GhostMiner

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

Still a little more to go today before the end.

Hello Delnorter. Are you still reading the journal?

OCTOBER 5 1936 Last night wasn’t quite as cold as we have been seeing and the snow is nearly gone. We all had a good breakfast while sitting around our campfire and waited on the sun to do It’s work. By early afternoon things were melting off pretty good so I told Dutch to keep a watch on camp while the crew hiked up the mountain to get the last of our work done. John laughed and said we should wash gravels for a couple of hours one last time. I think I surprised him when I said let’s do it. So Will and Jacob fired up the pumps and got what little ice was in the lines out and me, John, and Hudson shoveled some gravels. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon and the pit had some water in the bottom but we worked away for about three hours and cleaned up the tom. I told John we’d carry the heavies down to camp in buckets and do the last weigh in the morning. Then we broke down the tom and hopper and unhooked the lines from the pumps. Will drained the lines and the rest of us got busy hauling down the tom, hopper, and pumps as well as the buckets of pay to be panned. It was past dark by the time it was all done. I said well boys, we are all done with mining for this year. With that we stoked the campfire, made supper, and did us some drinking. We were all pretty much bushed. TO BE CONTINUED ...................

It has been an honor and my pleasure to bring this story to you. With that being said, let's take this to the conclusion today. May your pans be heavy -- G.M.

One more day.

One last drink for Jed.

I hate endings. Especially sad ones.

OCTOBER 4 1936 I got up this morning about daybreak. The sun was coming up and the snow had stopped. There was probably a good 8 inches. Everything was froze and the thermometer read 26 degrees. I figured some of it would start melting in the afternoon if the sun stayed out. I went out and got the campfire going and set about cooking bacon and beans and making coffee. It sure smelled good and within 15 minutes the entire crew was sitting around the fire throwing some extras on a pan. We all ate good and watched the sun rise over the mine. It sure was a pretty sight. By early afternoon the temperature had got up to about 40 degrees and the snow was melting. I told the crew to hold off on getting the pumps as it was pretty slippery up on the mountain. We needed to drain the water lines once they thawed and bring the pumps down to camp where they would be stored for winter. Everyone set about gathering loose items up and packing them for when the time came to leave. We just mostly sat and talked mining for the rest of the day and everyone turned in early. TO BE CONTINUED ..................

If you are so inclined to do so LOL.

I will announce the winner of the person who guessed the gold total for the 1936 season. That will be on Saturday.

-

OCTOBER 3 1936 Last night was cold with more snow. I stoked my tent stove and the crew came inside with their camp chairs. I poured some cups of whiskey for everyone and we had ourselves a pow wow. There was a good 6 inches of snow and it was still coming down. I told the crew we were most likely snowed in and would have to wait it out. I told them I was calling the end to the mining season. They all understood and knew that even if we got better weather the nights were getting too cold for the water lines and pumps and any actual gravel washing time would be more trouble than it was worth. Dutch and Hudson felt bad because they hadn’t been with us long. I told them that everyone in my tent would be welcome back for the next season and I figured to start in mid April. I reminded them that Whiskey Jack had told me and John that the eastern drift mine as well as that entire area held promise for good gold. I also told them that we had the pit to finish and I still wasn’t done exploring the fault line. There were lots of possibilities for us out here. Maybe we’d even run two crews. We all sat around crammed together in my tent like a big family and got drunk. We talked about all the trouble we’d had with hooligans and we talked about Whiskey Jack. Everyone was talking about what they would do when they got back home. I told them they'd have to figure a way to get out of here first. TO BE CONTINUED .....................