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

[GhostMiner]

 April 16   1937

 

   I was up early this morning. It was way before the first of the crew got up and it gave me a chance to do some thinking. It seems we are getting off to a slow start. It is very early in the season so I am not too worried but the crew doesn’t seem focused on mining like we were last year. Also, we have a new crew member in Hudson. I am feeling a bit of doubt on my leadership skills. I try to think of Jed and what he would do and say. We all need to start concentrating on our jobs at hand and not so much as being mining legends and ruff characters to the town folk. I think John enjoys the fame but I could do without it.

   When breakfast was finished I called a quick meeting before we headed up the mountain. I laid it all out there on the line and asked them if they were ok with me leading the crew and wanted to know if I had their confidence. They all to the man assured me that they were 100 percent behind me. Even Sarge and Ben expressed much confidence in me. I was relieved to say the least. I have big shoes to fill here and I can never be Jed. He was one of a kind and I miss him  every day. I keep expecting to see him coming down the mountain and into camp and uncorking a bottle of whiskey. It has been hard for me and it’s not getting any easier.

   We all worked our jobs today without drama and collected one more ounce of gold. The southern kettle was not paying well.

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

[Bedrocker]

2 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

 April 16   1937

 

   I was up early this morning. It was way before the first of the crew got up and it gave me a chance to do some thinking. It seems we are getting off to a slow start. It is very early in the season so I am not too worried but the crew doesn’t seem focused on mining like we were last year. Also, we have a new crew member in Hudson. I am feeling a bit of doubt on my leadership skills. I try to think of Jed and what he would do and say. We all need to start concentrating on our jobs at hand and not so much as being mining legends and ruff characters to the town folk. I think John enjoys the fame but I could do without it.

   When breakfast was finished I called a quick meeting before we headed up the mountain. I laid it all out there on the line and asked them if they were ok with me leading the crew and wanted to know if I had their confidence. They all to the man assured me that they were 100 percent behind me. Even Sarge and Ben expressed much confidence in me. I was relieved to say the least. I have big shoes to fill here and I can never be Jed. He was one of a kind and I miss him  every day. I keep expecting to see him coming down the mountain and into camp and uncorking a bottle of whiskey. It has been hard for me and it’s not getting any easier.

   We all worked our jobs today without drama and collected one more ounce of gold. The southern kettle was not paying well.

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

I miss Jed as well. Wish we had a photo of him.

[GhostMiner]

   April 17   1937

 

   We are getting some unusually warm weather here for this early in the season. The crew is in good spirits even though our gold count is modest. I am set on finishing the kettle before we move the operation. We are pretty much working the leftovers from the old boys from the 1800’s but we are getting some gold.

   Today we got well into the northern section of the kettle. The gravels are getting sparse and the depths to bedrock is only a few feet. It appears to me that the bedrock has been cleaned fairly well by previous miners. We are just mining sluff and some gravel from what has eroded from the sides over the years. We aren’t able to work anything in the sides as they are solid rock.  By the end of the day we had a meager one half ounce and John was grumbling about moving to a new location. I asked him to be patient as we only have a week or so at most until we finish here and as we are all set up we may as well make the most of it.

   Tonight at camp we had a few beers and started to talk about our next move. It will be way over to the eastern drift area that Jed and Whiskey Jack were keen on. For now we can only dream of another big strike as the gold has become elusive. 

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

[GhostMiner]

   April 18   1937 Part One

 

   We are continuing to get wild hooligans from town who want to come out here to the mine and either meet us or work with us. Last night I heard Ben and Sarge holler out at someone who was trudging up the side of the creek toward our camp. The crew came over and had a look at what the hollering was about. I nearly laughed but held it back. Sarge was not so kind and began to laugh and hoot. There in front of us stood an old guy dressed like a cowboy from back in the 1800’s. He wore a large cowboy hat that nearly covered his face and also some old jeans and fur leggings. He had on boots with spurs as well as two six shooters in a holster. He was smoking a home rolled cigarette and gave us all an evil stare.

   I walked over to him and asked what he was up to. He said his name was Slim Saunders and he was from a ranch just outside of town. I reckoned him to be about 60 in years or maybe a bit more. He told us he had done everything from ranching to mining to logging and even bounty hunting in his day. I started to like him. John asked him what we could do for him. He said he had heard quite a bit about us in town. Some of the groups that hung around in the tavern said we were the mining crew from hell and we took names and kicked ass. He said he was looking for work and wanted to join up with us.

   I asked him what kind of job he was looking for. He said he was a scratch shot with his 45’s and could work as security. He said he could also handle a rifle with the best of them. Before I could say anything he pointed to a limb on a pine tree about 100 feet away. He said to look toward the end of the limb and there was a small branch starting off to the right with a pine cone hanging on. I said that I saw it. He slapped leather with both hands and quick drawing his Colts and fired off a round from each gun. The pine cone flew off the limb. Then he twirled the pistols and put them back in their holsters as slick as grease.

   Then he told Will to set out two empty tin cans about 100 feet away. Will set them up on a rock and came back over. Slim said to watch and he pulled his right hand quickly and shot as the gun cleared leather. One of the cans flew off the rock. Before the sound of the shot died he pulled his left hand with the Colt and did the same thing. The can flew off the rock just like the first one. He twirled them back into the holster as slick as could be. I asked him what kind of pay he wanted. He said just his grub and whiskey, a dollar, and a little taste of gold from time to time. I told him to hold on while I talked with my crew.

   Everyone liked Slim. We decided to give him a go. I went over and asked him when he wanted to start. He just looked at me and said “Well, I’m here aint I ?” and that was that. Then he asked if we had any whiskey. I handed him a new bottle and we all sat around the fire as darkness fell. Slim took a couple of pulls from the bottle and began to tell us his story.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

[rvpopeye]

I was wondering what you were up to !

Slim  !  Great idea !  Whiskey Jack's Cousin  ?? 

[GhostMiner]

1 hour ago, rvpopeye said:

I was wondering what you were up to !

Slim  !  Great idea !  Whiskey Jack's Cousin  ?? 

I was on tour with my rock show. Break time now.

[GhostMiner]

8 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

I was on tour with my rock show. Break time now.

Yep, that's GM. Picyure taken Friday June 17.

[GhostMiner]

April 18   1937   Part Two

  

   Slim told us his father had worked in a wild west show back in the day. He did all kinds of tricks with guns and ropes. His father had begun teaching him these skills from even before he could remember. His father traveled all the time and when Slim was sixteen he and his mother and sister never saw him again. He just left on a show tour one day and never came home. He had no idea what happened to him. 

   Slim kept practicing his father’s trade until he figured he was better than him or anyone else around. However, by this time the wild west shows were all dried up like the dust in the western wind. There was no market for his trade. Slim developed a real bad attitude and began to pull strong arm robberies when he was still a kid. He used his gun skills to intimidate people all the time. Not surprising, the law eventually caught up with him when he was nineteen years old and he spent two years in the Wyoming state prison.

   When he got out his mother and sister had moved on and abandoned him. He never saw either of them again. Prison hadn’t helped his attitude but it hardened him as a man. He had been in many fistfights and brawls while in lockup and had developed some good hand to hand fighting skills to go along with his gunplay. He was a truly dangerous individual and didn’t think twice about using his guns or fists at the drop of a hat. By now Slim had downed a third of his bottle. Then he told us a wild story. We all leaned in to listen closely.

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

[rvpopeye]

Ohhhhhhhhhh ! SO,,,I think I have some of this figured out now.....?

You are actually Slim's dad .

You have been on tour looking for the perfect tree to carve your new guitar from. 

When you prospect you stuff all that hair under your hat so the paparazzi don't recognize you...?

 It goes without saying of course we all want to see a demonstration of you spinning the sixguns that you used to become the #1 champion duck hunter of the world !!?