GhostMiner

Thanks for the info. I think LIDAR can be layed on the ground as well? Yes. all very expensive. That's why the saying : What's the best way to make a million dollars in gold mining? Start with 2 million.

When Jed started the mining operation he said the truck could only haul 20 buckets at a time due ro poor springs. That makes me think the buckets weren't completely full.A 5 gal bucket full of gravel weighs 60 - 70 lbs. So 1200 - 1400 lbs for 20 full buckets. Or the buckets were smaller than 5 gallon. They rotated rhe empties back up to the dig area. The pay gravels were dumped in some kind of large container if they ran out of buckets. I'm guessing they had 50 - 100 of them but he never mentioned that in the journal.

That place is permanently closed according to their website.

I'll have to check into that. Thanks.

That's for sure!

JULY 19 1936 There was only one ounce in the pan and we were all somewhat disappointed. We have all become spoiled from working the rich ground. I do think as we get deeper we may get better results although there is no telling how deep the pay channel goes in that location. At breakfast we saw more groups of prospectors trudging up the mountain to find the big strike. It appears there is a gold rush taking the mountain in full force. Thankfully the target area is 4 miles higher up the creek from us. I think that as the new prospectors find poor results they will work their way lower and eventually get close to our claims. They are fully devoured by the fever and there is no telling what any of these people will do in their pursuit of gold. I wish them good luck but the odds are most likely against them. There will be fights over staking of claims for sure if there is rich ground still to be had. Up at our new dig site we threw ourselves into the labor head on and with a vengeance. The gravels were flying into buckets and the picks were clanging against rock. The weather was hot in the afternoon as it had been for some time with temperatures over 100. The whiskey pours out of me in the morning and is replaced by gallons of water in the afternoon. I have grown used to the daily routine that is akin to prison labor although we are all mightily paid. There is little talk with the exception of cursing when rock slows the shovel. Breaks are taken on an hourly basis in this heat and shade is quickly sought out. Today’s dig was worked without incident and with brutal force that ended at dusk with a record 340 buckets. TO BE CONTINUED ......................

He did mention pennyweight as well.

I went back in the journal and he said grams.

Very interesting.

I will look at this information and thank you so much for taking the time tp post this info.

JULY 18 1936 We ended up with another ounce from the last of the trench gravels. We sat around at breakfast and talked about everything that had taken place recently and tried to figure up a new plan to mine. I told everyone we will just go back to basics and start prospecting the fault line again. I told them we are getting good gold for our efforts and don’t be discouraged. We were still all talking at camp when we noticed a large group of prospectors heading up the creek & right behind them another group. They were all dressed in new clothing and packing heavy gear. I hollered out to them and we started walking over in their direction. They said someone at the tavern had talked about making a big strike about 4 miles up the creek high on the mountain. He said there were nuggets found the size of gold eagles. The word had spread all over town. There were more prospectors on the way out to the mountain besides them. I told them what was going on and to be careful. I also told them it sounded kind of odd that someone who had discovered a big deposit would be in town bragging about it at the tavern. They listened to what I said but I could tell they all had a bad case of the fever. After they left we all shook our heads. We doubted there was any big gold strike like they said but more likely some drunken prospector shootin off his mouth in town. Now we had to worry about more strangers with gold fever roaming the mountain. Will stayed at camp to guard our goods and the rest of us went up to the dig area to try to find gold. We walked south of the mined out trench about 100 feet where I saw a likely place to test. It looked like the old boys had worked there at one time but there appeared to be virgin gravels remaining. I dug down about two feet and we took some quarter buckets up to the tub to pan. We had some real nice color and chunky gold in the pans which was enough to make me want to work it. I don’t know how much is there but we gave it a go. John dug with us until we loaded up 20 buckets on the truck and he drove them down to the creek and Will came back up with the truck. It was real easy digging and some nice small rounded channel rock. The day ended with 265 buckets. We’ll see what tomorrow’s weigh tells us about this spot. TO BE CONTINUED ................................

I should also add that I found a large kettle at the souther end of the faultline about 1500 ft south of Jed's mine works. This was actually at the top of the fault and maybe 60 - 70 ft above the bottom. It was about 100 ft X 75 ft and 25 ft deep. It was very obvious and looked like it had been mines or partially mined but not sure if bedrock was found. When I discovered this it was by accident and I was alone and getting ready to leave the area for home. I had little time but getting in there was tough and getting back out even tougher. I found it by walking the ridge of the fault down there which is very remote. I had been following fresh bear tracks as well. It made me a little nervous as I had forgot my bear spray and my gun was locked in my truck far away. I know - stupid of me. Anyway, when I was making a decision to go in out popped a very large black bear higher up the game trail on top the ridge maybe 50 yards from me. I decided not to go in there because I wasn't sure what that bear would do. That is the first place I want to explore and test gravels at. I think carrying a small 12 V puffer drywasher up there would work well in the dry summer. No water anywhere near it.

Where the best gold seems to be found along the faultline are either in the kettles (pot holes) or on areas of raised bedrock that came near the surface at the time the fault occured. These raise areas could be just below the surface or as much as 40 - 50 ft deep from our understanding. When you find one there is concentrated gold that is much richer than the normal historic pay layers which average about 50 - 100 yards to the ounce. The rich areas can be ounces to the cubic yard. We found a few but there was not much gravel in them. The hope is to find a good one that could provide many cubic yards of rich pay. Now we are talking about 2000 linear ft of exploration as well.

Do you know how expensive this process is? We have reords done that way for the tailings piles on the sides of the mountain. They are mapped out. Some are 100 ft deep. In some areas like the faultline there are few or shallow depth.

Very interesting & thank you.

Indeed. We are now discovering what Jed did not get to.

The crew had a great leader with a plan & there was no quit in them. They mined out gold the old boys missed in the 1800's. And they missed a lot.

I agree. I have done a small amount of work like that but not for long.

Another side note on the oldtimer who frequented the bar in town back in the 1960's : I was trying to recall my conversation with him and what I could put on here as far as information & maybe I can put more info in the book that's coming. He said he was in his 20's back then and I met him in 2013. He passed away since. This oldtimer who I won't name told me there used to be a lot of old guys in the bar back in the 1960's who talked about Jed's crew and the big gold strike on the mountain. Some of them remembered the mine co operative and recalled hearing about multiple shootouts up there. They also told him there were a lot of thugs in the area back then. The part of his story that interested me the most was this - there was an old guy that told him he was a prospector back in the 1930's and had gone up the creek with a few other prospectors and recalled meeting 4 people mining in the location of our claims and maps. He said they had actually talked with them about gold and where some hot spots might be located. He remembered 2 younger guys in their 20's & 2 guys in their mid 30's or early 40's. He recalled that when they met them they all had guns at the ready and it scared the hell out of the prospectors because they thought they might get shot for asking about gold. He said the guy told him they were a rough looking crew and wouldn't want to mess with them but also said they were friendly enough once they started talking with them and saw they weren't a threat. Another fascinating thing he told me was that he had talked with the son of the barkeeper who used to work there back in the 1930's and help clean the place & haul shipments. He told him about a big brawl that took place between a couple of miners and a logging crew. There were 2 miners and 5 loggers. The fight started over a couple of woman who were girlfriends of 2 of the loggers but the gals were paying a lot of attention to the miners. Somehow punches started flying and they were all going at it and the bar got all busted up. I'm thinking that must have been the fight Jed talked about in the journal. The barkeeper's son told him the mine boss came in late that night and paid them for the damages and wasn't in a very good mood. That's about all I can remember about that conversation with him back in 2013.

That show puts me to sleep.

Thanks Matt. I love posting them.

Thanks flak but the journal hasn't even got to the best part yet.

Another side note - the tavern Jed talks about in town burned down about 50 yrs ago. It was known in the area as a rough & tumble bar filled with all kinds of what Jed refers to as hooligans. There was no attempt to rebuild it. I was talking with an old timer who told me he remembered people in the bar back in the 1960's talk about a miner up on that mountain who made a big strike back in the 1930's depression. He told me a lot more also but I can't put it on here.

JULY 17 1936 About 11:00 PM last night I sat on watch while Jacob got some well earned sleep. Unfortunately he didn’t get much. I heard three rifle shots and hollered for Will to get up and ready for trouble. We took opposite sides of the camp. It was a bright night as the moon was nearly full. We kept the camp dark with no lanterns lit and no campfire. We didn’t see or hear anything near us. John and Will were about a quarter mile down the mountain and suddenly we heard some hollering. Then we heard more gun fire. I wasn’t sure whether to head down there or stick at camp in case they were circling John. The gunfire continued. I told Jacob I was going down there and to stay put and fire three shots if he was in trouble or anybody came up there. I high tailed it down the mountain and when I got close I stopped and took a good look at the situation. I could see John and Will down below me. They were behind some big trees and firing up near the road where there were two trucks parked. I hollered over to John letting him know I was behind him. He said they had caught the co operative boys by surprise when they started walking up the mountain. That’s when they ran behind their trucks and opened fire. He said there looked to be five or six of them. I told John and Will I was going to circle around to the east of them and get them in a crossfire as they didn’t know I was down there. John and Will kept firing at them. I heard John hollering at them and calling them cowards. He said he would kill them all. I was able to get down to the road just east of their trucks. I crept in staying close to the brush and got about 50 yards from them. I could see five men behind the trucks and they were cursing and swearing at each other. I heard one say he didn’t want to be in a gun fight and thought they were just going to scare the miners into signing up. The other one told him to shut his mouth and keep shooting. I hollered out I had them flanked and to drop their guns. They spun around and some of them started shooting in my direction. I dove behind a tree and fired a round in their direction. I heard one of them holler he was hit. They didn’t know exactly where the shot came from and panicked. Two of the men threw the injured guy on the truck bed and they jumped in the truck. They started the motor and started pulling out onto the road. The other two were hunkered down and firing in my general direction. I heard a bullet whistle past my head and hit a tree behind me. I fired another shot but I couldn’t tell if I hit anyone. They jumped in their truck and pulled out. By now the first truck was starting down the road. I fired off a couple rounds at it and turned towards the other truck that was pulling out. I could hear Will and John firing away and bullets were hitting the truck. John was hollering for them to come back and fight us like men. They drove away with engines roaring heading east in the direction of their camp. John and Will came running down to the road. I told John I think I had shot one of them. John told me nice shooting and said he doubted that those cowards would ever come back. I told him how it sounded like there wasn’t much fight in them and I thought he might be right. Will was all wound up and said they better not come back or they would face our guns. When we got back up to camp I told Jacob about the battle. I said I figured it was the same guys as before and didn’t think there was anymore fight in them. All four of us talked about the gun battle and none of us got much sleep. I poured everyone some whiskey and before we knew it the sun was coming up. We had breakfast and weighed up the gold which came to 2 ounces. We were all bushed but I wanted to finish up the trench as we were nearly out of gravels to dig so we went up there and dug and scraped. The bucket count was only 51 and the trench was mined out. We will see what we end up with and make a new plan. Needless to say we are all on high alert. TO BE CONTINUED .................

No worries. I feel fine. Using 3 kinds of eye drops 4 times a day. Another entry coming soon.