GhostMiner

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. TO BE CONTINUED ..........

I call this one Big Clay's theme song. See everyone tomorrow. We got some drinkin' to do.

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. TO BE CONTINUED ..................

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. TO BE CONTINUED ..............

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 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? TO BE CONTINUED ..............

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

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. 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. TO BE CONTINUED .................

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

Here is a video someone made of a Pioneer 30 in action. When figuring out what a trommel can actually run I usually cut the company estimates for production by 40 - 50 percent. Otherwise you are usually going to over feed it and you will get lost gold and also jam ups which are no fun. Rock bars and shovels required.

Cold and wet but we could smell the gold in the air.

September 12 2002 Part One Searching For The Bottom This morning it was raining off and on and the temperature was in the low 50’s. It seems like the big heat has gone for now and been replaced with miserable mining weather. Jacob and Big Clay are working at the dig site while Conor and I process gravels from our stockpile. The new tom is working out for us and is simple to use. I don’t think it’s quite as effective as the trommel but it doesn’t break down either - unless someone clobbers it with a skid steer bucket. I drove up to the dig site after lunch and had a look at the trench. Jacob had turned the northerly cut into a widened out cut and had once again reset his digging position to get deeper. He was down a good 30 feet or so and trying to find bedrock. All of us wanted to see what the material was like at the bottom. Jacob saw me watching and waved me over to his machine so he could talk to me. He said he had test panned more samples from the 30 foot level and they looked to be quite rich. He was convinced that the bottom would contain a big strike. He said he was widening out the cut and the gold was still heavy in the gravels as he dug in a westerly direction. The cut was now 40 feet long by 20 feet wide and 30 feet deep with still no sign of bedrock. There was a wall of granite that sealed the back of the dig to the north as well as the east. He had dug through a big shale layer around the 20 ft depth and then right back into gravels loaded with iron and gold. It was a real reddish material and full of coarse black sand. Jacob was a little concerned because he figured if he didn’t hit bedrock soon he would have to increase his footprint even more and that meant opening up a lot of worthless ground. He said the good thing was that the pay layer was thick. Nearly 25 feet thick so far and still going deeper. I told him to give it hell and radio me if he hit bedrock. He gave me a thumbs up and got back to digging. TO BE CONTINUED ............

So now I'm thinking back and remembering that season so long ago. Seems like yesterday but they're all gone now.

Thank you. Also approaching the 500,000 view mark. More to come.

On September 11 2002 gold was $317/ounce.

For anyone keeping score that makes 85.8 ounces of gold out of that cut so far. Will it hold up or get better? Stay tuned. The fun is just about to begin.

September 11 2002 Bound For Glory Jacob was already up before dawn and eventually the entire crew was at the morning breakfast meeting and having coffee. We all took a minute in silence to remember those who had died in the Twin Towers attack last year. We had breakfast and Jacob and Clay went up to the dig site while Conor and I started the cleanup process. We were done just after 1:00 PM and I radioed Jacob and Clay. They came down to camp and I showed them a jar of gold. It was from this morning's weigh. It was good. The jar contained 56.8 ounces of coarse gold with some fine mixed in as well. I figured somewhere around 11 grams to the yard. Even old Jcob got excited. He stated that the further down he went the better it got. And it also was widening out to the west. Conor was nearly out of control and Clay was almost as bad. Jacob spoke softly and told everyone to calm down. He said it was bad luck to get too excited. He also told everyone to keep their mouths shut if they went to town. News of a strike could send all kinds of hooligans and prospectors out here looking for gold. We had dealt with enough of that kind of thing. After lunch we all got back to work. Conor and I washed another 40 yards of material by dusk and we called it a day. When Jacob came down the mountain with Clay just before dark he went straight to the sluice and grabbed a small scoop of the concentrates with his pan. We all followed him over to a water tub and shined flashlights down on the pan as he worked the black sand away from the gold. The pan was heavy with coarse gold. I think Jacob just wanted us to know we were still on the streak. We went back over to camp and I heated up some canned hash and fried up some Spam. Jacob uncorked a bottle and we all filled our cups. We did a toast to the mine and all the miners who had worked here before us. Then Jacob did a very somber toast to his brother Jed and the crew of 1936 and 1937. I saw a tear run down his face. Then he turned to us and flatly stated “Boys, we are bound for glory.” TO BE CONTINUED ...............

We ended up doing good on this low cost plan. At one of the trenches on the operation we hit a honey hole that we got pretty excited about. I was at a creek about half a mile away running concentrates through a spiral wheel (Gold Magic) while my partners were running gravel. I saw my partner pull in with his truck and told me I needed to come check out the area they were digging. I had him stay with the cons while I drove up to the the dig site. They were test panning from the trench and were pulling pans of coarse gold like I hadn't seen there before. This stuff ended up being in the ounces to the yard. We all thought we had struck it rich but as soon as it started it faded away. It was a hot spot but it didn't last long. Mining can be cruel. However, sometimes I think running the small and inexpensive plans are the best ways to go. You have little to lose but your time and if you have done your homework on the ground you should make some money. For me it's not a fever any longer but a business. I like to get paid for my work. So do my partners. However, it will always be a thrill to see gold in the pan. It's something that never grows old. I just got smarter about how much money I spend to get it.

We actually ended up using a Kubota 80 on this plan. We got a deal from a guy who owned it. They are good machines & fairly powerful for their size. Normally I would not go smaller than a mid size but the big mini was all we needed. Bedrock was only 6 - 10 ft in depth and there weren't any huge rocks to worry about.

A low cost and small scale start & then scale up if possible. Some may prefer to stay small. Usually when the larger scale is considered it is time to find investors.