sites, and some crew members.

May 8 2002 Part One JACOB GIVES A PEP TALK We were all up before sunrise and had breakfast as the sun was coming up. The Sierra Nevada air is clean and cold this morning and I am living the life I have dreamt of. We weighed up the gold before 9:00 AM and had .25 of an ounce. We had a quick meeting before heading up to dig. Jacob was giving everyone a pep talk. He was telling us that we needed to buckle down and shovel more gravel into the tom. Converting his tonnage to approximate yardage he wants us to process 12 to 15 yards per day minimum. He said there is no reason why we can’t do it as we get our bodies conditioned to the work. He also said that he would help out as much as he could. At his age we don’t expect him to be a laborer and we told him we are happy to just have him be the mine boss and do all the sampling and help find good areas to dig. Anyway, we will try our best to step up the pace. Jacob said that when they were digging the crew could go from sunrise to sunset with just a few breaks. He told us we are too soft and need to toughen up. He told us he came out here to get gold and wants the crew to be successful. TO BE CONTINUED .................

May 7 2002 We got a late start this morning due to our staying up late last night. Jacob was full of stories and we couldn’t get enough. He said he had plenty more to tell us about these claims and we were all ready to hear more. I had a bit of a headache due to the whisky drinking. While I was sipping my morning coffee Jacob came over and poured a shot of Bushmills into my cup and gave me one of his winks and a smile. It helped. We did the cleanup and got ourselves another ⅓ ounce. That was all we needed to see and last night's fog cleared from our heads and gold fever grabbed hold of us once again. When we finally all got up to the mine it was nearly noon. We picked up the shovels which were laying there in the gravel waiting for us. Seeing as we started late we worked steady until nearly 3:00 PM and took a lunch break. Jacob had been taking samples and when we got over to the table we looked in the pan and saw gold. Jacob told us “You’re on it boys.” Then he started to laugh and asked us what we were going to do with all our money. From 4:00 PM we worked until nearly dark. Vern shut down the pump and we put the mats in a tub and headed back to camp. It had been a late start but we made good time today and the samples were rich. We’ll do a cleanup in the morning. I need food and rest tonight. TO BE CONTINUED ................

Some further information on part of the claims : Yesterday, I received information on this property that I have been waiting for. It took me nearly 10 yrs to locate all of this paperwork that has been sitting in an old barn for over 70 years. There was a crew that took over the claims back in 1950 and worked at one specific location on and off between 1950 - 1959. The old report I found had some information about this time period and a little bit of information about what was done. I finally tracked down some relatives of one of the crew leaders and there has been an ongoing search for records of their project which up until recently had vanished. Well, I am happy to say that yesterday I took delivery of an old trunk measuring 32 inches long, 20 inches wide, and 21 inches in depth. When I opened it I couldn't believe my eyes. It is packed with the 1950's crew records, maps, notes. and something of what I would call a journal although not written daily. The relatives of the miner told me they found the trunk covered up in several horse blankets in the corner of an old barn that was located on the miner's friends property. The friend had passed away years ago but the property is still owned by his family. The barn is still in fair condition but hasn't been in use for 40 years or so. I will begin to go through all of these old papers and start posting the story of the 1950's crew as well as my 2002 journal. The family only asked that I keep the papers safe and change the name of the miners from that project. I also signed an agreement with them giving them a % of any gold found at one specific location which is the place the 1950 crew worked. If there is the amount of gold still in the ground at this location that I think there is, a % of a strike there would make them very wealthy. From what I have researched up to this point over the last 10 years and now having this further information, I believe there are thousands of ounces of gold trapped beneath the ground in a very limited area of ground. I have named this area THE GOLD VAULT for good reason. As soon as I can finish the research and get my team put together, I am going after it in spades. There was no sleep last night at my house and I have been up all night reading and my wife was even helping. The only thing missing as far as I can tell is pictures that were supposed to be in this record log. No one has been able to find them yet. They would have been nice to have but I have detailed desriptions of the work done and locations as well as maps. Stay tuned on this.

It was John.

Not in the 2002 journal : On the subject of what Jacob called the secret lookout station - I went up there with him once. It is on the northernmost perimeter of the claims and very remote. The old road is still there and winds up to the top of the mountain although you would need a Jeep or 4 wheeler to make it all the way as much of the road has been washed out. In 2019 I tried to get a Ford F150 4 wheel drive up there but got hung up after a short distance and had to back all the way down in reverse as there are no turn around places and the road is narrow with dropoffs on one side and a mountain rock wall on the other. If you ran into a critter up there on foot there is nowhere to go and you would be forced to deal with it. The old crew had a tree stand overlooking part of the road but none of us including Jacob could find it. He did show me the area of the lookout though. Someday, I would like to hike up there and set up a one night camp just to see what happened. There is no cell service either. Not there or anywhere on the claims. That area is known as a bigfoot hot spot but I have never heard or seen anything like that while there. I would be more concerned with mountain lion as I have seen those on the claims before.

May 6 2002 Part Six A SECRET LOOKOUT STATION AND VISITORS When Jacob finished his story he paused, rolled another smoke, and started into yet another tale of his adventures here. He told us about what he called a “secret lookout station” the old crew used on occasion back in 1936. He said there was an old logging road about a mile north of camp that wound its way up the mountain. It was very remote and sometimes used by outlaws as they traversed the range. At certain times when the crew was put on high alert one of the men would be sent up there to guard against hooligans coming down to the south from higher up the mountain. Jacob said you just never knew what you might run into up there. It was a lonely and dangerous place inhabited by bear, lion, bobcats, thugs, and other things. I asked him what he meant by other things. He took another sip from his cup and began to speak in a rather low tone. He said he was up there at the lookout station one night and there was a three quarter moon. It was a warm Summer night. He had his rifle and revolver on him. The station was actually placed about twenty feet up in a Ponderosa pine tree. He said it was about 2:00 AM and everything was stone quiet. He had about three more hours to go before he would head back down to camp. A little further up the road he heard what he referred to as whoop and a loud growl. Then another one from further east of the first one. Then he saw what made the first noise which was close to him. Out of the trees came what he called a great ape. It was now standing on the logging road north of him. It let out another whoop and there was an answer to the call and very close now. Then he saw another one come out of the trees on the other side of the road. Two great apes standing side by side. They were about 100 feet away and didn’t seem to know he was there. Jacob said not too much scared him but when he grabbed his rifle his hands were shaking a little. He watched the two creatures start to walk up the road and away from him. They did not make a sound. He said they looked to be over seven or eight feet in height and weighed at least 400 pounds or so but it was hard to tell. They were covered in reddish brown hair and what he glimpsed of the eyes looked to be large and kind of pale yellow. They disappeared over the next hill and he never saw them again. He said he was not fooling with us and the story was true. TO BE CONTINUED ..............

Some info not in my journal of 2002 : In my long talks with Jacob in 2002 it seemed there was a lot of tension between miners and loggers, miners and farmers, miners and ranchers, and needless to say, miners and thieves. The old reports get into some of this. Some of it is told by local historians. I think there is truth to some of it and perhaps some exaggeration to some of the stories thrown in for good measure. There is really no way to know for sure. For someone like me who has actually mined and done gold exploration in this area and is writing about the old timers of the 1930's era it has become a treasure trove of wild stories and supposed events. At some point I will also get into the post WW2 era at this location. There were two crews who worked these claims in the early 1950's. Both met with failure as far as old reports go. I am still researching some of the 1950's info which was written about in the same government report. I have made at least one good connection to this era and hope to talk more about it soon. I know it's been a fantastical, wild ride up to now but there is still much more to come. Hang in there with me, we'll get it all told - the good, the bad, and even the ugly. I promise.

May 6 2002 Part Five Jacob said the crew knew that the loggers were up to no good. He said they were born troublemakers. Anyone with half a brain knows you don’t walk into a gold mining camp at night without an invitation. Jacob told us some of the loggers had revolvers and one had a shotgun. They had gotten liquored up and wanted to see what we had to steal. Jed and Roy stood face to face for about a minute. Neither one said a word. Then Roy backed down and the loggers headed back up the mountain. No doubt they were still trying to build up their courage by drinking some more. We had noticed they were carrying bottles of whisky. We figured we were not done with them and we were right. Jacob said they were still up around midnight when sure enough the loggers came back down to camp. Roy hollered out he was coming in and didn’t want any misunderstandings. Jed told him that if they came in they would get all heck kicked out of them or possibly shot. He meant it too. Jed never bluffed. The fools came into camp despite the warning and started running their mouths at us with Roy saying they knew we had gold hidden and they just wanted to see it. He also said they were running low on whisky and wanted to get some of ours. At this point Jed had enough of them. He walked over to Roy who was drunk and still running his mouth. Jed cracked him on the jaw with a short right handed punch and Roy went down. The others decided they wanted some and the fight was on. To say they got beat was an understatement. Jacob said that the fight lasted about two minutes and the loggers got the worst of it. The mining crew relieved them of their weapons which they never gave back. The loggers had to carry Roy back up the mountain as he was passed out. Jacob said they ran into this crew in the tavern about two weeks later and none of them said a word to them. Jacob told us that his brother loved to fight. He wouldn’t look for one but if a fight presented itself he was always willing. According to him, Jed wasn’t a real big guy and some thugs underestimated him until he built up a reputation in the area. Then no one messed with him unless they were newcomers and didn’t know him. He said that was the same for the entire mining crew. People stayed clear of them, even the deputies. They had become a real mean bunch and never backed down from anyone. He said it was just the way things were back then. TO BE CONTINUED ............

May 6 2002 Part Four A LONG STORY FROM JACOB BEGINS The fire was burning low and we were all sitting in a circle around it. I could feel the night chill coming on and threw a couple small logs on the fire to get it going better. Jacob took a sip of whiskey from his cup and a long drag on his smoke and began to unwind what was on his mind that night. He pointed up to the north along where the pines come near the creek on the east side. The ground begins to climb there as it winds up the big mountain. Jacob said the crew from 1936 had been sitting in camp one night in June just about where we were now. They were drinking and swapping stories when they heard what he called a bunch of rowdies coming down the trail towards their camp. When they got closer they could see it was a bunch of loggers from a local company. He said the loggers hated the miners and the same held true as far as the way the miners felt about them. He said his brother’s crew was real surprised to see them out there, especially at night. Before they could figure out what was going on the loggers came walking straight into their camp uninvited. This didn’t set well with Jed and his crew. There were six loggers and Jacob said they were pure trash. They were drunk. Jed asked the loggers what the hell they were up to. The crew leader told him they had been sent out to look over a job further up the mountain and had set up camp about two miles north of ours. Their crew leader’s name was Roy and Jed didn’t like him much. Roy said they came down to drink with us and see how much gold we were getting. Well, Jed squared up face to face with Roy and we all got to our feet. We were waiting for one of them to throw the first punch and the fight would be on. TO BE CONTINUED .................

Pictures of some of the gravels and rock in this area. We pulled good gold out of there thanks to Jacob.

May 6 2002 Part Three At lunch Jacob was talking about how good it was to be back here mining gold again. I told him how bad we all felt about what had happened back in 1937. He got real quiet and I decided to change the subject. We all just started speculating on how much gold was still buried in the side of the mountain we were working. Jacob said he wouldn’t be surprised if there were thousands of ounces. He said the deposit could run west clear down to the creek and way north into the mountain for hundreds of yards or more. He said there wasn’t anyone who knew and the only way to find out was to work like hell. We got back at it mid afternoon and worked until dusk. We were beginning to move lots of rounded rock and Jacob’s samples were showing promise.It was dark when we finally got back to camp with the mats so we decided to do the cleanup bright and early tomorrow. It was canned hash and canned stew for supper and a few beers for dessert. We sat and talked about the claims for a while. Jacob got on the subject I had brought up at lunch time. It was one of those times when he took close to a full cup of whisky and he started opening up about the old days here. He rolled himself a smoke and asked if we wanted to hear a story about miners and loggers. What could I say? I told him we were all ears. TO BE CONTINUED .................

May 6 2002 Part Two After breakfast we got to work. Jacob was pointing out a mule deer on the ride up to the site. There were a lot of them out here. It was already warming up and we quickly loosened up to the digging. Jacob was in a rare mood and was hollering and giving everyone encouragement. He was working a pick and shovel right along with us. I hit a couple of rounded rocks about a foot in diameter and Jacob said we were on the channel. We took a break around 10:00 AM and sat down on some chairs I had taken up there for break times. They beat sitting on logs. Jacob took a slug of whisky from his flask and rolled himself a smoke. He said he was going to start taking samples after we started digging again. He wanted to closely monitor the gravel values. Vern, Jim, and I decided we were going to pick up the pace of digging. We were hell bent to get gold. The hopper of the tom was kept full with rich gravel and we didn’t stop for lunch until 2:00 PM. When we went over to the wooden table near the tub, Jacob had several pans sitting there for us to look at. Each one looked to contain some nice gold. Jacob told us the samples were improving and he thought we might make some money here. He said it would take some hard work but if the deposit was in there deeper we would start seeing ounces soon. Jacob said the damn fools who took over the claims back in 1937 didn’t know squat about finding gold. He was hoping they had left us some rich pay. TO BE CONTINUED ..................

May 6 2002 Part One Jacob Deals With A Claim Jumper I awoke to a near disaster today. There was someone over at the creek near our gold cleanup area and I heard yelling. Jacob had the Thompson but was not pointing it at him. I pulled on my boots and ran over there to find out what was happening. The guy was hollering at me to get this crazy old man away from him and take his gun away. Jacob told him to shut his mouth or he’d hang him for claim jumping. Jacob said the guy was a hooligan and had come out here to steal our gold and other goods. When I finally got things calmed down I learned that the man was a prospector and hadn’t realized the area was under active claim. Jacob then called him a liar. I was finally able to convince Jacob the man had made an honest mistake and the prospector walked back down to the main road. I apologized to him which seemed to help and we shook hands. Then I went back up to camp and had a long talk with Jacob. Hopefully this won’t happen again. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

May 5 2002 We couldn’t wait to get back to digging gravels this morning. We got water down to the tom and went to work. Jacob was even doing a little digging. He took a sample over to the tub and came back and showed us the contents of the pan. There was a nice little picker and some coarse flakes. This kept us going. There is nothing like seeing gold in the pan to keep you working. We stopped for lunch and got back to work around 1:00 PM. The sound of those shovels all ringing off the gravel and rock was music to my ears. We have a nice cut beginning to open up and are making it wider as we continue into the hill. So far the digging has been easier than I expected and we are getting used to the work. Jacob tells us each man should be able to move close to a ton of gravel per hour unless there is big rock to slow us. We will have to build our bodies up to achieve that number as we are nowhere near working that fast yet. By day's end I estimate we processed about six yards of gravel. I would like to double that amount at some point. When we finished up the gold weigh after supper we had 3/10 of an ounce. While we were sitting around the campfire a black bear came down the creek not too far from us. We banged some pans and hollered at it and it kept on going. There seem to be a lot of them in this area. Jacob said his crew saw plenty of them as well. We have not seen any mountain lion yet but were warned about them by the ranger. It has been a good day on the claims. We are all tired and ready for sleep. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

May 4 2002 Part Two The bedrock here didn’t seem to fall away like the other area we abandoned. Jim, Vern, and I were digging side by side and heading northward into the gravels. I was surprised at how easy the digging was. Jacob laughed and told us not to get too relaxed as it would most likely get tougher. Jacob was taking samples about once an hour and I noticed he had his flask of whisky with him as well. We took a break around 2:00 PM for a late lunch and I walked over to the table where the test pan sat. There was some nice gold in the last pan. Jacob said that if there was gold in the samples there would be lots of it in the tom. That made us get back to digging like crazy. Around 6:00 PM Vern went up the mountain and shut down the pump and we pulled the mats out of the tom. We washed them out at camp and ran the heavies through the concentrating sluice. I estimated we had processed about five yards of gravel. After supper we finished up the panning and Jacob gave us one of his winks when he weighed up the gold on the scale. A quarter of an ounce. We were throwing our hats in the air and jumping up and down like maniacs. This was the most gold I had ever seen and we took it out of the mountain. He said this was most likely a rich spot and we had done good. We all had a shot of whisky with Jacob. I was dog tired but too excited to sleep. Jacob hit the sack and the rest of us stayed up talking about gold and had a few beers. The fever has struck us. TO BE CONTINUED .................

Some other info not in my journal of 2002 : I am posting a couple of pictures of one of the more dangerous areas of the claims back in the old days according to what I was told. This is an area above one of the creeks where armed thugs would lay in wait for unsuspecting prospectors down below. They knew that anyone working the miles of creeks would have to pass this area on their way north. There were numerous gun battles, fights, and robberies in this area. It was the wild west. Even up to the WW2 era. One story I was told by a historian was that a prospector was cooking a piece of meat on a fire near the creek. He didn't have a pan handy so he was using his shovel to cook on. Suddenly, he was jumped by several armed men who took his gear, his money, and even the piece of meat he was cooking. There were also local ranchers who came out there to shoot it out with the miners who they hated. Very rough times.

You were lucky to get out of that situation without help. I don't think Vern would ever have gotten out by himself.

May 4 2002 Part One Vern Gets Himself Stuck When we got up to the mine site this morning Vern went up the mountain to get the pump running and send some fresh water down to the holding pond. We all carry walkie talkies on us. There was a bit of a frantic call down to the crew at the mine site from Vern. It seemed he had got himself stuck in the pond. When we got up there we saw his predicament. The pump was set near the bank of the pond. It had a twenty foot suction line with a filter on the end. It had been sucking water from just about five feet from the edge of the pond and Vern decided he wanted to move it out into deeper water. Evidently, he hadn’t been able to throw the line out as far as he wanted so he decided to walk it out to its full twenty feet of length. Around fifteen feet from the pond’s edge he started to sink into the silt below his feet. The more he tried to extricate himself the deeper he sank. He was beginning to panic. He had told us to bring rope so we could pull him out. I couldn’t tell how far down his legs were in the silt but he said he thought two feet or nearly knee high. He was definitely in trouble. Jim threw the rope out to him and he tied it around his waist and grabbed ahold of it with both hands. Jim, Jacob, and I pulled with all our strength on and off for a good half hour before we got him free. Both of his boots had pulled off his feet because of the suction and we dragged him across the water and back to solid ground. He was pretty shook up and darn lucky someone was there to rescue him. I went back to camp and got his spare pair of boots and we eventually got back down to the dig site. What a way to start the day. TO BE CONTINUED .............

A warning to claim jumpers.

The Deere 690 parked near one of the creeks.