GhostMiner

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You look way too young to say that Steve.

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This is a question that keeps coming up over & over. Evidently the state of California requires a miner to apply for a permit to highbank. This requires that you file a Report of Waste Discharge with the Regional Water Board. You can't begin mining until the Regional Water Board either approves your Report of Waste Discharge or determines that a permit is not required depending on the discharge created in the particular area. The minimum fee is $1120 but could be higher depending on the threat of discharge. Also, there is no time frame on getting a permit. I know of several miners who highbank without permits with no problem. Fines can be quite high as well. Has anyone actually applied for and received one of these permits or know of anyone who has? Has anyone been shut down and fined while highbanking without a permit?

A crude reference to woman.

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One of the craziest fights I saw was an argument about whether the ground was virgin or tailings. One of the guys was my partner. You'll here more about that soon in the 2015 season i'm writing now.

I've seen some real throwdowns over gold. Not pretty. That's when the wives head for the hills LOL.

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Thanks. Just got back from a long run. It's nice to read all the great comments. Now you can read the book uninterrupted.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you. What I had when I started this was the government report where several pages were devoted to the miner and his gold strike. I had no idea where I would take it and there was no outline. I put myself in the place of the miner and how things might have happened. I would just wait for the next journal entry idea to pop into my head. It was a day to day thing. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I left a lot of room for speculation about who killed Jed and what season two will be like.

I was referring to hooligans. My wife and I were talking about this journal last night over a glass of wine. I told her it suddenly struck me as similar to the movie Easy Rider. Jed had worked hard for his wealth. Captain America (Peter Fonda) sold drugs to get his money. They both became independently wealthy and quit society. Not long after they did this they were murdered, both by people with guns. Maybe Jed should have bought a Harley and headed for warmer weather.

Many, many thanks.

Area of the strike was 20 ft X 30 ft and 40 ft in depth on raised bedrock. The raised area was all the miner got to. There has to be much more gold on the lower areas of bedrock that weren't raised. I think he got a very small portion of the gold at that spot. This would be at the bottom of an ancient waterfall that was buried deep over time. The old hydraulic company of the 1800's removed about 40 - 50 ft of overburden and stopped. The gold was still 40 ft deeper. Another 15 - 30 ft beside the raised area will be bedrock again. That's where the majority of the gold awaits.

Here is a part of what the journal was based on. The miners name was changed by me. I have much more information on this site which is on one of our claims. There are several pages devoted to this miner & his gold strike in the report. At some point I will be leading a crew of hand picked people to go back in and mine this ground. The gold is too deep to be worked exclusively by hand. BEYOND THE JOURNAL This information comes from the 1966 Department of Interior Office Of Mineral Surveys in the year of 1966. A few years after the cessation of hydraulic mining the ground involved in this gold strike was included in a timber purchase. In 1936 the miner in my journal obtained a lease from this company for the purpose of mining. This miner employed and was advised by California state geologist C.S. Haley for advice on location of work. At some point the miner encountered an area of raised bedrock with mixed gravel on top of it. The area was 20 feet by 30 feet and was glory holed. The gold taken amounted to over 1000 ounces. Within weeks of the strike the miner was evicted for failure to pay a royalty to the lumber firm. The miner was murdered a short time later when he showed his gold while in poor company. There was another lease granted to a friend of the president of the lumber company but he was unable to raise the money to work the claim and the land was eventually sold back to the government in 1947. Between 1950 and 1959 there were several attempts at mining this property all of which either failed or the results were unknown. The people involved during these years were inexperienced and practiced poor mining methods.

It is also interesting that this happened as soon as the crew left. Perhaps they were watching & waiting?

Thanks to all the readers of the journal. It was the experience of a lifetime for me. See you in the Fall for Season 2.

Delnorter won the gold contest with his guess of 890 ounces. He was closest without going over. Jed's crew ended up with 1072 ounces for the 1936 season.

So long Jed. I know you & Whiskey Jack are up there somewhere finding gold once again.

EPILOGUE At this point there were no further writings in the journal. Several days after the last entry Jed Stevens was found dead. His body had been discovered by some hunters about twenty miles from his claims. He had been shot through the back of the head and was lying on the ground near a large boulder. There was a small hole that had been dug out underneath it but when the hunters searched there was nothing there. He was identified and law enforcement notified his brother of his tragic death. Evidently he had been murdered for his gold. The perpetrators were never found. It is said that his ghost haunts the mine to this day. A NOTE TO READERS : Be sure to watch for the next edition of this series as the miners return to the claims and resume their adventures in the search for gold. See you up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. GhostMiner

OCTOBER 6 1936 I was up early again this morning and started fixing a big breakfast for the crew. We had ourselves a feast of bacon, beans, hot water corn bread, and biscuits. And plenty of coffee. Of course I sweetened mine with Bushmills. Then we all gathered around and did the last weigh for the year and we got one ounce. Dutch was amazed and said he was hooked on gold and could hardly wait to work with us next year, hopefully as one of the mining crew. I tallied up the gold on the ledger I kept and we had 1072 ounces for our season. This was the first time Hudson and Dutch knew we had made so much gold and they just looked at each other speechless. I was happy and sad at the same time. I think that’s the way everyone felt about it. I shook hands with each man in camp and looked them in the eye. I told them we had achieved what very few miners ever have done. I was proud of all of them and also Sarge and Ben. Then we all said a prayer for Whiskey Jack and I poured a cup and set it on his empty camp chair. I just knew that wherever he was there was gold in his pan. So we gathered up the crew's camp gear and put it on the truck and I drove into town with Jacob , John, and me in the cab and Dutch, Will, and Hudson rode in the back with the gear. The truck was loaded down good and we all barely fit. I dropped everyone off at the train station and some would have to make a bus connection also. We all said our goodbyes and shook hands saying we’ll do it all again next year. I turned and took one last look at them before they began to disperse. It was hard to see them go. Then I went over to the general store and bought some supplies. When I got back to camp it was getting on towards supper time and I fixed a plate of beans and poured a cup of whiskey. I sat by the fire and the stars were coming out and it was getting cold. It just doesn’t seem the same without the crew here and It’s mighty quiet. I’ve got my rifle by my side and I’m drinking Bushmills alone tonight. It’s just like I started. I’m looking over at Whiskey Jack’s empty camp chair and thinking about how much I miss him. My gold is secure about an hour away from camp and the whiskey is tasting mighty good tonight. Tomorrow I’m going to drive out to my hiding spot and check on my gold cache. TO BE CONTINUED ...................