GhostMiner

I meant we are renaming that faultline area. Not leasing that ground as we will work it ourselves. All our ground in all leased up.

We have decided to parce out 10 acres over Jed's diggings and name it Jed's Gold Vault.

You will soon see that Jed is digging against the wall of an ancient water fall. A deposit for fold.

Yes indeed. It's rocket fuel.

W

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Yes, our mines are in northern Cal. Dixie fire just missed us somehow.

Jed & his crew back in 1936 were some tough people but even he talks of being exhausted at times and having to punch new holes in his belt. He said in the journal he had to go 3 notches and then punch in a new one so I figure that to be 4 inches off his waist. Every 8 pounds lost equalls one inch off the waist so he lost about 32 lbs. And he's not done yet.

Many thanks.

Just a note as to where Jed is working those gravels. He is at the bottom of the western side of a fault. The ancient gold bearing river was almost a mile wide & ran east to west. Then it moved and the old channel was buried under dirt & gravel over many years. So he is working the bottom of a waterfall which is now dry and the kettle he found was a pothole that collected gold over many years. He is now trying to find another gold trap in the same location as he feels there must have been more than one. Speculation for sure but not a bad bet. As the journal unfolds we will see if his thinking was correct.

MAY 16 1936 I talked with John at breakfast about the prospect of bringing in a third person to the claim. The digging is getting more difficult and as I plan to get much deeper I will require a person to help both in digging and gravel removal. I may also need to cut some timbers to support the walls of the trench work. I have a brother Jacob who works on a farm. He can come out to the claim for a month or two or maybe longer. In order to be fair in all regards John and me will pay Jacob in a small gold percentage equally divided between the two of us. I will personally promise Jacob a wage if no gold is found. John agreed to this new plan and I contacted Jacob today. He will be here in a few days. This afternoon I worked at widening the trench to six feet and panning gravels at the site. There is little color but my plan is to work towards the first hole but at a deeper level. I am hoping to hit a rich gravel deposit in the deeper depth of gravels. For now all I can do is take my turn at the dig with John taking his turn as well. Removing the gravels is taking more time now and the work is slow. Once Jacob arrives the two of us will dig and timber the trench walls where needed as well as bring out buckets of pay. John will watch our camp and work the tom. I think this is a solid plan for our future. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

Nice!

We were told there were numerous gun battles on the mountain over the years,

Yes I don't need the axe for chopping but a traditional pick axe. Thanks.

Any thoughts on the best pick axe to use for heavy work. Durability & weight is a consideration.

Here is a picture of the creek where Jed's tom sat and camp was near.

MAY 15 1936 Last night John and me sat around a campfire drinking whiskey and talking of many things. John retired to his tent after telling me stories of the great war and getting his fill of spirit. I sat and looked at the stars for a time when all of a sudden there was gun fire. This was way up the mountain at quite a distance, maybe a mile or so. It went on for a good ten minutes. John had heard it and came out of his tent. It eventually quieted and we both retired for the night. We took turns at digging and panning samples but there was still no color. I finished up before dark and fixed my supper at the stove. Hash and beans and my beloved Irish whiskey. TO BE CONTINUED ......................

MAY 14 1936 The weather has warmed considerably. The days are getting hotter but the nights are cold. There have so far been no more hooligans to disrupt us. Today I once again did the digging to get us a good direction and a descending trench heading along the fault towards the first dig. I have dug down a good eight feet below the second hole and lowering a trench five feet in width from there. That way I can walk a ramp out with the buckets once pay is discovered. We have not run the tom for two days now. The dig is slow with abundance of heavy rock that either gets worked around or moved. I am gambling a bit here but after seeing the gold in the first dig I feel the gamble will pay off. We have also decided for the both of us to stay at camp at night as there is little chance of anyone stealing gravel out of the dig that would be worth while at this time. I am going to alternate digging with John tomorrow, We can't leave camp unmanned so one of us must always be here in case of robbers. TO BE CONTINUED ................

Most likely you are looking at glacial deposits pushed down from Ontario. That's where most if not all Indiana gold comes from. There are no natural deposits in the state as far as I know. Very Nice!

Yes, how stupid of me LOL. I knew it didn't look right. Need spell check. Thanks for pointing that out. Thankfully it doesn't Change what he told us. Cheers.

No but I might post it there as well, not sure. There was a story about Jed Stevens on there?

He did several types. I wasn't out there when he did them but my partner was. Some were arial and some were on the ground. We also had a geologist out there. They spent 2 days working. I'm going to contact him this weekend and talk further about all this. I don't want to do a formal plan on this project so my concern is how to get down 50 feet below the surface. The flooded hole Jed dug is collapsed. There is also gold left in that huge trench they dug back in 1936. I don't think they got to bedrock everywhere in it. That's where the high graders were stealing gold. I can't even imagine the digging they did. A clue - the crew gets larger. I Beside that digging to the south is the drop zone fault. They are saying to maybe dig a descending drift but I have no experience with that kind of mining. It would have to be timbered. You'd have a starting point way back from the target and work your way in. Or you go straight down. It's all sitting on bedrock. They are telling us it could be as much as 10,000 ounces.

I'm curious about the permitting in Australia & how rigorous it is.

Sorry, no offense was meant on my part. Just thinking of the topic. I just put one up about Australia mining. Should be interesting and maybe learn something about what it's like there as far as mining goes. Cheers.

Just thought i'd start a post about mining in Australia and what it's like compared to California. As some of us know, California is not mining friendly. I've actually had people say to me "Oh no, you're not one of those people are you?" Sort of makes you feel like a second class citizen. So how is it for the miners in Ausralia?