GhostMiner

   MAY 6   1936

   John and me woke up late this morning as we were both deep in our cups well into the night. We decided to go up to the dig site together and bring down 20 buckets and then wash them. Neither of us is up for hard work today but the excitement of seeing gold is pushing us to dig. The morning was clear and quiet with a warm sun. As we arrived with the truck we once again had a surprise. Three men I had never seen were at the hole and looking around. I did not see side arms on them but one carried a rifle. John always wore his Colt and we both got out of the truck with rifles in hand.

   The three men looked to be in their thirties or forties and looked like a rag tag crew. I was in no mood to be pleasant and gruffly asked them what they were up to. The oldest man said they were looking to mine gold and were roaming the area looking for likely places. He said it looked like we had a big dig going and asked if we were on good ground. I told him the ground was all claimed up with all the filings done legal. He asked me if we needed a crew for digging and said they would work for gold. I just laughed and said we hadn't even found any gold but were stubborn in our efforts. He asked me if I knew of any good areas ready to be tested and worked. I bluntly said no, nothing around here. The three of them kind of looked at each other and said thank you and hiked up the mountain. We watched them until they were out of sight.

   John looked at me and asked me what I thought of them. I said I didn't think much of them and they looked no good to me. He agreed and said we need to make sure to stand our watch tonight. My head was pounding from all the whiskey but I worked the bar and shovel along with John. We kept the rifles close. As we worked the heavy ground east into the heart of the fault we encountered a large boulder maybe six feet in diameter. We went to work with pick and shovel while using a bar to move smaller rock beside and underneath the big boulder. The digging was very hard but we got 20 buckets down to the tom. We worked until nearly dark as we had got off to such a late start. Then we did a weigh. We had three and one half ounces in the pan. I nearly passed out and John started to cry.

   TO BE CONTINUED ....................... 

58 minutes ago, oneguy said:

You just gotta love hydro pits....!!!!!  Enjoying the story also, helps us get thru the winter months.... big THANKS!

Thanks oneguy. Never mined in Montana. Yes, the old pits were fun to explore. We have several on our property and i've worked on others in the Sierra Nevada as well.  Thanks for reading.

   MAY 5   1936

   Last nights watch was quiet. There didn't seem to be anything moving on the mountain. After breakfast I told John I wanted to divide our day. We would dig in the morning and take 30 buckets directly out of the fault as we worked it into the east. We moved rock with our bars and picked away at anything compacted. Around early afternoon we made two trips with the truck taking the buckets down to process. About supper time I had the panning finished with Johns help. He was learning fast. Then came the weigh. I had pulled what I thought were very good pay gravels out of a nice pocket under some boulders. When we saw the scale I just blinked and started laughing. John asked if it was good. I said hell yes John, this is a good one. We had pulled just shy of an ounce out of 30 buckets. This must be a glory hole. We will glory hole the spot and get rich.

   This was beyond rich to me and we proceeded to hoot and holler and broke out the bottle. My glory days are getting closer every day. We drank into the night and never did go up to the dig site on our watch shifts.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................. 

10 hours ago, nebulanoodle said:

I love this. *FOLLOWING*

Thank you.

   Here are some pictures of the fault line. Jed was working it up to the north. Some of the pictures are from the top of the fault and some are side views from the bottom ao part way up. It's anywhere fro 60 - 100 ft high. Jed worked the base. Later in the journal i'll show you what his did site looks like today.

7 minutes ago, DOOGY-MD said:

How about twin bridges?

Where's that?

   May 4   1936

   John has his own camp set up next to mine. I went up on watch first and did some thinking while John got some sleep. I took my bottle of Irish with me. I know for a fact that he saw a lot of action in the war. Might this have effected his nerves? He's always seemed like a steady person to me.The other thing I don't want to admit is could these creatures have been the tresspassers that disturbed the dig site at night? I took a drink and tried to put it all out of my mind. Every noise seemed magnified by my nerves. Now I not only worry about claim jumpers but also some kind of creatures and also John himself. I want to get as much gold as I can and get back to my home. I will defend my gold by whatever means needed.

   Once again I saw no activity and went back to camp. I decided to just let John sleeo instead of waking him for his shift. In the morning John told me I should have woke him. I just said he needed a good rest after his trip to the claims. I had already hiked up there early and saw no disturbance. 

   We worked the tom all day and I taught John how to process the gravels. I told him I would help with the panning of the heavies until he got faster which takes some time. Anyway, we eventually finished up the work and did the weigh. We were down from the previous weigh with only a qharter ounce. Still not too bad but I have to admit to disappointment. I had worked the hole northward on the last dig. Tomorrow we will work it directly eastward into the fault. It will most likely require hard work. We will take our turns on watch tonight. Then we will work the digging together one more time before we divide our jobs.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

7 minutes ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Is bald mountain nearby?

   I never heard of it.

50 minutes ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Big Foot??

Is there a CA DOI # for the 282 page report?

There is a MME Form 9 # and a contract #.

   May 3   1936

   I took first watch at the dig sight last night which was uneventful. I got some sleep while John took second watch. About an hour before daybreak I was woke up by the crack of a gunshot - and then a second and a third. I quickly pulled on my boots and grabbed my rifle and ran up there. We had set up an agreed upon place to hide out and watch from. When I got there John was gone. I could here something going on in the woods going up the mountain on the west side of the ravine. I cautiously walked in that direction with my rifle at the ready. John had thrashed his way about 50 feet up the mountain and stopped. There was a good moon and I could see his outline. I hollered out to him as he came back down. I asked him what was going on. At first he just shook his head as if to tell me not to ask. Then he told me the story.

   John said something big came walking down the canyon from the north. Bigger than a man. He said maybe nine feet tall or so. Then a second one appeared right behind the first one. John said he watch the two creatures for about five minutes as they started getting closer. John figured they knew he was there. He said they looked like huge apes. One of them started shaking a tree and grunting. That's when he let loose with three shots from his rifle. He said he didn't try to hit them but shot over their heads. John said the two creatures took off up the mountain faster than any man could climb that rough terrain. He was all fired up and talking fast.

   Seeing as it was almost daylight I said we ought to just get back to camp for breakfast. So that's what we did and we talked further on what happened. I've never gone in for this kind of stuff but I figure John to be very reliable and truthful. I couldn't say much about any of it because I wasn't there and eventually John settled down and we went about our work day.

   Up on the fault I showed John where we would work and we started to dig. After a few days of teaching John the process we plan to split up with one digging and hauling down buckets while one washes gravels. We were still in the good gravels all day but the digging was still hard as we moved big rock with bars and pick work. The two of us did good and brought down 125 buckets for the day. Tomorrow we will both work the tom and then maybe John will know the work better. I will want to do this a few times until John is ok with working alone and I am sure he won't lose any gold. Tonight we are going to have a good supper of hash and bread and drink some good whiskey.

   TO BE CONTINUED ......................

   A note here : I'm getting ready to post another entry of the journal and part of it is controversial. These old mines are located in a remote area of the Sierra Nevada mts of California. It is in what is called a hot spot for certain sightings. I have talked with the Forest Service in this area about the subject. All I know is there have been multiple reports of certain things. I am in the must see to believe category. With that being said, the journal is the journal and contains the writings of Jed Stevens. I'll get the next entry posted soon. 

7 minutes ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Very interesting! thank you for sharing your knowledge of the claim process!

How many years have to pass to consider a mine abandoned and claim is forfeited?

You have to do anual filings by Sept each yr. If you don't you could lose it.

   Another note here : I found out that Jed was working this fault line under the direction and advice of a very prominent geologist. He may have been a silent partner but i'm not sure because Jed never mentioned him in his journal. It would help to explain his success although no geologist could guarantee what he ended up finding. The gold numbers were being reported periodicly to the geologist and ended up in the Dept of Interior report as well as a small part of Jed's story. The rest comes directly from Jed himself and i'm most fortunate to have it.

1 minute ago, DOOGY-MD said:

What State is this old mine?

In the Sierra Nevada mts of northern California. 

13 minutes ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Has anyone mined that area since Jed?

How many years does a claim last?

    There was a mining company north of that area back in 1965. They did some testing and there is a 282 page Dept of Interior report on the activities. That's is where I came across Jed's work. We have over 500 acres of claims in that area. We explore them and lease them out & sometimes do some mining as well. I had no idea about Jed until I read it. I went up the mountain using the old mapping and found his dig site. The road he made is nearly gone but we were able to get a skid steer on tracks up there. We had to knock down some small trees & brush along the way.

   I got ahold of a descendant of the mine president fro the 1960's. I was trying to find out more information. They are the ones who had the journal which I couldn't believe. It's actually in fairly good shape. They said they had no use for it so they gave it to me. Very nice people.

   As far as placer mining claims, you pay taxes on them & do the anual filings with the county they are in and the federal BLM agency. They are located on Forest Service land as most mining claims are. You own the mineral rights. If you want to use commercial equipment like excavators, dozers, trommels, etc you usually need to put in a Plan of Operation & post a reclamation bond. The claims are good until you sell them or abandon them. You just need to keep all paperwork current.

   May 2   1936

   My good friend John arrived at the claims today. I brought him up to date on what has gone on. I will teach John the mining skills needed as he has never worked for gold prior to now. We have also decided to share security watch at the dig site. This will help put my mind at rest. We will also divide the gold equally and each of us will be responsible for the security of his gold. John brought with him his trusty Colt revolver as well as his old Henry. We are now well armed in case of trouble.

   John helped me finish washing up the gravels from yesterday. We are both wearing big grins tonight. This was the heaviest gold weigh I have ever done anywhere. Good coarse gold and many small pieces fortified the weight of the pan. Out of those 65 buckets we made nearly half an ounce. I can hardly wait to dig those gravels tomorrow. It seems to me we have struck an area of raised country rock that may hold something special. Tonight I will stand first watch at the site and John will take the  second. I am hoping we will not have any further troubles.

   TO BE CONTINUED .......................

36 minutes ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Is that water in the old site hole?

   Yes. That is Jed's first dig hole and it's the one posted in the journal. He did a lot of work up there as you'll find out. You aren't going to believe what he got out of that first hole but it won't be too long before we get there. I've done at toast to him with Irish whiskey right there. 

   May 1   1936

   I drove up to the dig site and found nothing disturbed. I took a walk around the perimiter of the area and saw nothing out of the ordinary and went to work with my pick at loosening some heavy river rock. I dug out some loose gravel underneath one of the bigger stones. Before I put the material in the bucket I took a close look at it as it layed on the spade. To my surprise there were a number of pieces of gold about the size of a pencil eraser or a bit larger. I picked them out and put them in a small bottle in my pocket. I am definitely on to something here. The digging today was slower due to heavy rock that needed to be moved with my bar. I have no idea as to the depth and breadth of this gravel deposit. I am down close to 8 feet and digging to the wall of the pit adjacent to the fault. My strategy is to stay along this level and work the fault north and south as long as the pay stays good. My bucket count was down to 65 today but I have a good feeling about how the wash will come out.

   I am expecting John's arrival tomorrow. He is a good friend and can be trusted. He is a veteran of the Great War and can handle himself in the face of adversity. He knows hard work as well as I do. Tomorrow I will wash the gravels and get a weigh.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..............

2 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

   I will be posting a drawing of how Jed's dig site was layed out after I get a few more posts up so you'll have a better idea of what he was doing. I can tell you that there was an amazing amount of digging & gold found at this area in 1936. I am posting one picture for now of Jed's original hole as it looks today. It has collapsed and is flooded. It is in a remote area of the mountain and I have spent time working that area and camping there, sometimes alone and sometimes with part of my team. I always toast Jed with a cup of Irish whiskey when out there. I will post pictures of our team at the site later as well. The picture is not posting correctly for some reason but here it is. It sits at the base of the northern area of the fault line. Very creepy to be camped up there alone at night. Lot's of black bear & a few lion. 

   On my first trip up to his old dig site I found this in a tree near the dig. Might it have been something Jed placed there to warn claim jumpers?

   I will be posting a drawing of how Jed's dig site was layed out after I get a few more posts up so you'll have a better idea of what he was doing. I can tell you that there was an amazing amount of digging & gold found at this area in 1936. I am posting one picture for now of Jed's original hole as it looks today. It has collapsed and is flooded. It is in a remote area of the mountain and I have spent time working that area and camping there, sometimes alone and sometimes with part of my team. I always toast Jed with a cup of Irish whiskey when out there. I will post pictures of our team at the site later as well. It sits at the base of the northern area of the fault line. Very creepy to be camped up there alone at night. Lot's of black bear & a few lion. 

   APRIL 30   1936

   I spent a good part of the night near the dig site and watching for hooligans. I saw none. I hiked up rifle in hand this morning and saw no evidence of trespassers. I don't think anyone could have known I was up there as I was well hidden unless my camp is being watched. I have not seen or heard anyone down here at the creek. I am uneasy and worried that I could be robbed. I have decided to go into town and contact my friend John about coming out to the claim. I will take my gold with me.

   I finished up the gravels. These were taken deeper and a bit into the hill. There was good rounded river rock amongst the smaller gravels. Very heavy black iron. My weighs continue to get heavier with 10 grams in the pan Upon contacting John by phone at town he is more than ready to come out here and should arrive in a day or so. It will be good relief to have a friend and mining partner at the claim. 

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

   April 29   1936

   I think I have a problem, I leave no tools or buckets when I'm done for the day at the dig site. I do have a way to mark the dig area to let me know if anyone has been here besides me. When I arrived at the site this morning one of my marker indicators had been tripped and rock overturned. Someone is coming in here at night. Keeping an eye peeled I dug the good gravels deeper down. There seems to be no bottom to these as I am now at a depth of 7 feet or so. They continue to be easy work as well. I removed 90 buckets today and have the gravels in my holding container at the creek for processing. I am going back up to the dig before dark and see if I can catch the claim jumper. I'll bet it's the same two hooligans I ran off.

   TO BE CONTINUED ........................

3 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

   Kind of weird but I just got an email from one of my partners & we have some claim jumpers out there. It's well posted but they have got a big hole going. He sampled the hole and there is a  lot of gold. Now we know why they are claim jumping.

19 minutes ago, madtuna said:

APRIL 30 1936

Saw two bears this morning, they are getting more aggressive each day and my hollering and throwing rocks are having no affect any more.

Hold up a second I think there is a bear outside my te…………………

   By the way - this is not a post from the journal but some humor from a reader LOL.

6 minutes ago, madtuna said:

APRIL 30 1936

Saw two bears this morning, they are getting more aggressive each day and my hollering and throwing rocks are having no affect any more.

Hold up a second I think there is a bear outside my te…………………

After more of the journal is posted you will find out he has more to worry about than bears.