GhostMiner

   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.

1 hour ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Thank you for sharing! That is great! Glad to hear it is alive and well! Awesome story! I second the motion on a movie!

P.S.  I would be honored to play the part of Jed, with a new Nokta Gold Kruzer of course!

Hehehe 😊..enjoy the Au!

A movie would be great. I know i'd watch it!

   APRIL 28   1936

   Last night was peaceful with no critters in camp. After a good breakfast of meal and hot water cornbread I worked at washing the fault gravel. With a large grizzly and hopper over the head of the tom and good powerful water down the creek I was able to easily get all my work done and weighed well before dark. The gravels washed today were from a deeper area in the fault and proved out quite well. The weigh showed a little more than 7 grams with much of the gold course. Between my sampling efforts and my start at mining I am nearly to the one half ounce. I have it well hidden and will go back to the dig tomorrow. Tonight it will be hoover stew, corn bread, and whiskey. 

  TO BE CONTINUED ................

   APRIL 27   1936

   I had a bear visit last night. I heard it moving around camp and I was able to dispatch it back into the woods using a whistle and a holler or two. I'd rather deal with a bear than a lion. I'd rather deal with a claim jumper in the middle of the night than a lion. I awoke to a better day than yesterday as the sun was coming up bright and clear. My mood was good and the gold was waiting for my shovel. The springs on my truck are not up to standard and I must be careful to avoid overloading buckets on the bed. Times are hard and I have no money to replace a broken spring. I feel that better times will come as the gold is found.

   The day was spent back in the good gravels which seem rich and easier to dig and not requiring much pick work. I will learn more after washing them tomorrow. I worked very hard with only a few breaks and hauled out a total of 95 buckets which was even better than yesterday. If they prove as rich as I think and they are plentiful I will see my ship come to port.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..............

   APRIL 26   1936

   Glory days may be nearing. I spent the day shoveling onto the grizzly. The water flowed fast down the tom and I made good time for a tired prospector. I haven't finished all the panning but have got most of it done. The weigh was heavy with over 5 grams and change so far. I think I am on to something now. If I can stay on those gravels my pay day will be a good one this week. There is no clue as to the depth and breadth of this paying material but I will do my best to follow it. I am on guard for claim jumpers as well. My rifle is always by my side. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

Just now, DOOGY-MD said:

Wow, nice! You have the claim now?

   Yes. We have over 500 acres of claims. Jed's dig site in on one of our northern ones up the mountain. I'll put more pictures up as we get into the journal. My company explores old placer mines in the Sierra Nevada Mts and then leases them out after proving the gold. 

4 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

It's a true fault. I have all the geology reports. It runs north / south and the high side is anywhere from 60 ft to 100 ft above the bottom. When I read in the Dept of Interior report what this guy found I was amazed. I didn't know anything about Jed or his work until I stumbled on the report while doing research. Then I was able to get the journal from descendants of a mine president who worked near there in the 1960's. His family had it and gave it to me. As I put more entries out I will show pictures of his dig site as well as myself and a partner & our wives testing the ground. I'll just say for now that there are some good pockets still hiding there. Here is a picture of some gold we got at Jed's dig site while doing bucket samples with a recirculating sluice. The gold weighs out to 7 grams. For now I won't say how many buckets we ran because I don't want to ruin the journal story. There are areas of sizeable tonnage. I'll be posting lots of info on that later on. 

Jed didn't get it all. There's millions left. More on that later as well.

3 minutes ago, hawkeye said:

Is this a true fault or more like a tilted bed of hard rock intruding into the gravels?

It's a true fault. I have all the geology reports. It runs north / south and the high side is anywhere from 60 ft to 100 ft above the bottom. When I read in the Dept of Interior report what this guy found I was amazed. I didn't know anything about Jed or his work until I stumbled on the report while doing research. Then I was able to get the journal from descendants of a mine president who worked near there in the 1960's. His family had it and gave it to me. As I put more entries out I will show pictures of his dig site as well as myself and a partner & our wives testing the ground. I'll just say for now that there are some good pockets still hiding there. Here is a picture of some gold we got at Jed's dig site while doing bucket samples with a recirculating sluice. The gold weighs out to 7 grams. For now I won't say how many buckets we ran because I don't want to ruin the journal story. There are areas of sizeable tonnage. I'll be posting lots of info on that later on. 

   APRIL 25   1936

   The weather today was not fit for a dog. I may have been the only thing moving on the mountain. Cold and periods of heavy rain. I had a good dig which helped keep me warm. There was actually an area of loose gravel above country and I was able to take 90 buckets out. I am thinking this will be good pay. This area along the fault is like a treasure hunt. There may be some trapped gold waiting to be freed by my shovel.

   As my day is ending the rain is also diminishing. I've got my tent stove providing much needed comfort. I am just too tired to cook supper so dried beef and crackers will do me fine. I will end my day with a good cup of Irish. 

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

Just now, GhostMiner said:

   APRIL 24   1936

   I woke up several times last night thinking I heard someone near my camp. I slept with my rifle by my side. I am on edge and keeping alert for sure. I don't think the hooligans know where i'm camped as they came in from the top of the mountain to the north of my dig area. Hopefully they won't be back. If they do I will deal with them. I am wondering if I was followed from my visit to town. I don't think so.

   Today I processed the gravels dug yesterday. Country rock seems to be at varying levels on the fault. I got some good coarse gold out of the heavies, I think enough to keep me working hard. I can load 20 buckets of gravel in the truck at a time. This is a bit shy of a ton. I should be able to bring down 50 to 80 buckets a day. I am dumpimg the buckets into a large metal holding container near the creek. It's shallow and low to the ground for easy dumping and shoveling work. Then I will process gravels the next day. Alternating the work should help keep me from tiring too much. I am no stranger to hard work having done logging and farming as well as gold mining.

   The small amount of gold I have mind thus far is hidden away in a can far from camp. That way if I am robbed the thieves will not get it. My journal is not kept at camp either. I am giving thought to bringing out a good friend to work with me. I have not made a decision on this yet but he is a good man and would come to the claim if asked.

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

   At this point I thought it would be good to show a picture of the creek where Jed camped and set up the tom. I am also showing the top of the fault line looking out to the west and a side view from the bottom.

   APRIL 24   1936

   I woke up several times last night thinking I heard someone near my camp. I slept with my rifle by my side. I am on edge and keeping alert for sure. I don't think the hooligans know where i'm camped as they came in from the top of the mountain to the north of my dig area. Hopefully they won't be back. If they do I will deal with them. I am wondering if I was followed from my visit to town. I don't think so.

   Today I processed the gravels dug yesterday. Country rock seems to be at varying levels on the fault. I got some good coarse gold out of the heavies, I think enough to keep me working hard. I can load 20 buckets of gravel in the truck at a time. This is a bit shy of a ton. I should be able to bring down 50 to 80 buckets a day. I am dumpimg the buckets into a large metal holding container near the creek. It's shallow and low to the ground for easy dumping and shoveling work. Then I will process gravels the next day. Alternating the work should help keep me from tiring too much. I am no stranger to hard work having done logging and farming as well as gold mining.

   The small amount of gold I have mind thus far is hidden away in a can far from camp. That way if I am robbed the thieves will not get it. My journal is not kept at camp either. I am giving thought to bringing out a good friend to work with me. I have not made a decision on this yet but he is a good man and would come to the claim if asked.

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

2 hours ago, Reg Wilson said:

I have to admit that I am enjoying this saga a great deal.

Thanks for reading the journal.

1 hour ago, dogodog said:

Thanks GM, This is so far becoming a great little story. I'm hooked can't wait to hear more. This might make a good movie!!!

I agree. There is a long way to go and the journal gives an insight into the cut throat life back in the depression era. It's going to get intense. I will eventually post pictures of the area as well that will show what Jed's diggings look like today. It's pretty amazing.

2 hours ago, Reg Wilson said:

I have to admit that I am enjoying this saga a great deal.

   Thank you. I feel it is a story worth telling.

   APRIL 23   1936

   Well today did not go as expected. As I drove up to the fault line claim there was a surprise waiting. I spied two men with shovels working at my test hole. Upon seeing my truck they looked at each other but stood their ground. My claims are well posted and marked so I thought the worst right from the start. I stopped short of them and got out but stayed close to the truck. I hollered to them asking what they were doing. There was no reply so I asked again but louder. One of the men was a pretty big guy aboud middle aged and the other looked younger. The big one said they were thinking of buying or staking a claim. I told him these claims were taken and were well marked. The big one said he didn't see any markers. That was a lie because he had to walk right past one right near my hole. I called him out on it and told him I didn't think he was telling the truth and to get off my claim. He looked at me with a sneer and said I needed to prove this was my claim. I reached in my truck and pulled the paperwork I always make sure I carry. He laughed and said I might have made those papers up myself and they didn't mean anything to him until he checked the claim at the courthouse. He said he was going to dig some samples whether I liked it or not. The other guy just stood there not saying anything. I told him once more to leave. Both of them just looked at me with blank expressions and shook their heads no. That was about enough for me. I reached in my truck and pulled out my rifle. I leveled it right at them and pulled it up about two feet over their heads and squeezed one off. They jumped and started looking nerveously at each other. I told them the next one would be lower. Luckily they weren't armed. I tried to ask them where they were from but they wouldn't talk so I just told them to git and don't ever come back here. I fired another round over their heads and they high stepped it up the mountain.

   It took me awhile to settle down but I eventually got to work digging. Spent the rest of the day digging and loading buckets into the truck and took them down to the creek, I'll wash the gravels tomorrow and see what I get. I am going to have to keep an eye peeled for claim jumpers now.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

   APRIL 22   1936

   Once again I worked the eastern drift and once again I found gold. I got deeper although it was mighty tough on both me and my tools of labor. The old channel has a lot of river rock to deal with but I got my buckets out with good material that was on the top of country. My results were a bit better than yesterday but the work to get it was twice as hard. I would need a dozer or dragline to continue further. I don't have the stake for that without finding a partner so I have decided to concentrate my work at the fault line on a full time venture. I am happy to have made a decission and will stick with it. 

   I also had time to go into town for provisions, I met a nice gal at the general store who talked with me about prospecting. I was careful not to say anything of my venture or location but just talked mostly of camping and hunting. I am having a feast of hash and hot water corn bread tonight and washing it all down with some good whiskey. Tomorrow is the start of my mining season.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................. 

1 minute ago, GhostMiner said:

   April 21   1936

   Got the truck out to the eastern drift mine and worked the old adit gravels. I went back in about 100 feet and dug down into the old river gravels along the bottom of the west wall. I took out ten buckets and hauled them to the creek to process. Once again I was not seeing the glory gold I had hoped for. The values were a little less than what I got at the fault line. Some fines mixed with a bit of nice coarse. Tomorrow I will go back out there for another try and perhaps get down to country rock which I think is still another five feet deeper. The weather warmed a bit today and the days are getting longer. I haven't seen a soul around this area since I came here. I will be heading to town sometime soon for a few provisions. I am finding the prospecting life to be most fullfilling but lonely at times. It will be nice to get into town. 

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

   A side not here : We were able to find the drift mine on the side of the mountain based on what Jed wrote in the journal. There is still a rough trail out there that a 4 whl vehicle can use. At first we weren't exactly sure of the location because there had been lots of slides from above and the addit was buried. Luckily we're permitted for heavy equipment & have a bond in place so we took a mid size excavator out there and started digging into the side of the mountain. We hit it first try after about 30 minutes of digging. The 2 man saw was even still in there but it was broken. The timbers were all rotted out and large hanging rock everywhere. I told everyone to stay out but we scouped sampled with the excavator bucket allong the side wall near bedrock.  We got anywhere from $15 -$60 per cubic yard out of the test which sampled bedrock to 20 ft above bedrock.. Not bad. We leased this mine out to a guy from Nevada who is now permitting for an operation. Anywhere into the sides of the mountain there have gold bearing gravels. 

   April 21   1936

   Got the truck out to the eastern drift mine and worked the old adit gravels. I went back in about 100 feet and dug down into the old river gravels along the bottom of the west wall. I took out ten buckets and hauled them to the creek to process. Once again I was not seeing the glory gold I had hoped for. The values were a little less than what I got at the fault line. Some fines mixed with a bit of nice coarse. Tomorrow I will go back out there for another try and perhaps get down to country rock which I think is still another five feet deeper. The weather warmed a bit today and the days are getting longer. I haven't seen a soul around this area since I came here. I will be heading to town sometime soon for a few provisions. I am finding the prospecting life to be most fullfilling but lonely at times. It will be nice to get into town. 

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

   APRIL 18, 19, 20   1936

   Snow is all melted off and the creeks are running hard. I spent all three days out on the old wagon road that leads to the eastern drift mine. The road is now passable for my truck. There's a lot of exposed country rock and old iron pipe out near the drift which tells me this was worked bt hydraulic method mostly but for some reason someone drifted into the virgin gravels. The hill is a good 90 feet or more in height and the facings were hydraulicked to country. The old hand dug water flume runs up the mountain but is overgrown with brush. My guess is that the old boys had water delivery issues. Anyway, I will get my truck out there to haul samples to the tom. I noticed a  lot of bear tracks out along the way out there. My goal is to find the best ground for my efforts. I'm getting anxious to start mining gold but I know that this early work will pay in the end. Turning in now after a supper of dried beef and crackers and a small cup of Irish whiskey.

   TO BE CONTINUED .............. 

   Another note from me here :  I tried to figure a rough calculation on what Jed got on his first test of the fault line. Gold was about $35/ounce in 1936. I like to figure my estimates in American dollars per cubic yard. He was figuring his values based in per ton. So doing the calculations I estimate somewhere arounf $25 per cubic yard based in today's gold values give or take a few dollars a yard either way. So when he said working wages I figure if he worked hard all day he might have got 2 - 4 yards a day so maybe $50 - $100 a day in gold in today's values. Also, it's hard to figure dollar values exactly as the price of goods has inflated at different rates. I also found it kind of humorous when he said glory days weren't there yet. We all know that feeling for sure when prospecting. However, not to give too much away, but he had no idea what was about to happen to him. I also found out he was working innitially under the direction of a very prominent geologist so that must explain why he chose to file claims in this location. I have tested this area as well & will give my values at a later date. Let's just say for now that there are some very good areas. 

   Here is a map of Jed's area.