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GhostMiner

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  1. Something Not In The Journal : There were many things that happened during the 2002 mining season that weren't put in the journal. One of them concerns Conor and his obsession with finding a lost gold cache. This came from his brief friendship with Bill Anderson. Sometimes the two of them would discuss mining and their belief that there was 1000 ounces of gold buried in a casket near The Hidden Mine. Just below that mine to the south was what we called The Upper Drift Mine where Bill had spent years secretly working the quartz vein that contained some high grade material. Below that mine was our entrance to the lower drift mine which turned out to be the same mine as the tunnels connected. Evidently, according to Jacob, Bill had hinted at the possibility that he had hidden or buried a fair amount of his gold somewhere close to The Upper Drift Mine area. He had never come right out and said he had gold but on a couple of occasions after some heavy drinking he had mentioned this to Conor. Jacob went on to tell me that Bill never disclosed any locations of a gold cache but told Conor it wouldn't take him five minutes to get his gold if he needed it. So Conor was sure Bill's gold was close to The Upper Drift Mine area. There will be some information about this subject later in the 2002 journal. The other subject pertaining to 1000 ounces of gold hidden in a casket --- well, Conor spent quite a bit of time detecting all around The Hidden Mine. He was on a treasure hunt up there because of what Bill had told him. I think he told Conor more than he told us. I also think that the two of them were scheming to find the gold and take off without telling us. I have my reasons for thinking this. Conor was very secretive about that area - even with his Uncle Jacob. I think Bill knew more about that mine than he told any of us. I think he only gave us half the story. Unfortunately, what he knew went to the grave with him. There's a lot more to come before the season ends - some good and some bad. And there's a lot I didn't write down but may convey off the record. Cheers, GM.
  2. Well ---- you are assuming Bill had gold hidden. Funny you brought that up. I did write about this in the 2002 journal. Conor was convinced that there was gold hidden somewhere above camp on the mountain and spent a lot of time looking with his detector. You're question will be answered before the end of the season of 2002. Hang in there.
  3. August 23 2002 Conor worked with Jacob and I today. Our tailings piles were in a mess and Conor pushed them with the skid steer while Jacob and I mined. This helped us out quite a bit and it would be great to work together like this and run more yardage before the season ends. We leave that up to Conor who is still hell bent on finding a hidden cache of gold somewhere up on the mountain. We have a good trench working north and into the mountain. Jacob doesn’t think we are digging old timers tailings but he says it’s lower grade virgin gravel the old boys passed up. Jacob said the crews from the 1800’s usually high graded the best and easiest material and left the rest for scavengers like us. I don’t mind being a scavenger if it makes me wealthy by today’s standards. I was running the excavator this afternoon and pulled up some old logs. Then a bunch of old tin cans. We had hit another old miner’s cabin that was buried by the mountain slides over the years. I stacked the logs in a pile and kept pushing north deeper into the mountain pay zone. I was wondering about how that old timer who built the cabin did out here back in his day. Hopefully he did ok but left us some gold. Most likely he was working the lower pay zone by pick and shovel and using a rocker box to wash the gravel at the creek. Hard work for sure. It seems like the more we dig and work the mountain the more history we uncover. Jacob took some pan samples and said there was some gold so we should do fine on this cut. We ended the day with 260 yards of washed gravel and it was one of our better days as far as smooth running. We pulled the mats and will spend tomorrow cleaning up the concentrates from a total of 670 yards of pay gravel. That’s a big cleanup for a crew like us. TO BE CONTINUED ..............
  4. If you recall, Conor is retired from a position on the railroad & is either 66 or 67 at this time. He's not a kid even though he acts like one at times. Remember, he was Jed's son. Jed died in 1936.
  5. August 22 2002 Part Three I left Conor to his detecting work and went back down the mountain to camp. I told Jacob what had happened. He wasn’t surprised that we had a run in with Nick Allen but he was surprised to hear how Conor had reacted to Allen’s insults. Jacob said Conor had more of Jed in him than he thought he had. I was concerned that Allen might go to the sheriff and report the incident. That might be trouble for Conor. Jacob didn’t think he would because according to him crooks don’t ask the law for help. They deal with things on their own. If that was true then we might be in for more run-ins out here. Jacob just shrugged it off saying he’d been through plenty of run-ins with thugs and we’d deal with it if and when the time came. I couldn’t be so easy about all this as Jacob was but he really didn’t seem to care one way or the other. When we finally got back to work we had lost most of the morning so we worked straight through until 6:30 PM before shutting down. We had made up some time and washed 180 yards of gravel. I didn’t say anything to Jacob but I was getting sick and tired of having our mining operation stopped or delayed over and over. It was frustrating. All we wanted to do was mine for gold but for whatever reason we had to fight something or other every week. I was starting to look forward to the end of the season out here. Jacob was actually talking about staying the Winter and working at the upper drift mine where the ore samples had been so good. He figured he and Conor could work the vein and stockpile ore for Spring when I came back out. Jacob really didn’t want to go back to Oregon and sit in a cabin by himself all Winter. He wanted to work the mine. I asked him if Conor was up for that and he said he hadn’t asked him yet. I am not sure if that is a good idea or not but I am good with whatever Jacob wants to do here. TO BE CONTINUED ................
  6. I hear you Mike. My great grandmother lived to 111 and my grandmother to 103. My great grandmother always said she lived that long because she stayed away from doctors. I expect & am hopeful of making the century mark. Got a ways to go though. Take care.
  7. Many thanks. Yes, my wife Lindy has been reading all the posts and it's taking her back in time as well. She's been on the claims several times and helped work them with a crew. She says the old mine gives her the creeps and refuses to go back to the original dig site of 1936. I guess I don't blame her. I camped there alone several times but won't do it anymore. Not by myself. It's almost like they are all there watching. Hard to explain. Then I recall the last day of mining in 2015. One of my closest partners was the last one to leave except for me. I'm always the last and take one last look around before heading out. We shook hands and for some crazy reason my last words to him were "God's Speed." A few weeks later I got a call that he had died of heart failure. Only 53 years old. That was a tough one to take.
  8. The sad thing for me in posting the journal is that they are all gone now except for Vern. Sometimes when I am on those claims at night and alone I still see them and hear them talking about the dreams of gold. There's no one left to tell the story now but me.
  9. Conor passed away some yrs back. He had told me about his personal problems and about his wife leaving him which I don't think he ever got over completely. This was a song he would listen to every now and again. This one's for you Conor.
  10. August 22 2002 Part Two After I hollered out I saw Nick Allen and the other three of them turn quickly towards us. We were about 70 feet apart as Conor and I walked toward them. Allen looked surprised. I asked again what they thought they were going to do on our claims. Nick Allen gave me a sleazy sort of half grin and said arrogantly that they were testing gravels from our unfinished dig site. I told him he had not asked our permission to take any samples and we would not give him permission. Nick Allen quickly changed the subject. By now we were ten feet away from each other. He said we should keep a close eye on Conor because he had told him all about our mining operation when he was in the bar. He said we should put him on a short leash. He continued to insult Conor and was saying he was a drunken cry baby who couldn’t hold his liquor and that we needed to kick him off the claims. I looked over at Conor and he was fuming. His face was red and his teeth were clenched. I noticed his right hand start slipping towards his 45 which was holstered on his right hip. I touched his arm and shook my head no. I told Allen that he had no call for that kind of talk. Conor was more blunt. He called Nick a big mouth con artist and said he’d put a hole through his head with his 45. Allen wasn’t carrying a gun. I only saw one sidearm on one of the men unless some were concealed. I told Allen to put the buckets down and get off the claims. He said they needed to make a few tests on the digsite before his investors made us an offer. Once again I told him we were not interested. Before I could stop him Conor pulled his 45 and fired a round about a foot over Nick Allen’s head. He dove face first into the wet gravel by the creek. I told the other three to get the hell off the claims and pronto. They said they were just prospectors who had been hired by Allen to do some sampling. They didn’t know anything about the claims or who owned them. I told them to git and never come back. They turned and walked off following the creek south towards the road. Allen got up slowly. He had some nice clothes on that were now covered in dirt. He was the type that didn’t do manual labor but was there to supervise the other three prospectors. Conor walked over to him and smacked him across the face with his 45. The blood gushed out of his mouth from the front teeth that had just been removed. I told him the same thing, get out of here and don't ever come back. He had his handkerchief stuck up in his mouth in an attempt to stop the bleeding and staggered off in the same direction the prospectors had gone. I looked at Conor and we gave each other a nod. I told him his father would have been proud of him. He was showing me that he had some sand to him. TO BE CONTINUED ...............
  11. August 22 2002 Part One Thugs On Our Northern Dig Site We were up and working by 8:00 AM. Once again, Conor took his detector up to the northern area of the claim. Jacob and I hadn’t been working much more than an hour when I got a call from him on my walkie talkie. He sounded excited and told me there were people on our rich dig site that we had left for now because of the lack of water. He saw four of them and one of them was Nick Allen. They were digging in the last trench we had worked up there and were taking sample buckets of gravels and carrying them west over to the creek that came down the mountain. There wasn’t much of any water in that creek now but there were a few low pools where you could still do a little panning. He gave me his exact location and I told him to sit tight and I’d be up there as quick as I could. Jacob had his radio turned low and hadn’t heard Conor’s call so I told him what was going on. We shut everything down and Jacob stayed at camp. I charged up the mountain and found Conor behind some rock outcrops just east of the creek. We were looking straight down at the four claim jumpers from a position just above them and maybe 100 feet away. They had taken the bucket samples to the water and were getting ready to start panning the material. Then Conor admitted something to me. He said that the night he had gone into town feeling sorry for himself he had run into Nick Allen and some of his crew at the bar. He had told them about some of the rich ore on our claims and where we were working. Conor said he didn’t mean to divulge anything but was drunk and got to bragging. Then Allen and his crew left. Later that night we had come and he was afraid to tell us what he had done. He begged me not to tell Jacob. He said Jacob would throw him off the claims and disown him. I told Conor we’d talk about all this later but right now we had thugs to deal with. I looked him straight in the eye and asked him if I could count on him because things were about to get rough and it would be us against them. He nodded and said yes, I could depend on him. We both had our sidearms and plenty of ammo. I stood up and hollered out as loud and with as rough a voice as I could muster “Hey! What in the hell do you guys think you are doing? You’re on our claims.” Then we started walking in their direction. TO BE CONTINUED ............
  12. I have been on this forum for just over two yrs now. I just wanted to thank Steve as well as all the readers. It's been a long & winding road. More journal to come.
  13. August 21 2002 Part Two We had a good afternoon of mining and ended our day with 230 yards of washed gravel. Conor didn’t have any luck finding buried gold but was having a good time searching. I encouraged him and told him he just might find something if he stayed with it. It was getting dark when we had our supper and cracked open some cold beers. Conor said he was going to stay clear of the whisky. Jacob had a couple of shots of Bushmills and started talking about Jed. He was remembering Jed and how much he hated it when uninvited people came into camp. He told Conor and I that Jed could be a dangerous man at times but only if provoked. He said Jed never backed away from a fight and had started a few as well. When he did start one he usually had good cause. I asked Jacob about that 1936 gold strike and the gravels they moved up there. That excavation remained to this day and was quite impressive. Jacob said the crew were working fools. They’d set out in the morning and settle into a steady pace. He said there was little talking and a hell of a lot of pick and shovel work. There used to be arguments about who moved the most gravel. Every man took it seriously. They were a prideful crew. Jacob said that once you toughen your body to long, steady days of hard work it becomes second nature. He said the worst mistake was acting like Conor had when he tried to work too hard and too fast. The three of us talked about the claims and how much gold might still be out here. We talked about trespassers and the old days. We went on and on and the night chill was setting in. Before we knew it the clock was past midnight and we turned in. It was a good day. TO BE CONTINUED ............
  14. Yes, we just wanted to keep our small scale operation and 100% of the gold as well.
  15. I never trust anyone wearing a slick outfit on a mine site. Just ain't right.
  16. August 21 2002 Part One Big Money Front Man Comes Calling This morning Conor watched as Jacob and I cleaned up the concentrates. We ended up with 12.2 ounces of gold which was just ok. The hot spot quickly faded but with close to a gram per yard it is still decent pay. I would be more than happy to mine these numbers into the end of the season but the values in and around these old tailings are all over the board. There is nothing consistent and that is just gold mining. Conor had never seen that much gold at one time and was thrilled. He took the detector back up the mountain and Jacob and I worked the digsite as usual. The weather has cooled some and is in the mid 80’s now which is a big relief. I weighed myself last night and found I have lost over twenty pounds. I suspected something like that as I have run out of notches in my belt. I think the heat was the culprit. We took a lunch break around 1:00 PM and Conor came down to eat his lunch with us as well. Before we could get back to work there was a guy walking along the creek and he came into our camp. He was in his forties I would say and introduced himself as Nick Allen. He was dressed up in blue slacks and a sport coat and was wearing fancy street shoes. I wanted to laugh out loud but held it in. He said he was from Wyoming and had been in town on business when he heard some talk about our mining project and the death of Bill Anderson. He went on to say that he was an investor in mining projects and rattled off some names of mines from California to Nevada to Montana that he had previously invested in like that was supposed to mean something to us. He told us he had a good money source and was the front man that evaluated mines and potential deals for an investment group. The group was back east and he was their contact person. Then he just stopped talking and looked at me like I was supposed to say something back to him. Jacob beat me to it and told him nobody asked him to come to our property unannounced and we weren’t interested in any high falutin' investment group. In a more congenial way I thanked him for his interest but told him we weren’t in need of investors. Nick Allen shook his head and said we might be making a mistake. He said his investors could take a small project and turn it into a big time mining operation. Then Jacob interjected saying they would also tell us how to run our mine and take most of the gold. Allen said that if the project passed his evaluation they would bring in their own crew and equipment and we could sit back and drink beer all day and count the money. I told him thanks but no thanks. He left his card and said he’d be back again. TO BE CONTINUED ................
  17. Bill hailed from the Seminole area of Florida. Here is a final tribute to him by of all people a musician & singer named John Anderson. EVER SINCE THE DAYS OF OLD, MEN WOULD SEARCH FOR WEALTH UNTOLD. THEY'D DIG FOR SILVER AND FOR GOLD, AND LEAVE THE EMPTY HOLES.
  18. August 20 2002 We stayed up a while last night talking about the claims here and Bill. He had been mining for years on this property. Part of it illegally. Somehow he had survived financially and we figured he must have been getting enough gold to keep going. Jacob said there was a good possibility he may have hidden some of that gold on the mine. We knew he had been working the upper drift mine above our lower creek digsite for years. Bill’s metal detector had survived the fall at the Hidden Mine and Conor still had his own as well. Jacob suggested that Conor do a little detecting around the upper drift mine to see if he could find anything. He said that legally the gold belonged to us. I figured what the heck, it might be worth a try. Jacob and I would keep the digsite running down here near the creek. After breakfast Conor went up the mountain with his detector while Jacob and I washed gravel. The temperature had backed off a little and it was easier working. The days were getting shorter and the nights much cooler as well. We worked all day without any incidents and shut down at 5:00 PM. We had processed 220 yards of gravel. We pulled the sluice mats and took them over to camp. Tomorrow we will do the cleanup of concentrates from the 475 yards of processed material. We were hoping for a good pay day because we had left off on a hot spot. Conor came down to camp just after us. He said he had found a lot of junk but no gold yet. He wanted to give it a few days and Jacob agreed. He told Conor to explore the area as long as he wanted. It was just the three of us now. TO BE CONTINUED ................
  19. No. Bill Record had the Nebraska mine which was not on our mine. Nothing to do with Bill Anderson.
  20. August 19 2002 Conor and I headed into town this morning. We went to the Sheriff’s office and asked if anyone knew how Bill was doing. They said they didn't, so they let us use their phone to call the hospital. After waiting on hold for a good ten minutes I was finally able to talk with a nurse who worked on the floor where Bill was located. She said he had a punctured lung, broken left arm, a broken leg, a concussion, and multiple bruises. He had been stabilized and was going into surgery. She said his condition was very serious. I got the direct number to call about him and told her I'll check back tomorrow. The deputy on duty said he was lucky to be alive after a fall like that. I agreed and Conor and I stopped by the store to pick up some supplies and headed back to camp. Nobody really felt much like working but we finally got back to washing gravel. Conor worked with us. He was taking a liking to operating the skid steer and doing pretty good. By the end of the day we had processed 150 yards of pay gravel. Jacob said we should run one more day before pulling the sluice mats for a cleanup. It was near 7:00 PM when we finished eating supper and a deputy came walking into camp. It was the same one from yesterday who had come to the mine with the rescue crew. By the look on his face I knew it wasn’t good news. He came over to us and said he was very sorry to tell us that Bill didn’t make it. We were all stunned. Conor completely fell apart. I even saw a tear in Jacob’s eye. The deputy said they had contact information for one of Bill’s relatives and he would be taken care of. He said if we needed to know anything more we should come into the Sheriff’s department tomorrow afternoon. I thanked him and felt a wave of sorrow and also a creepy feeling come over me. I remembered Bill talking about the graveyard train sitting in the ravine near the upper drift mine. Bill had joined the miner who had also died out there. I asked myself how many more miners would die out here on this cursed property. It had claimed the lives of many good men. I didn’t want to be one of them. I felt like packing up and going home while I still had the chance. TO BE CONTINUED ...............
  21. Have been unable to log on to this site since last night. Finally got back on. Cheers.
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