Bedrocker Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 2 hours ago, GhostMiner said: April 27 2002 Part One This morning was cold and clear and it was Saturday. Jacob thought we should do some digging until mid afternoon and then go out to the Paxton Hotel for supper and a few drinks with the crew. He seemed to like that place I guess. So we all agreed and headed up to the site after breakfast. I took my Mcculloch Pro Mac 650 chainsaw up there with me. We would need to cut up some downed trees for support logs. There was plenty of deadfall we were permitted to use for our mining operation as well as a part of the plan approved to cut trees as needed for mining. Anything I cut would need to be replaced with two saplings so I preferred to just use deadfall if possible. Jim and I worked on the timber while Vern and Jacob went over to our newly opened drift. They dug out some holes to set posts and placed bracing supports overhead. We laid them in where needed and felt secure to drive the drift deeper into the mountain. Jacob told us we would need to keep a careful watch on the tunnel we were forming as we went in further. It was slow going now and we were beginning to hit some decent pay gravels. The bedrock continued to gently slope away from us and we followed it in. By noon we decided to take a quick break and I went down to camp and brought up coffee and sandwiches. Jacob took another sample and it looked promising. We stopped for the day around 3:00 PM and headed back down to camp to get cleaned up. The day had been productive and we were all hopeful of seeing good gold soon. Around 6:00 PM we headed for the Paxton Hotel. On the ride over Jacob was telling us about the old days and that place. It was an old railroad hotel and there were once active gold mines along the river there. He said that Saturday nights were pretty wild. There used to be what he referred to as a Saturday night hoot. There would be a band and plenty of girls there. He said this sometimes caused fights to break out. He was wondering if they still had the hoots there. I told him I had no idea but probably not. I think he was hoping there would be something like that going on. When we pulled into the parking area the place looked nearly deserted except for a couple of cars. TO BE CONTINUED ............... So there were some girls in them thar hills. That's always a good thing unless it's your girlfriend that's getting hit on lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostMiner Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 The Paxton Hotel sits along the Feather River. There are the remains of an old stamp mill just up the river from the hotel and several old gold mine workings including a drift into the mountain. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GhostMiner Posted January 31, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 31, 2023 April 27 2002 Part Two Jacob looked a little disappointed and said back when he was here the place was real busy on a Saturday night. I told him that the night was still young and we went inside. There was a family sitting at a table eating and a young couple sitting at the bar. Jacob wanted to go up to the bar and have a drink before we ate so we took seats at the bar just down a ways from the couple. Jacob ordered whisky for all four of us. They didn’t have any of his favorites so he substituted another brand. He did a toast to the mine and our partnership and we slugged down the shots. Jacob ordered another round. I told the bartender to make mine a beer this time. I wasn’t much of a whisky drinker. My partners ordered a glass of ice with theirs but Jacob took his neat. He turned to the young couple and asked them if they were gold miners. They just grinned shyly and stated they were tourists from back east. Jacob turned to me and said back when he came here the place would be full of miners and prospectors on Saturday night. He said the trouble usually started when a few of the local logging crews showed up looking for trouble. He said the loggers were pure trash and rif raf. There was always a fight over women sooner or later. He told us about one bad fight he’d seen where one of the miners got thrown through a plate glass window and got cut up real bad. He said the miners and loggers were going at it pretty good and he and his brother got into the mix. He couldn’t really say who but when the brawl ended the place was all busted up. They all paid for damages and came back on Sunday to help fix the place up. Even the logging crew showed up to help. I asked him if anyone contacted the police. He just laughed and said there was no real law anywhere around there back then. They just handled their own business and that’s the way they liked it. He ordered another round for us before I was half done with my beer and then we moved over to a table and ordered supper. Jacob said he really missed the old days. He said he could still hear his brother cussing up a storm during that fight. Then I saw him drift back in time. He sure had stories to tell. TO BE CONTINUED ............ 8 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostMiner Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 April 27 2002 Part Three After we finished up our dinner Jacob went back up to the bar and was talking with the bartender. He was asking him about certain people from back in the old days. The bartender was middle aged and didn’t seem to know very much about that far back in time. All he knew was that the place had been sold a couple of times after the war and he didn’t think there was anyone left alive from that time period. Then Jacob told him that he used to come in there back in his day. The bartender looked amazed and set him up with a whisky on the house. Jacob was telling him about the fights and all the loggers and miners that came in on Saturday. The bartender was getting a big kick out of it. While he was talking about the old times a group of three young men had come in and took seats at the bar just down from Jacob. They had been listening to his stories and could hardly believe them. Jacob noticed them and asked if they had ever mined for gold in this area. They told him they hadn’t actually mined but had done lots of prospecting. That’s all it took and the conversation was on. TO BE CONTINUED .............. 4 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GhostMiner Posted February 1, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 1, 2023 April 27 2002 Part Four Vern, Jim, and I walked over to the bar to listen in on the conversation. Jacob was giving the young guys pointers on how to prospect. He told them that if you take the time to prospect and find good results then you should get an active mine site up and running. He was telling them about how he did it back in the 1930’s. He explained how they ran the tom and used what water was available. They asked him where he had mined but of course Jacob was vague with his answer. They asked him if he had mined much gold back in his day and he answered that he had found a little here and there. I looked at my partners and just smiled. Jacob was giving all of us a crash course on prospecting and he had a captive audience. We were all learning from him and his wealth of knowledge. After about an hour he gave us a look as if to say it’s time to leave so back to camp we went. On the way back I thanked Jacob for sharing his expertise on gold mining with everyone. He just laughed and said he couldn’t take it with him. When we got back to camp we got a nice fire going and Jacob decided to stay up with us while we had a few more beers and talked mining. He was still concerned about what he called hooligans. He seemed uneasy as we sat there talking. I understood completely. He had been through more than I could ever imagine and it always seemed to be in the back of his mind. When he sat with us he had the old Thompson sitting near him and when he got up and went anywhere it usually went with him. He said he slept well at night but sometimes I wondered. Then Jacob got on the subject of our dig site. He was telling us about finding the kettle up there and how rich he thought it was. I asked him if he thought anyone might have mined it out after he was driven out of the area by thugs. He wasn’t sure. He said that if we kept working where we were currently digging we might get lucky and find it. Jacob said there would be no mistaking it because it was well defined and the gravels were beyond rich. Vern, Jim, and I were all hoping we could find it and it still contained all of its gold. Jacob wanted to find it as bad as we did. TO BE CONTINUED ................ 8 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GhostMiner Posted February 2, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 2, 2023 April 28 2002 Part One Jacob’s Outlaw Life After Mining We were all up at sunrise for coffee and breakfast. While we were sitting around the morning campfire Jacob seemed to be in a very talkative mood. I had brought up a question the other day about what he did after leaving the mine when he was still a young man and his life was really just beginning. He didn’t answer the question at the time and I didn’t pursue it but it must have stuck in his mind because out of the blue he brought up the subject. Jacob told us that after the night of the attack he hid out on the mountain. He went way up to the north for two miles and tried to figure out what he would do. At first he thought about revenge. He said he couldn’t trust Dan anymore and felt that if he went into town to see him he might be arrested. He wasn’t sure who the gang was. He couldn’t go back to camp to retrieve any of his goods because he suspected there may be armed gangsters waiting for him to show up. He didn’t even attempt to get his car and truck as he figured those were staked out by the gang. Also, the vehicles were known in the area and if he drove into town with one of them someone might spot him. Jacob decided to leave the area. He debated on where to go. He did have some money and gold on him and had one cache way up to the north where he hid out for the first few days. The rest of his money was back home or buried on the mountain where he couldn’t get to it safely. He thought about Mexico or Canada but decided against it. He felt like he was now an outlaw. Later on he heard unconfirmed rumors that he was wanted by the law. He never found out if that was true but in my opinion it was more likely he was wanted for questioning. He said he finally decided to head for a town in Arizona. He didn’t give the name and I didn’t ask. He hid his Thompson in a secure and dry location on the mountain but kept his 45 in a holster under his coat. He got several rides which took him to his destination. Once there he bought a truck which he paid cash for. He said he rented a cabin there and stayed for two years. When he finally left Arizona he made a stop near the claims and saw that they were being worked by a small crew. He snuck up the mountain and retrieved his Thompson and another cache of gold he was able to get to. Then he headed for Oregon where he said he had some connections. He spent the rest of his days in that state. Jacob told us he had been at the cabin we picked him up at for about twenty years. He didn’t go into any more detail on this subject. TO BE CONTINUED ............... 6 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostMiner Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 April 28 2002 Part Two Deeper Into The Mountain We got back to digging gravels. Jim and I had the privilege of working with Jacob in the drift while Vern bucked up small diameter deadfall for tunnel supports. This is not what I expected when I came out here to mine. I figured we would be opening trenches or pits and doing surface mining. However, if Jacob believes we need to drift into the old river channels buried in the mountain we will give it a try. The digging was steady and not particularly easy and Jacob worked a bit as well as giving us guidance. No one felt like stopping for lunch and we continued working straight through to 5:00 PM. We were bushed. I was fascinated at the way the bedrock continued to drop and slope away from us as we gained ground. Jacob had taken a few samples throughout the day and had the results sitting in three pans on the wooden table next to the wash tub. The entire crew went over to have a look at them before we headed back down to camp. There was some nice coarse gold. Jacob had calculated some numbers based on bucket samples he panned out. He told us the best sample was around 15 grains to the yard and the worst was around 6 grains to the yard. This was encouraging. Jacob believed the numbers would improve soon. He said we just need to keep going deeper into the mountain. TO BE CONTINUED ............... 7 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dig4gold Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 No gold is easy gold. D4G 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostMiner Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 1 hour ago, dig4gold said: No gold is easy gold. D4G Unless it was the gold the thieves stole. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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