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

[Mike_Hillis]

You are blessed!

HH

Mike

[GhostMiner]

   April 24   2002     Part One

 

   We got Jacob settled in last night and he retired for the evening early. He was quite happy with his camper and told us they never had anything so comfortable back when he was working the claims. I got up before the crack of dawn this morning but Jacob was already up and cooking his breakfast at his camper. Eventually the rest of the crew got up and we took a pot of coffee over to Jacob’s camper and we all sat around a small fire as the sun came up. Jacob spiked his coffee with a shot of whisky and he offered the bottle to us so we all had a shot in our coffee. Then he rolled a smoke while we fried up some bacon and eggs.

   He said he wanted to see his old dig sites today. Jacob said he would show us the southern kettle which was the last one the crew worked with Jed back in 1936. Then he wanted to head up to the northern area of the faultline where they had the big strike in 1936. From there he said we would go out to the Eastern Drift Mine. He also offered to show us the rocks where the treasure had been found. We could hardly wait and it was going to be a full day for sure.

 

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

[GhostMiner]

   April 24   2002     Part Two 

   JACOB TAKES US TO THE SOUTHERN KETTLE

 

   The weather was fairly warm on the claims for this time of year. We all had on heavy flannel shirts as Jacob led the way out of camp and up the mountain. He was heading up towards the southern end of the faultline. It was a fairly easy hike until we got up on the ridge of the faultline. This is a remote area where the ground formed a spiny ridge with sharp drop offs on the left and right. The climb became steeper and we needed to pay attention to our footing.

   On the way up Jacob had shown us where the waterline had been run back in 1936. I couldn’t believe the shape he was in for his age. He was sure footed and made the climb at a slow but steady pace. After a ways the spine of the ridge formed a big Y with a trail to the left and to the right. Jacob headed right and we just followed his lead. I noticed there were a lot of large bear tracks and fresh scat. I asked Jacob about it and he said nothing had changed since his days out here. He said there were always a lot of black bear in this area. Jacob had his 45 on him and the crew was also armed with guns and bear spray.  After about two hundred feet on the right side trail Jacob came to a stop and pointed downward to the left. There was a big pit there. He told us that was the southern kettle talked about in the 1936 journal. He said Whisky Jack had been the one who told the crew about it. Whisky Jack had worked it with the mining crew he was with back in the late 1800’s. Jacob said there might be a little gold left at bedrock and in the lower portion of the walls but they had worked it pretty hard. Whisky Jack had died from his bite to the face by the rattler before they had finished with the southern kettle. 

   Jacob asked us if we wanted to go down into the pit and take a sample of the gravels with us. It was a steep drop of about fifty feet or so and I told him we should probably come back with some water for panning and do a good test. He agreed. He said he was too old to get down in the pit now. He laughed and said it wasn’t the getting down part that bothered him but the getting out part would be the problem. We all had a good laugh.

   He asked if we could take a short break and we agreed. He took a seat on a rock and pulled out his pouch of tobacco and rolling papers. I asked him if he ever bought cigarettes ready to smoke. He just chuckled and said they were too expensive and he always liked rolling his own. He’d been taught by his brother Jed when he was a youngster. Then Jacob pulled out a small flask of whisky and took a slug. He said it was good for his heart.

   As the four of us were sitting there talking quietly we heard a ruckus on the far side of the pit as a big black bear slid down the north wall and ended up down in the bottom. Jacob let out a hoot and a holler and asked us how we’d like to be down there now with that big bear. We all had a good laugh as we watched the bear down below us. Jacob pulled his 45 and fired two rounds in the bedrock about five feet from the bear. That animal scurried out of there as fast as he could climb and sprinted north and away from us. Jacob fired one more round into the air for good measure. We all laughed some more.

   After all the excitement had settled down some, Jacob told us about how they got the water up there to feed the tom. He said the tom was John’s baby and nobody but nobody was allowed to run it, not even Jed. Then he took a swig of whisky and a long drag from his smoke and I could tell his mind was back there working with the old crew from 1936. We just let him sit a spell with his memories. 

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

[GhostMiner]

   A picture from down in the Southern Kettle.

[GhostMiner]

   I didn't write this down back in 2002 but at this point I began to realize there wasn't much that would scare Jacob. He'd seen it all and been to hell and back more than once. He was my hero in every sense of the word and I suddenly understood what the brotherhood of gold mining and prospecting was all about. I had much to learn as did Jim and Vern. We would protect our new partner in good times and bad. Little did we know what lay ahead for us. 

   Also, today marks one year of posting this adventure with over 230,000 views. A BIG THANKS to Steve and all the readers.

[Ken Walls]

Thank You, I dont post much, but have been reading from the beginning. I check a few times a day for new posts.

[Bedrocker]

4 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   I didn't write this down back in 2002 but at this point I began to realize there wasn't much that would scare Jacob. He'd seen it all and been to hell and back more than once. He was my hero in every sense of the word and I suddenly understood what the brotherhood of gold mining and prospecting was all about. I had much to learn as did Jim and Vern. We would protect our new partner in good times and bad. Little did we know what lay ahead for us. 

   Also, today marks one year of posting this adventure with over 230,000 views. A BIG THANKS to Steve and all the readers.

Hopefully before it's all wrapped up you post a picture or two of Jacob. 

Or perhaps it'll never be wrapped up LOL.

[GhostMiner]

9 hours ago, Bedrocker said:

Hopefully before it's all wrapped up you post a picture or two of Jacob. 

Or perhaps it'll never be wrapped up LOL.

Will do.

[GhostMiner]

  April 24   2002     Part Three

   UP TO THE NORTHERN FAULTLINE WITH JACOB

 

   After about fifteen minutes we all headed back down the trail and headed north to the old road going up to the northern faultline dig site. Jacob was surprised to see the condition of the road. There wasn’t much left of it and we hiked about half a mile to get up there. Jacob told us this was a dangerous area back when he was working there. You never knew who might be up on the mountain and there were people who would try to rob you and steal your gold. Hooligans traveled up and down the mountain all the time and some were quite dangerous.

   When we got up there he led us over to a forty foot deep ravine that was located against the west side of the faultline. Whisky Jack had shown it to the crew back in 1936 and told them the old company was getting some good gold here back in the late 1800’s before the company moved them to another location. Whisky Jack had told them they never approached bedrock or country rock as they referred to it back then and they figured there was a pile of gold deeper down.

   Jacob gave us a wink and said he was going to tell us something he didn’t put in his journal. It seems he and the crew went up there in 1937 and dug out a shaft about thirty six feet deep where they hit bedrock and a pile of gold. He wouldn’t tell us how much they got but said it was plenty. He said they had dug a couple exploration drifts at the bottom but the bedrock dropped away nearly vertical and they had no idea how deep bedrock was from there. Then the entire workings flooded and collapsed so they moved on. He said there was never any mention of it in the journal. He said there were other things that happened that he and Jed never wrote down but didn’t want to talk about at this time. 

   We got down in the ravine and sure enough, the old shaft was there but collapsed and flooded out. Jacob told us that there could be thousands of ounces still down there. We all looked at each other with our eyes as big as saucers. 

   Jacob said the crew all had their hiding places for their share of the gold. He figured almost all of the gold from 1937 was still hidden somewhere on the mountain. He said that he was trying to remember where his was buried. The ground had changed some and he remembered hiding gold in five locations. 

   He took us a bit further north along the faultline and showed us more of their old diggings. We were amazed at the amount of work they had done with pick and shovel work. Jacob talked about the difficulty of moving the bigger rocks by hand and how long the days were. Jed had taught him the value of hard work and none of the crew ever complained. He said he could still hear the ringing of the pick and shovel striking against stone and gravel.

    

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............