** Lost Gold At The Dead Man's Mine ** A Miners Journal **

[GhostMiner]

   Here is a part of what the journal was based on. The miners name was changed by me. I have much more information on this site which is on one of our claims. There are several pages devoted to this miner & his gold strike in the report.  At some point I will be leading a crew of hand picked people to go back in and mine this ground. The gold is too deep to be worked exclusively by hand. 

                                    BEYOND THE JOURNAL

 

   This information comes from the 1966 Department of Interior Office Of Mineral Surveys in the year of 1966. A few years after the cessation of hydraulic mining the ground involved in this gold strike was included in a timber purchase. In 1936 the miner in my journal obtained a lease from this company for the purpose of mining. This miner employed and was advised by California state geologist C.S. Haley for advice on location of work. At some point the miner encountered an area of raised bedrock with mixed gravel on top of it. The area was 20 feet by 30 feet and was glory holed. The gold taken amounted to over 1000 ounces. 

   Within weeks of the strike the miner was evicted for failure to pay a royalty to the lumber firm. The miner was murdered a short time later when he showed his gold while in poor company. 

   There was another lease granted to a friend of the president of the lumber company but he was unable to raise the money to work the claim and the land was eventually sold back to the government in 1947. 

   Between 1950 and 1959 there were several attempts at mining this property all of which either failed or the results were unknown. The people involved during these years were inexperienced and practiced poor mining methods. 

 

[GhostMiner]

   Area of the strike was 20 ft X 30 ft and 40 ft in depth on raised bedrock. The raised area was all the miner got to. There has to be much more gold on the lower areas of bedrock that weren't raised. I think he got a very small portion of the gold at that spot. This would be at the bottom of an ancient waterfall that was buried deep over time. The old hydraulic company of the 1800's removed about 40 - 50 ft of overburden and stopped. The gold was still 40 ft deeper. Another 15 - 30 ft beside the raised area will be bedrock again. That's where the majority of the gold awaits.

[paradiceau]

GM,

I thoroughly enjoyed your narrative and hope you continue with your creative endeavors as you are a gifted writer.  I wish you the very best going forward with your work on the claims in the Sierra Nevada, with your skills and modern equipment things should go well for you and your crew.

Thanks again for sharing this story with all of us around the virtual campfire, a quote borrowed from the late great geologist and nugget shooter Mr. Jim Straight.

Jeff

[GhostMiner]

13 minutes ago, paradiceau said:

GM,

I thoroughly enjoyed your narrative and hope you continue with your creative endeavors as you are a gifted writer.  I wish you the very best going forward with your work on the claims in the Sierra Nevada, with your skills and modern equipment things should go well for you and your crew.

Thanks again for sharing this story with all of us around the virtual campfire, a quote borrowed from the late great geologist and nugget shooter Mr. Jim Straight.

Jeff

Many, many thanks.

[NWPROSP]

Thank you GM for a fantastic ride.  Wish you all the best.  Looking forward to a new story.

[Bedrocker]

2 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   It is also interesting that this happened as soon as the crew left. Perhaps they were watching & waiting?

Are you referring to someone in the crew or a hooligan?

I doubt that every bit of conversation about gold was recorded in the journal. We can safely assume that.

We know the crew was concerned for Jed's safety. At the very end Jed may have told them not to worry about him and that he had his gold stashed miles away. He may even have said that the very next day after everyone leaves he is going to drive up and check on his gold. If he had a back stabbing crew member that was intent on robbing him then Jed may have let on too much about going to check on the gold. Then figure that Hudson and the other guy's eyes about pop out of their head when they are told how much gold the crew had total. For sure a few hundred ounces was Jed's. It may have been more than a honest crew member could handle.

It seems odd how fast the robber moved in. Word must have traveled very fast after the crew left, if it was one of the hooligans. For sure Jed had made lots of enemies up there!

But I can't understand Jed's thinking that he could make it alone all winter. Not even a good dog to bark and warn him about someone sneaking around. If Jed was woken up in his tent with a rifle stuck in his face then a dog would very likely have prevented that.

But the loneliness and the snow and the hooligans how in the world did he think he could handle that in a camp tent? Kinda crazy IMO.

Should have taken that gold and wintered out in the company of a good woman and stay away from the whiskey for awhile lol. Play it smarter.

Of course I'm one to talk lol...

[flakmagnet]

Writing of any sort is hard work. Writing historically accurately adds to the difficulty.
You obviously put a lot of time and thought into your journal and hooked a bunch of us.

thanks...

[Tahoegold]

3 hours ago, Bedrocker said:

Are you referring to someone in the crew or a hooligan?

I doubt that every bit of conversation about gold was recorded in the journal. We can safely assume that.

We know the crew was concerned for Jed's safety. At the very end Jed may have told them not to worry about him and that he had his gold stashed miles away. He may even have said that the very next day after everyone leaves he is going to drive up and check on his gold. If he had a back stabbing crew member that was intent on robbing him then Jed may have let on too much about going to check on the gold. Then figure that Hudson and the other guy's eyes about pop out of their head when they are told how much gold the crew had total. For sure a few hundred ounces was Jed's. It may have been more than a honest crew member could handle.

It seems odd how fast the robber moved in. Word must have traveled very fast after the crew left, if it was one of the hooligans. For sure Jed had made lots of enemies up there!

But I can't understand Jed's thinking that he could make it alone all winter. Not even a good dog to bark and warn him about someone sneaking around. If Jed was woken up in his tent with a rifle stuck in his face then a dog would very likely have prevented that.

But the loneliness and the snow and the hooligans how in the world did he think he could handle that in a camp tent? Kinda crazy IMO.

Should have taken that gold and wintered out in the company of a good woman and stay away from the whiskey for awhile lol. Play it smarter.

Of course I'm one to talk lol...

What in the world was he thinking?! Jed must have never spent time in the Mountains in winter. And, like you said, a barking dog does a great job for early warning and even makes bears and critters scatter quick! Heck, I'd have at least 2 dogs. 

Maybe he didn't trust everone on the crew and only said he was staying so he would be the last one out. Then, with everyone gone, he could go get his gold and split. 

  Someone must have somehow followed him. I think he said the gold wasn't far off the road. Maybe he parked his car on the roadside and was found? I guess we'll never know!

[GhostMiner]

9 hours ago, Bedrocker said:

Are you referring to someone in the crew or a hooligan?

I doubt that every bit of conversation about gold was recorded in the journal. We can safely assume that.

We know the crew was concerned for Jed's safety. At the very end Jed may have told them not to worry about him and that he had his gold stashed miles away. He may even have said that the very next day after everyone leaves he is going to drive up and check on his gold. If he had a back stabbing crew member that was intent on robbing him then Jed may have let on too much about going to check on the gold. Then figure that Hudson and the other guy's eyes about pop out of their head when they are told how much gold the crew had total. For sure a few hundred ounces was Jed's. It may have been more than a honest crew member could handle.

It seems odd how fast the robber moved in. Word must have traveled very fast after the crew left, if it was one of the hooligans. For sure Jed had made lots of enemies up there!

But I can't understand Jed's thinking that he could make it alone all winter. Not even a good dog to bark and warn him about someone sneaking around. If Jed was woken up in his tent with a rifle stuck in his face then a dog would very likely have prevented that.

But the loneliness and the snow and the hooligans how in the world did he think he could handle that in a camp tent? Kinda crazy IMO.

Should have taken that gold and wintered out in the company of a good woman and stay away from the whiskey for awhile lol. Play it smarter.

Of course I'm one to talk lol...

I was referring to hooligans. My wife and I were talking about this journal last night over a glass of wine. I told her it suddenly struck me as similar to the movie Easy Rider. Jed had worked hard for his wealth. Captain America (Peter Fonda) sold drugs to get his money. They both became independently wealthy and quit society. Not long after they did this they were murdered, both by people with guns. Maybe Jed should have bought a Harley and headed for warmer weather.