GhostMiner

MAY 31 1936 PART ONE This morning we did the final panning and weigh from yesterdays gravels while Will cooked us all a miners mountain man breakfast of eggs, bacon, beans, hot water corn bread, and coffee, I sweetened my coffee with a shot of Irish. There was gold in the weigh and it was an ounce. That could have been gold gravels slid over from the lift or it might be of its own value. More digging will tell us. We saw a crew of three prospectors heading north up the creek while at breakfast. We all went over to talk with them. They were all well outfitted and had come all the way from Pennsylvania. They had dreams of gold dancing in their eyes like Will. Their plan was to follow the creek higher up into the mountain. I warned them about the rif raf that may still be roaming and wished them good luck. They were all armed with rifles and shotguns. They looked to be green. Jacob and me resumed the pick and shovel work. The buckets were becoming harder to walk out of the trench as the depths slowly deepened. I had set up a hand winch anchored at a stout tree near the dig. We would soon be using it I think. The gravels remained quite loose with hardly any river rock and we made good time ending the day with 265 buckets. There is no sign of any bottom at 12 feet in depth and the trench has become a rounded pit. We may need to use some of our cut timbers to brace the sides as it is loose. After a supper of beans and corn bread we opened a bottle and were ready to sit around the fire and trade stories when once again there was gunfire up north on the mountain. John figured it to be about half a mile. It stopped and started several times. Something was going on up the creek. We figured it might be the rif raf had seen the new prospectors camp and set upon robbing them. John hollered out that he had enough of this and he was going up to have a look see and nobody was going to stop him. I told him i'd go with him and told Jacob and Will to stick at camp and guard our goods. There was a good full moon and the visability was good. We headed on up the side of the creek with rifles at the ready. The gunfire had stopped for a spell but then started up again. It didn't take us too long to get close to the rifle fire and we bellied up near what looked to be a camp with a fire going. For sure it was the three greenhorns from Pennsylvania under fire from the woods up above. We were about 50 feet from them and I gave a holler and said it was us miners they met in the morning from down below. I said we would help them and would circle up to the east and north of the robbers and get them in a cross fire. I told them to stay put and keep shooting. They hollered back and said they would. John said lets get em. John and me circled way around to the east so as not to be seen and closed in on them from the north. They didn't know we were up there and we could see the rifle flashes. It looked to be the same four we had run off and probably robbed Will and killed a man. They were well covered by trees and we could here them laughing as they fired volies down at the greenhorns. John took aim and fired a round that hit the mark and we saw one of them drop over on the ground. I don't know how good he was hit because he crawled off into the brush. The other three now new we were there and took off running up the mountain. We fired several shots and they were gone. We chased them up the mountain as best we could but after about 10 minutes we lost them. I told John they might be laying for us. We ended up heading back down towards the greenhorn camp and hollered out to them we had one hit and three got away. They came out of their cover and we set about looking for the rag tag we had dropped. We found him under a bush. He was grazed in the leg but not too bad. TO BE CONTINUED IN PART TWO ................................

I promised to get some journal entries out this weekend & have begun posting them. The next entry is a rather lengthy one as Jed had lots to talk about. This entry gets intense. Because of the length of his writing I am breaking it down into 3 parts. I will get Part One up soon. I ask that you all think about Jed's crew and their situation. They are working in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada mountains with everything they own including their lives on the line. There are no cell phones and even if there were there would be no service. Even totoday there is no cell service at this location. So there is no way to call the law & get help even if they wanted it. And last but not least, John is on the crew. Enough said.

MAY 30 1936 The finish of the panning was done early morning. Jacob and me came down to see the weigh. The gravels near the upper level produced an ounce from the 180 buckets. What we all waited for was the 70 buckets from the raised country rock. There was 5 ounces in the pan. We are all happy miners.Then there was the jar with the pieces of gold. They weighed out at 2 ounces bringing yesterdays dig total to 8 ounces. Jacob and me went back up to explore the raised country area and dug to the north working the ground with a vengeance. We dropped off the raised area and the facing fell away under our shovels. The gravels were loose. We were at a depth of about 10 feet and getting lower between the two holes. The trench we had started was becoming more of a pit now, At least that's how it seems. We are tight to the hill facing at our east that rises from 60 feet and up to 80 feet in places along this area. Although the digging is a bit easy the depth is dropping and we will have to haul out the buckets by winch soon. We are still able to walk them out on a steep grade at this point. I have no idea how deep this drop goes. We are now below the raised country by several feet as we dig away. I did some pans at the tub with poor results so I think we will need to get deeper in the drop. My hope is this is a huge kettle in the old river channel under the water fall where the fault line broke everything up. We hauled 235 buckets down to John and Will today. It was a good days work. The creek is still flowing with plentiful water and we are hopeful for more gold in the pan tomorrow. TO BE CONTINUED ............

Very true!

Yes, they would be manageble. I'd rather think they used 5 gallon buckets but maybe not completeeeely full. Hard to say. I have conducted bucket sample tests on that mine carrying two 5 gallon buckets close to fully loaded and walking them thousands of feet. You usually need to set them down at least once. At some point you load them about 2/3 full and that is manageable. However, Jed's crew was only carrying them to their truck which I think was parked close to the dig site so they may have been fully loaded. There is no mention of this so we will never know the answer.

MAY 29 1936 We are back in the money. The weigh produced 4 ounces. This is extremely rich gravel once again. I think it will only get better. The gold has become concentrated in this area as I believe it lies directly under an ancient waterfall where it somehow packed up. I have heard of areas like this but they are rare. The crew is motivated. Will and Jacob are almost out of control with the fever. I want to keep everyone on an even keel. John once again worked the tom alone while the three of us dug gravel. We encountered some loose areas below the river rock and then encountered country rock. This was in a five foot area. I panned a few samples in the tub and the pans were heavy with color. Large pices along with chunk and fine. Some of it was the size of a nickel or half an Eagle. I called Will and Jacob over to have a look see. We stood there in amazement. I told them I would take the load of buckets down to John and show him the pan. I jumped in the truck cradling the pan like a new born baby. When I showed John he gave out a holler that they must have heard in town. I left the pan at the tom and told John to pick out the big pieces and put them in a jar and we'd weigh them by themselves. We seemed to have hit an area of raised or lifted country rock on the fault. The deposit on top is not overly deep so I don't know how much we can get. That will depend on the diameter of the lift. There's several feet of rich pay on top of it. For the day we removed 70 buckets of this rich gravel along with another 180 buckets of top gravels from the other end of the trench. John is washing the gravels seperately so we can see how rich the ground is near country. Tomorrow I will see if the lifted area continues further or if we have it all dug in that spot. John will have it all finished up early tomorrow morning. I am going to leave Will with him for help and also safety now. I don't want to have John alone at the creek. Tomorrow Jacob and me will resume the shovel work by ourselves again. Tonight I am opening a new bottle of whiskey for the crew. TO BE CONTINUED .........................

My company got a great deal on galvanized buckets a few yrs ago buyong a large quantity directly from a small manufacturer. I got them for $5 per bucket. Would never happen today with the inflation.

MAY 28 1936 This morning we did a gold weigh of 2 ounces. We are all heartened to be back into the gold.We left John to work the tom while the three of us went at the digging. We all are working the top of the trench going deeper into the pay. The round rock is becoming more plentiful. In the early afternoon I saw John walking up the mine road. What now I thought. He said the law was down at camp and wanting to talk with us. We all four jumped in the truck with some loaded buckets and drove down to the creek. There were two deputies waiting. The deputies told us they had several strong arm robberies in town this week. One man had been jumped late at night when he came out of a tavern. He was beaten and his money stolen. He said it was a gang of thugs that matched the description of the four rag tags we had dealt with and had robbed Will. They wanted to know if we had seen them on the mountain. The deputies thought they might have a camp set up somewhere remote and also be driving a stolen truck from town. I looked at John and back at the deputies. I told them we hadn't seen anyone. Of course this was a lie but John and me feel bringing in the law dogs would only complicate and slow the mining work, especially if we got involved in court proceedings or something like that. We have a period of time we must use wisely and getting dragged into legal proceedings would not serve our purpose. The deputies said to keep an eye out for the band of hooligans and report anything to them. I said sure, we will do that and gave John a wink. If we ever catch them they will be far worse off than anything the law will do to them. After our conference with the law dogs was done we went back to work. The gravels were getting better looking again. By days end we had taken 240 buckets to the tom. I didn't say anything to the others but I had panned a few samples during the day and saw some good color and the gravel looked to hold promise. I will be curious to get the results of the weigh tomorrow. We will take our turns on watch tonight as usual. TO BE CONTINUED ....................

I would assume a standard 5 gallon bucket. If they were filling them full you're talking a weight of around 60 - 70 lbs each. Try doing that all day long. Also, our geologist gave us some info yrs ago when we were researching this property. He told us there were a number of gun battles there over the yrs but didn't have any names or groups. I may see if I can research some of the old newspapers from town records.

Jed meantioned early on making a crude road for his Ford truck. He also said he could only haul 20 buckets at a time due to poor springs on his truck. He has stated several times about loading buckets in the truck to take down to the tom. I would assume as they take buckets down to the creek they take empties back up to the dig site with the truck. So they have over 40 buckets at least.

That would lead to a gun fight.

Friday & Saturday are coming. Buckle up.

MAY 27 1936 All was quiet last night. Todays gold weigh was light. Almost no gold again. I sent Will up higher on the fault to take buckets for samples. Will is young but a good prospector. I think it is a good idea to test some higher gravels at various levels. He was not successfull in finding color. I am worried that by late June our creek will slow and that will be the end for the tom. Working a cradle then will be very slow compared to the tom. Or maybe we can get a pump. For that reason I have decided to move Will up to the dig site so we can get deeper in the trench at a faster pace. If there is a big strike left here I will find it. Jacob and me dug 160 buckets. We will see what we found by tomorrow morning when the panning is done. TO BE CONTINUED .......................

MAY 26 1936 We only got one half ounce out of the 205 buckets from yesterday's dig. We are all somewhat disappointed in the weigh but we will keep going deeper. More gold must still be in this area. Jacob and me are getting the top of the trench hollowed out. The digging is not too bad. We had a black bear cross just north of our dig area this morning. He was a big one but paid us no mind. When we took the first load of gravels down to the creek John was still going on about heading up the mountain to look for the hooligans, I told him I didn't think it was safe and if we did find them what would he do? He said he would make them talk by any means needed and get the stolen goods back. I think we are better served by keeping the mine running and standing our watch at night. Anyone trying to rob us will be hard pressed to get our supplies or gold. They know we are armed and will fight. We need to work every day to get as much gold as we can before the creek slows. John seemed to listen to what I had to say. We removed 175 buckets of gravel by the end of the day. We got slowed towards the end by some large rock we moved with the bar. That can sometimes indicate a strike. I did a few pans in the tub by the dig but only saw a bit of color so we will see tomorrow when the tom is worked. Jacob is sore all over. His body is adjusting to the constant digging and lifting. We go at it in a steady but sure pace and are relentless in our effort. There has been no trouble with tresspassers today. TO BE CONTINUED ........................

Anyone who wants to is welcome to make a guess as to what is about to come down as far as Jed's crew & the gang of thugs. It's all coming to a head this weekend. Will they let the law dogs handle it? How would they even contact the law in time from a remote location? Remember, this is 1936. Will they be forced to negotiate with the gang? Will there be a fight or shootout? Or could something else take place? Will John get his wish? Can Jed control John at this point?

Don't mess with Jed & his crew. Bad idea.

MAY 25 1936 Jacob woke me up after midnight last night. John was up and Will was at the edge of camp. He was on watch and woke up John and Jacob. He said there was something moving on our side of the creek just outside of camp. He thought he saw someone north of camp. We all had our rifles ready. I told Jacob and Will to stay put and keep a look out while John and I went out to have a look see. We split off about 100 feet apart and snuck up the east side of the creek keeping low. We got up to the north a ways and John hollered OVER THERE. I didn't see anything and ran over to where he was standing. John said he saw three or four men running up to the north. We took off on the run. Then we stopped and I could hear branches moving and breaking ahead of us maybe 100 feet or so. I told John they must have seen us. Not wanting to get drawn into a trap at night we decided to head back down to camp. Then we heard the crack of a rifle. Someone up there had shot at us. We couldn't see a thing. There was a half moon but they were well hidden. We scooted back to camp and told Will and Jacob what happened. John wanted to go back up and look for them but it was too dangerous and I talked him out of it. I think they were sneaking in on our camp to jump us when Will spotted them. We all four of us fired a volley up in that direction just for the hell of it and it was all quiet after that. We all sat around watching for an hour and then John took watch and the rest of us retired. In the morning at breakfast John was stirred up good. He said we had cut throats on the mountain and he would kill them if he found them. No one else said too much but we all knew we could get jumped at any time. I calmed John down and said we just need to keep watch like we are doing and we'll be alright. I'm sure they knew by now that we were getting gold. They also knew we would fight. So after breakfast we all went back to work. I think I worked harder than I ever have that day. Maybe it was to calm my nerves. We continued to dig the top gravels and made 205 buckets. Out of yesterdays 180 buckets we got two ounces. The gravels continue to be rich. We sat around for awhile after dark drinking whiskey and then I took first watch. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

I promise it's going to be an exciting weekend with the posts from Jed's journal.

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MAY 24 1936 Jacob and myself broke for lunch and went down to camp to eat and get the weigh numbers. They were still not what we had at the kettle by far with one and one half ounces. That is still a good days work by any standard and the ground at the fault is producing steady gold. Will seemed quite happy with his cut and like the rest of us is hoping for more. The weather has gotten hot during the day and I am working to remove more of the top layer of gravels above what will be the southern end of the trench. I have had to add two holes in my belt as I am working off weight with the heavy labor but it is the most satisfying work I have ever done. Everyone is concentrated on the job at hand and we all get along in pursuing a common goal which is gold. Jacob and me work at a steady pace and have found that an easy pace works best for a long day. We start the dig at just an hour after daybreak and end our day an hour before dark. The gravels are still not too hard to dig except for the rounded rock which is beginning to show at four feet in the depth. The rock that will fit in the bucket is hauled to the tom and anything larger that can be cleaned of attached gravel is done over the bucket so we get any gold that clings. That is the slow and heavy work as the rock encountered begins to get bigger. There is much loose gravel as well and that is the easy and fast work. It is going to get much slower as we deepen the cuts and have to haul out the buckets. My hope is that when we get deep the gold will be there in promiscuous amounts. The gold at the upper levels has been mostly very fine and just paying good day wages to us. Today we filled 180 buckets. We all ended the day down at camp after another good day and no hooligans. John brought up the idea of a couple of us going up the mountain to look for any camps. I told him i'd rather spend my day digging for gold. I heard the law went on an excursion up the mountain but had no luck finding them. If they are smart they have left this area. TO BE CONTINUED ..............................

MAY 23 1936 We had a good talk with Will last night and he seems like a good man. He is like us, ready to work hard for his gold. When Jacob and Will were in town there was talk at the supply store about robbers and killers roaming the mountains around here. Jacob said that one guy was saying that the man murdered out here put up a fight against the robbers. We explained to Will that he would be expected to fight with us and protect his gold if there was trouble. He readily agreed. I am fairly certain that the four men we ran into at camp were the robbers. They are probably looking for easy prey and were sizing us up. I am worried about a surprise attack if they are still around. I'm figuring they have a camp set up somewhere very remote and come out at times looking for prospecors who they know are well equipped and most likely have some gold. Will is armed once again. The hooligans had stole his rifle and I helped him buy a new one when he was in town. I told him to keep it close at all times. We can now have two crews. Will and John at the tom and Jacob and me at the dig. Jacob and me can dig and haul the last of the gravels down to the tom at dusk. John and Will can finish the wash and weighs by the next morning. That gives me time to get more gravels down the next morning as they finish the panning. It will be a more efficient system with no weighting for gravles to wash like before. This is well worth having Will on the crew. It will also help to divide watch with four men. We are only watching camp at night as there is nothing being left at the dig at night and it would be hard for robbers to get much at this time as the gravels are so poor. If we hit a strike I will change that plan. We dug more top gravel today and made good speed as well with 205 buckets in all. We will see what the weigh brings tomorrow. When we get deeper in the pay we will start developing the trench work again. It is all hard work for sure. TO BE CONTINUED .................

A preview of what is to come will involve the following ; The law, gold. rope, gun shots, a bounty hunter, & more.

It's about to get intense. Gang of thugs.

MAY 22 1936 Just before breakfast I spotted a man moving down the mountain at a good pace. When he got close I saw it was Will, the prospector who was heading up the mountain. He came running over to where we were cooking. I asked him what was the big hurry and he said he'd been run off buy four men. They had taken his gear and roughed him up a bit. They told him if he didn't git they would leave him tied to a tree. I told Will that was bad luck but he's lucky to be alive. I told him what the deputy had told me about someone up there getting murdered. Will said he was going to walk back into town and go back home - he was quitting the prospecting idea. I told him to hang on a minute and me and John and Jacob had a hub bub. We agreed we could use a fourth man. I told Will and he was mighty excited for the offer. He would bunk with Jacob in his tent and I sent both them into town in the truck to outfit Will with what he needed. Will was happy to work for a small percent of any gold we got from that day on. While they were gone John and I talked about all this. John said that those four guys are bad news. We agreed that if they came into camp we would probably have to fight them. We finished up the wash and weigh and only got an ounce out of all that work. I went back up and worked the dig site while John worked around camp. When Jacob and Will got back we decided to take the rest of the day off and talk with Will a bit. Now we had four to take turns on watch. We all drank some whiskey that night and dreamed about a big strike. We didn't tell Will about what we had got so far.

MAY 21 1936 Last night I got woke up by the midnight screachers as I call them. Most likely bobcat that come down the creek at night. Jacob and I went up and dug out 20 buckets and got them down to John. Then we went on top the ground at the dig and started removing some top gravels between the trench and my first hole. I am panning some of this as it's removed and there are traces of color even at the higher areas so we are taking that down to John. It might not be much but there is some gold there. The digging is a lot easier up higher anf Jacob and I made good work of it removing 190 buckets in total. My hope was the volume of gravels would make up for what we lacked in quality pay. John couldn't keep up so we will know sometime tomorrow if we got a days pay out of it. We have a good hole started and will keep going down to about ten ft before we start working the trench towards it. My plan is to work away at the bottom when the trench gets there to meet up and let the gravels slowly collapse into the trench and either walk the buckets out using the ramp or rope them out. We are all three of us curious as to what this new dig will bring us. My best guess is there are rich gravels lower than the kettle in hole one. It will take quite awhile to get all this dug out and I am gambling all our efforts on a good pay off at the end.