GhostMiner

Bedrocker in the house.

April 23 2002 Part One We arrived at Jacob’s cabin early this morning. After sharing some Irish Coffee with him we helped load his gear onto the truck and we were off for the mine. We talked about gold mining and swapped tales of adventures. However, mine paled in comparison to Jacob’s. By late afternoon we were getting close to the mine. When we drove past Paxton Jacob saw the road sign. He wanted me to drive up to the old hotel. I obliged and we took the little road which crossed the Feather River via an old one lane bridge and wound our way up the mountain until the hotel came into full view. I drove up to the parking area and Jacob got out. He stood there just looking at the building and I finally asked him what he was thinking about. He told us that Jed and the crew were in a big brawl there back in 1936. He said he was with them and they ended up in a fist fight and throw down that lasted about ten minutes. He said his memory was a bit faded but thought there were around ten guys that they took on. Apparently the fight was over some woman they had met in the bar one night and when their boyfriends and their friends arrived all hell broke loose. Jacob said they kicked the stuffing out of them and kept right on drinking. He said they used to drive out there every now and then for a Saturday night hoot as he called it. Back then there was no law and you took care of your own business the best way you could. He wanted to go in and look the place over. Jim and I looked at each other and kind of shrugged our shoulders and in we went. As soon as we walked into the big bar room Jacob said he remembered it well. He said the bar was the same but the tables and chairs were all changed as well as the interior colors. He pointed over to the far corner and told us that was where the fight had started. We took a seat at that corner table and ordered up some drinks. We toasted to our newly formed mining group. I had a feeling this was going to be quite an adventure. TO BE CONTINUED ...................

April 21 2002 Part Three We stayed and had lunch with Jacob. Bacon and eggs fried up in a big iron skillet with biscuits and gravy. The three of us sat at a wooden table and talked about the old days at the mine. Jacob told us about John and the other crew members. He said they had been like family. Jed and John were as rough and tumble as it gets. They would fight at the drop of a hat if needed. He said that after a year of working on the mine with them he had become just like his brother. He said the journals were the real deal but a lot had been left out. Some of it intentionally. I asked him about the shaman. Jacobs' demeanor changed when I brought him up. He said that was the beginning of the end for the crew and didn’t want to talk about it. Ever. I changed the subject to the gold and treasure on the mine. He said he had never been back but would like to see the old mine one more time. He had never had the chance to dig up his loot from 1937. I figured this was as good a time as any and I summoned up the courage to ask him my question. Would he come back to the mine with me? Would he be willing to stay on the property for a while and be a consultant? Would he be a partner with us? Jacob didn’t even hesitate. He gave me the answer I was looking for. He said he’d like to get back there and do a little mining with us and show us what they had done and where there might still be a good amount of gold. He also wanted to dig up his stash if he could remember where it was all buried. He poured us another cup of whiskey and the three of us made plans right then and there. Jacob, Jim, and I along with Vern Kidder would be mining partners supported by my investors back east. We figured up our percentages in the deal and wrote it up on a piece of paper. Then we all signed it. Vern was back in California and he was hoping for something like this and I couldn’t wait to tell him. Jacob said to give him a day to get ready for the trip down to the mine and secure his cabin. I told him we’d be back for him the day after tomorrow and we shook hands with him and thanked him again. Then Jim and I headed for a nearby town and found ourselves a place to stay until we headed back to California. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

April 21 2002 Part Two I must say that it was an amazing experience meeting a living legend. Jacob was lean, about five foot ten inches in height, had a full head of gray hair,trimmed beard, and stood nearly straight as an arrow. He was a bit grizzled and looked hard as a rock. If I were to make an uneducated guess at his age I would have thought him to be fifteen to twenty years younger. I was tongue tied for a few seconds and then simply stuck my hand out and said I was Mark and happy to meet him. He gave me a half grin and shook my hand. He had a vice-like grip. Jim shook his hand next. He told us to come in and have a seat. The cabin had one large room with the kitchen on one side and a living room area with a big wood stove. There were a few chairs near the stove with a small table in between them. Jim and I sat on one side and Jacob took a seat facing us. There was a bottle of Bushmills on the table and some tin cups. He offered us a drink as he poured one for himself and we readily accepted. Jacob took a drink from his cup and said he had heard I had filed on the old mine. I told him he was correct. He also asked me how I had gotten hold of his journal. I told him I not only had his journal but his brother Jed’s as well. His eyes lit up when he heard that. I had brought them with me and told him he should have them. When I handed them over I could see his eyes tear up and he took another drink from his cup. I told him how I had gotten Jed’s journal and that I had gotten his from a descendant of Sheriff Dan. Jacob told us that he had made a mistake in trusting Dan and had been told that Dan decided to work with a group that owned a logging company near the mine and took over the claims. I told Jacob I was very pleased to be able to give the journals to him. Jacob said that he hadn’t been back to the mine since the July 4th attack and was forced to hide out like an outlaw. He had heard he was a wanted man to be investigated for various felonies. He shook his head and told us the mining crew had only defended themselves against the worst vermin imaginable. Jacob said that from what he had heard the logging group knew little of mining and were hard pressed to find anyone who would work for them. The townsfolk didn’t want anything to do with the old mine and considered it very dangerous to be out there. After a few years the group hadn’t made much money and simply abandoned the claims. He said he was set for life from the gold he had mined with Jed back in 1936 as well as the money he got when the crew sold the treasure. He said he didn’t put all the information in his journal and had plenty of secrets about the mine and what was buried up there. Jacob said that every man was responsible for his own stash and there was gold and treasure buried all over the mountain. He said that none of them wanted to bury valuables in just one location in case they were found as it would wipe out their poke. He said they all had their hiding places where small amounts of loot was stashed. By now we had finished our drinks and without asking Jacob poured us another round. He seemed happy to have us for company. I told him about my little company and my other working partner Vern Kidder as well as my group of passive investors back East. He warned me to be careful of passive investors as they could quickly become aggressive investors trying to mess with me. Jacob pointed to the far wall. His Thompson was hanging there. He said he kept it loaded and ready for action just in case. I wanted to ask him about some of the gunfights he wrote about in the journal but figured I best not bring any of that up unless he started talking about them. However, I did have one important question for him that I was ready to ask. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

More in the next entry but I have to say that meeting a living legend in person that you have read about was quite an experience.

April 21 2002 Part One For the sake of this entry in what is now my own journal I will refer to John’s descendant as Jim. We made it up to the road where Jacob’s cabin was located around 5:00 PM. The road was actually more of a trail but good enough for my truck to navigate. After climbing up the mountain for about 2 miles we spied the cabin. It was a simple affair. The weather was cool but above freezing and we could see the smoke from a wood fire coming out of the chimney pipe. I was really nervous about this meeting. I had no idea other than from what I had read in Jacob’s journal how Jacob would act towards us. He had allowed the meeting so it gave me hope for the best. John Jr. and I walked up a long pathway to the cabin and he knocked on the heavy wooden door. After what seemed like an eternity, we heard the door handle engage a lock and it slowly swung open. There before us stood Jacob Stevens. TO BE CONTINUED ................

I am really happy to now be able to reveale this next part of the story which is most amazing. I can say that 85 yr old Jacob Stevens was a man's man in every sense of the word. I will continue in the next entry which was started in April of 2002. Even my wife is now asking where is the gold hidden?

Each man was responsible for his own stash. Did Jacob know where any of it was?

So if I do the math young Jacob is now 85 yrs old. "Wonder what he'll have to say?

WHAT FOLLOWS NEXT WILL PROVE TO BE ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE EXPERIENCES IN MY LIFE. April 20 2002 My name is Mark Price. I am the president of a small mining group. In 2002 we filed and took control of the old mining property now referred to as The Dead Man’s Mine. The ground had sat dormant for many years. After researching the rich and wild history of the claims we were able to explore them and file our paperwork to own the mineral rights. While beginning the research on the property I came across an old government report with an outline of the history of work done there with a portion of it dedicated to the Stevens brothers in 1936 and 1937. This also included an old journal kept by both of the brothers who were Jed and Jacob. Jed was murdered and Jacob had disappeared after an attack of thugs back on July 4, 1937. The 1937 gold take was recorded in the journal as 218.75 ounces which was rather large considering the crew only was able to mine part time because of all the issues they faced as well as a complete work stoppage on 4th of July 1937. The crew had been murdered with the exception of Jacob who had somehow made an escape and disappeared for years. According to research, there was some kind of escape tunnel at the watchpost the crew was using on the mountain. Jacob was only twenty years old when he vanished like a ghost in the night. A sheriff named Dan Caldwell then took over the mine along with a group of small investors working with a foreign controlling cartel. This group worked the claims for the next three years and then abandoned the property. It remained that way until the time of my filings except for a few brief mining attempts. The mines on this property have what I would call a legendary or notorious reputation and are supposed to be cursed. There were several attempts to work the area back in the 1950's which met with disaster and in some cases death. After I completed the necessary paperwork I began to research the Stevens brothers. I wasn’t coming up with much information so I turned to researching one of the partners named John Denham. This proved to be most fruitful. One of his living relatives told me that Jacob had contacted John’s family about a month after the shootout. He was hiding out in the Sierra Nevada mountains and fearing for his life. The amazing part of this find is that Jacob is still alive and John’s family and descendants have kept in contact with him all these years. They informed me that he never married and was living alone in a cabin up in the remote mountains of Oregon. When I found this out I was beside myself with excitement and contacted my partners back East. We decided that we would attempt to make contact with him. With the aid of John’s descendants I arranged to go up to his cabin with one of them who wants to remain nameless. The two of us will be traveling up to Oregon to meet Jacob tomorrow. TO BE CONTINUED ................

Stay tuned........

Sheriff’s Dept Incident Report July 7, 1937 Acting Sheriff Dan Caldwell Concerning shooting at Stevens Brothers Gold Mine INCIDENT : Sometime in the early morning hours of July 4, 1937 a gunfight broke out at the Stevens Brothers Mine. A small mining crew was attacked by a group of heavily armed and unknown gunmen. A gun battle ensued whereas the mining crew attempted to defend themselves. Six of the attackers were killed in the incident as well as three of the mining crew. The identity of the six deceased attackers is not known at this time. The identity of the three deceased miners is as follows : John Denham, Will Roberts, and Hudson Kane. The fourth man of the crew is identified as Jacob Stevens who remains missing. INCIDENT DETAIL : At approximately 4:00 AM I was contacted in town by a prospector named Ken Stallings. He was camped on his mining claim approximately one half mile north of the mining crews camp and was awoken by gunfire around 2:00 AM on July 4. Upon his investigation into the cause of the gunfire he witnessed what he claimed to be about thirty to forty armed men shooting into the mining crew’s camp. He stated the miners were returning fire. At that time he headed into town where he informed me of the situation. Being the fourth of July and having no staff at the present time as well as being unable to bring in neighboring departments that night I deemed it unsafe to drive out there alone to be of any assistance although I did travel out to the camp later that morning. When I arrived at 11:00 AM there was no gunfire or armed men. There were a large amount of spent rounds piled in the camp as well as at a watchpost on the mountain. I have secured the neighboring Sheriff’s Department and Federal Agencies to assist in a formal investigation into this incident. At the time of this report there are no leads. Filing Officer : Dan Caldwell Acting Sheriff July 7, 1937 Case No. 747 Status : OPEN TO BE CONTINUED .................

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post. It's been a long, hard ride.

Gold is the driver of men. Brave men who faced down death and fought with their brothers in arms.

July 4 1937 I am hurriedly writing this with the aid of a three quarter moon while trapped at the watchpost. It is 3:00 AM and today was to be a gold weigh and celebration of our country's independence. Instead, we are fighting for our lives. I took the second watch last night and all was quiet until an hour ago when we were suddenly attacked by what seems like a small army of well armed men. There has been heavy gunfire until the last ten minutes. I hear no more return fire from camp and I am nearly out of ammo up here on the mountain. I am taking occasional rifle fire and volleys of rounds from at least ten positions which have me surrounded. I am unable to move from cover. I can only think of the Shaman who warned me of our demise. I fear this may be the end. I am seeing my brother Jed and Whisky Jack coming down the mountain towards me with their arms stretched out to greet me. TO BE CONTINUED ..............

OK, waiting for that 4th of July gold weigh. Any guesses?

July 3 1937 There was nothing moving on the mountain last night except for a bear and some mule deer. At breakfast we had a brief meeting and were concerned that whoever had taken those buckets out of the mine while we were in Nevada most likely knew we were on rich ground. We would need to keep a close watch on the mine. Will and I got an early start as the sun was coming up behind the trees. The intense heat was back once again. We worked at a good pace and cut a trench trying to find the depth of country rock. We hit it at twelve feet. I took a sample pan over to the tub with Will and we couldn’t believe the result. The pan was full of small nuggets and pickers as well as coarse gold. We had never seen a pan like this. It was even richer than last year's kettle dig. We still didn’t know how far back into the hill the kettle went. The deposit had the potential to be massive. I kept a thermometer in the shade and it was already reading 98 degrees. It had to be 110 or more in the sun. I sent Will back down to the creek with a lode of buckets filled to the brim with rich gravels for John to wash. I told him to bring up more water and some cool Lucky’s we kept in the creek. When he got back up to the site we found a shady spot and drank a few of them. I have to say that I have never had beer that tasted better on a sweltering hot day. We got back to work and didn’t stop until dusk. We had removed a total of 170 buckets of super rich pay. The weigh tomorrow was going to be a good one as most of the material we took down to John was from deep in the kettle. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

July 2 1937 Part Three Seeing as we had devoted our dig time to determining the breadth of the kettle and only brought a small amount of buckets down to John which he had finished we decided to do the weigh after supper. We ended up with three ounces with nearly a quarter of that from the bottom gravels we had placed in one pan. We now knew that this entire area was a gold bonanza with super rich gravels and we hadn’t even found country rock in the drop of the kettle. There was no determining how much gold was in there but we were starting to think in very large terms. After we completed the weigh and hid our gold we gathered around the fire and talked about our current situation. The crew was rightly disturbed to find out about someone working in our dig site while we were in Nevada. We decided to rotate guard duty in a hidden area with a view of the site. If someone came back to steal our gravels we would be ready for them. No one was in favor of hiring an extra man at this point. I volunteered for the first shift as night watchman while the rest of the crew turned in to get some sleep. I grabbed a bottle of Bushmills as well as my Thompson and headed up to the mine on foot. I got to the watchpost and settled in for my shift. It wasn’t long until the cold night air settled in over the mountain. TO BE CONTINUED .................

July 2 1937 Part Two When Hudson and I got up to the dig site we could see some of the empty buckets we kept there were nowhere to be found. I sent Hudson back down to camp to get more of them. Obviously, someone had been up here digging and hauling out buckets when we were in Nevada. They also had to know by now that this was a very rich gold deposit. No doubt they will come back. We may need to guard this area at night. Our resources are stretched thin. We don’t have the manpower to post enough guards and there are very few if any trustworthy people in this shit hole of a county. It seems like we are fighting an uphill battle every day. When Hudson got back we got to work digging. After about an hour we were at country rock which suddenly plunged nearly vertical. We cut laterally across the base gravels and were able to determine that the drop continued to the west for nearly sixty feet. This took us the better part of the day and we worked like devils to try and determine the depth of the kettle deposit. By sundown we had got down ten feet in the west corner with no sign of country rock yet. I took a quick sample from this depth over to the wash tub and panned it out while Hudson held a lantern for me to see. We had only dug twenty buckets from the higher level which had been taken down to John earlier. Hudson held the lantern directly over the pan and when I took a good look I nearly passed out. The pan was chuck full of small nuggets and coarse gold. There had to be half an ounce. TO BE CONTINUED ..............

July 2 1937 Part One This morning we weighed up a whopping eight ounces of gold from yesterday’s run. The gold is real coarse with plenty of small nuggets and pickers. We all had a shot of whisky and prepared to get the day underway. Will was the watchman today while Hudson and I do the digging chores. About the time we were ready to head up to the hill Deputy Dan made an appearance at camp. What now? I was thinking about more trouble. He told us that there was a phone call from Nevada about an investigation into the death of the thugs at the mine out there. Dan said that he was worried about Luther possibly making a deal with them. He said Luther was the only one other than himself that could positively identify us as the crew that took out the gang. I laughed and told Dan that the law dogs from Nevada ought to give us an award for doing their jobs for them. Dan shook his head and said that ain’t the way things work. He had an idea. He knew people who could get Luther Shanghaied out of the country. They operated a ring in San Francisco and could make him an imprisoned sailor never to be heard from again. He wanted $100 to get it done. I placed the money in his greedy little hand and told him I didn’t want to hear about it again. He gave me a nod and quickly headed out of camp. With that out of the way we headed out to work the mine. TO BE CONTINUED ..................

July 1 1937 This morning Will and Hudson rested up at camp while John and I took Luther into town where he was placed under arrest. Deputy Dan said there was a big investigation going on into the widespread corruption in the county. It seems the corruption did not end with the sheriff and judge but was also deeply seated into many of the county agencies as well. Dan seemed confident that they would get a handle on it and make quite a few changes. To our crew this was neither here nor there as we only wanted to be able to mine gold in peace. We filled Dan in on what had taken place in Nevada and he was a bit shocked to say the least. He was concerned that there could be an investigation into all that had taken place. I informed him that neither Will, Hudson, John, or I had given any information to anyone out there as to our true identities. I also informed him that we had only acted in self defense. I made it clear that if any law dogs attempted to come for us we would fight them to the end and would never allow ourselves to be placed in a prison. With that being said, we headed back to camp. When we got back we all had lunch and I suggested we do a little mining before the day ended. So John worked the tom with Hudson on guard duty while Will and I went up to the Eastern Drift Mine area and worked the rich gravels. We ended our day with 70 buckets. We were finally back to doing what we all came out here for. TO BE CONTINUED .................

Here is a better picture of the collapsed drift referred to in the journal as well as a picture of the "hill" they mentioned.

There are also heavy black sands in that area. Here is a picture of the results of a larger test showing what the old crew up there was after. Some nice pickers, coarse, and fine gold.

We also worked with a geologist out on that area back in 2013. He told us the area has a crazy history for finding gold. There can be ounces per yard or yards per ounce. There were over one million ounces of gold taken there by the hydraulic miners back in the 1800's when they hit a huge kettle which is actually called a drop zone fault. The hot spots we have found so far don't hold up long but there is hope that we fine one that does.