GhostMiner

2 ft X 20 ft I think.

Even if the griz was 4 inches it was still allowing too large a rock or gravel into the sluice. No doubt they lost a lot of gold.

No, there was no mention of his name in the journal or the report. I've always pictured him in his late 30's or early 40's but who knows for sure.

True. But I think if I go back in the journal he talked about the grizzly on top of the sluice that they fed gravels into. I think he said it was 2 inches but I will have to find it again. Maybe it was larger. If that is correct then nothing went through the sluice larger than that and they just washed bigger rock above the grizzly.

From reading Jed's journal it seems like he loved his whiskey as much as the gold.

Me too but I couldn't keep up with Jed as far as drinking or working LOL.

You have the right name to work with them LOL. Thanks for reading.

Interesting. I think they hauled whatever fit in the bucket to the longtom but I think John only washed off the bigger rocks from the buckets into the sluice head and didn't send them through. Of course that is speculation on my part but it seems logical. As far as where they worked at the creek we have an approximate location and have dug the area with pick and shovel and got decent gold. As there is nearly no gold elsewhere along the creek I think this may be the spot. Here is a picture of what we have found there. It's around 4 grams to the cubic yard of gravel. The creek has changed course a bit since 1936.

Here's a question for everyone - who would have liked to have worked with Jed and his crew? You can sign me up right away.

JULY 3 1936 We finished up the weigh after breakfast. There was 9 ounces. We continue to add to our treasure chest. Today was very hot with the afternoon temperature over 100 degrees. We are working with fairly large rock in the bottom and it takes time to clean it and move it out. There is a lot of rock bar work involved as well as pick and shovel. I don’t think any of us want to see rocks for a long while after we leave the mine at season’s end. Our work is steady and we are trying to fill buckets with washable gravels but it is slow work. We just keep pushing on. I had a test pan that was filled with coarse gold and some small nuggets. I didn’t say anything to Jacob and Will but just set the pan at the base of a tree out of view. When we ended the day’s dig we had a total of 82 buckets of what I think are extremely rich gravels. Before we drove the last buckets down to John I brought out the pan for Jacob and Will to see. They were nearly out of control when they saw it. There was well over an ounce in there for sure. All from half a bucket. When we got down to the creek we showed John. He asked if we had hit the jackpot. All I could say was we may be getting close. There’s only one way to find out, and that is to dig like hell. To Be Continued .............................

Thanks Mike. Will do.

You are most welcome.

JULY 2 1936 We all had another happy morning for sure. Even with our lowered bucket count from yesterday we got 12 ounces of gold. It is of a very nice size and nearly all of it coarse and a few small nuggets sprinkled here and there for good luck. We are all four of us spoiled miners now and not caring for fine gold again. I tell the crew this can’t last forever but we’ll take it as it comes. The work at the dig site has continued to slow as the rock is getting larger every day. We are now cleaning the large rock at the bottom and then putting it in the basket to lift it to the surface where it is discarded. I continue to test pan gravels a few times during the day and am seeing heavy gold deposits. We are down about 13 feet in the hole now and considering the size of the rock I am starting to think we are nearing country. I have poked the bar around in the bottom but haven't hit anything that makes me think we are there yet. We stopped work about two hours before sunset with 72 buckets as we were all pretty much done in for the day. We drove down to the creek with the last buckets and helped John wash them and had our supper. It was nearing dark when we saw a light coming up our side of the creek and approaching camp. There were two men with rifles. John hollered over at them and they came our way. We all stood up and were holding our guns as well. They had been drinking and had a bottle with them. I asked them what they were up to. One of them said they heard of a mining crew and a strike up here. A deputy in the tavern had told them about it. They decided to drive up here before dark and try to find the crew. He said they needed jobs and knew mine work as they had hired on with a company last year for a spell. I told them I wasn’t sure why the deputy told them that and we were just prospectors camped out and looking for gold like everyone else that had come out here. They looked disappointed. The other guy asked us if we were going to stay up here for awhile or call it quits. I told him we hadn’t decided what we were going to do yet. Then I said we were all turning in and they bid us good luck and walked back down the mountain. John said the deputy had no business talking about our operation like that and we all agreed. He said if he saw him he would make it clear to him to keep his mouth shut and don’t tell people things he doesn’t know anything about. We were all mad about it for sure. That kind of thing has a way of spreading and can cause trouble. Will took watch and we all turned in.

They are getting into the good stuff deep in the kettle.

JULY 1 1936 I am not sure if we are nearing the bottom of the kettle. All I know is that we are all four of us glory bound. We saw gold in the pan in quantity once again. I took a look at the gold on the scale and it was top of the mornin to ya. There were 31 ounces of an aisling if ever there was one. We cheered it out loud with a mighty hoo rah and Jacob danced an old jig. A treasure for our eyes to behold. We may all be rich before we leave this mine. We all sat at the camp and ate bacon and biscuits and talked of the rich gravels we had found. We had a toast of whiskey and headed out to work. We are seeing a bit of larger river rock mixed with the smaller and rounded rock at this depth of around 12 feet. The labor is getting more intense but no one is complaining. The afternoon heat tries it’s best to wear you down but we battle through it and are drinking large amounts of water. We know we must pace our efforts or be beaten down by our own work. There is not much talk and the digging is monotonous. We are focused on finding the bottom of the kettle and getting all the gold out of it. We worked until an hour before dark. This was the hardest day we had on the mine and took only 88 buckets. They were hard fought for as well. Back at camp we ate bacon and beans and the boys drank Lucky’s that were cooled in the creek. I drank a cup of whiskey as we talked about our mine. The night air chilled and we put on heavy shirts and Jacob took the first watch. The rest of us got some rest. TO BE CONTINUED ........................

An interesting video of finding an old mine shaft.

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Yes, it is a lot of gold.

They took over 7000 ounces out of a glory hole under the falls in McKinley Creek Alaska. They diverted the creek at the top of the falls and mined out the kettle. Early 1900's.

JUNE 30 1936 We are on the gold for sure. May God bless old Ireland. This morning I saw 22 ounces in the pan. To this gold I say one hundred thousand welcomes. There must be a jackpot awaiting our shovels. We all stood and stared at it. The most glorious of sites. I broke out a bottle of Old Bushmills and we drank a toast to the gold. The crew was all busy slapping me on the back and handing out praises for finding another kettle. All I could do was laugh out loud and thank the good Lord. After we settled down we went about our work in a most light hearted manner with a whistle and a song. We are moving 6 inch to 12 inch river rock out of the hole. We clean it over a bucket at the top and put the clean rock in the reject pile. Anything stuck to the rock goes in a bucket to be washed down at the tom. As buckets are filled with washable gravels they are loaded two at a time on the old truck. Some buckets are completely filled in the hole with smaller gravels. It’s all tedious labor and takes a toll on one’s back and shoulders. There is no speed now, just a steady and determined movement of rock and gravel up and out of the hole. Today’s count ended up at 155 buckets and we worked until nearly dark to get them.

Hoping to get another entry on tonight. Having a bit of trouble reading it because at some point it got wet and faded, Using a magnifying glass LOL. Most of it is ok though.

Abour $315 back then. Inflation? Oh yes!!

That's good information Lanny. Thanks a bunch.

JUNE 28 and JUNE 29 1936 Although our bucket counts are dropping the gold weighs are still holding up. This morning we saw another 4 ounces. Will and Jacob have been after me for a night out and I finally gave in. We went up to the dig site and worked until late afternoon and knocked off early with a bucket total of 90. After supper I drove them into town around 7:00 and said I’d be back to get them at 11:00. Town is about half an hour away. When I came back to retrieve them at the tavern they were not there. It seems there had been a brawl and Jacob and Will were in the middle of it. The bartender told me they had got into a fight with several members of a logging crew. It had started over some local laddies it seems. There was some broken bar furnishings and some of them had been taken to jail. So I went down to the jail and talked with one of the deputies. I was able to pay a fine to get them out and we went back to the tavern and paid for all the damage and then some. Then they released them with no further charges. I was not happy. Will had a split lip and Jacob was cut up on the face and had some bruised knuckles. I told them this was why I didn’t want them going into that tavern. It was full of hooligans. I told them that the fines and tavern damages were coming out of their gold count. We got a bit of a late start in the morning but the weigh revived everyone with a whopper of a pan. There was 9 ounces and mostly all course with nice pieces as well. We were all over the top with the results. Maybe we are getting near the bottom. About mid morning we resumed our labor at the site. Will and Jacob were not too sharp but kept a decent pace. We are down 10 feet or so and the rounded river rock is plentiful. We ended our day near dusk with 129 buckets. TO BE CONTINUED ....................

Saloon girls & honky tonk piano players LOL.