GhostMiner Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 Just catching my breath from some big adventures in the state of Washington. I will get more journal entries up tomorrow hopefully. Cheers. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostMiner Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 June 8 2002 Part One I got to work early. The sun hadn't quite come up yet and the crew was just waking. I decided to start pushing tailings that had gotten ahead of us yesterday. So I pushed them and carried them away as well. Within an hour breakfast was on and everyone was at Jacob’s camper including me. Then we got to work. Or at least we tried. While Jacob started his gold cleanup duties Vern hiked up the mountain to get the pump running. I fired up the trommel and Jim started digging pay with the excavator. I dumped in the first load of pay with the steer and heard a loud clang and the trommel stopped as I saw the chain go flying through the air. I heard Jim let out a few choice words and I signaled Vern to shut down the pump. We were broke down before we had even started. Jacob had heard the ruckus and came walking over from his cleanup station. He said some words I didn’t quite understand but knew were not good. Then he rolled a smoke and just shook his head in disgust. Then he walked back over to continue processing yesterday's concentrates. Vern, Jim, and I looked over the situation. The chain was not repairable and we needed a new one. When it broke it had also done damage to the sprocket teeth. What a way to start the day. TO BE CONTINUED ................... 2 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denny3 Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 Interesting story!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostMiner Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 3 hours ago, Denny3 said: Interesting story!! Hopefully you have started from the beginning in season one 1936. Good to have you on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedrocker Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 8 hours ago, GhostMiner said: June 8 2000 Part One I got to work early. The sun hadn't quite come up yet and the crew was just waking. I decided to start pushing tailings that had gotten ahead of us yesterday. So I pushed them and carried them away as well. Within an hour breakfast was on and everyone was at Jacob’s camper including me. Then we got to work. Or at least we tried. While Jacob started his gold cleanup duties Vern hiked up the mountain to get the pump running. I fired up the trommel and Jim started digging pay with the excavator. I dumped in the first load of pay with the steer and heard a loud clang and the trommel stopped as I saw the chain go flying through the air. I heard Jim let out a few choice words and I signaled Vern to shut down the pump. We were broke down before we had even started. Jacob had heard the ruckus and came walking over from his cleanup station. He said some words I didn’t quite understand but knew were not good. Then he rolled a smoke and just shook his head in disgust. Then he walked back over to continue processing yesterday's concentrates. Vern, Jim, and I looked over the situation. The chain was not repairable and we needed a new one. When it broke it had also done damage to the sprocket teeth. What a way to start the day. TO BE CONTINUED ................... GhostMiner Posted 8 hours ago June 8 2000 Part One June of 2000??? Are we going back in time now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostMiner Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 4 hours ago, Bedrocker said: GhostMiner Posted 8 hours ago June 8 2000 Part One June of 2000??? Are we going back in time now? If only we could lol. I corrected it. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostMiner Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 June 9 2002 Part Two We removed the sprocket and Jim and I took it along with the chain to a shop in town to see what could be done. The trommel itself was old and had seen a lot of mining in its day. At the machine shop they told us the best thing to do was order a new chain and sprocket as repairing them would not last and we’d be throwing our money away. It would take about a week to ten days to get the sprocket and the chain would come in five business days. So we were shut down. It was late morning when we got back to camp with the bad news. Jacob was still working away at the gold cleanup and we were now reduced to working with the tom again. So we set it up and by the time that was done it was nearly 2:00 PM and it was hot. None of us were in too good of a mood but we started to shovel pay gravel into the tom. At least we had the excavator to do the digging. By dusk we had processed 30 yards of pay gravel and called it a day. We cleaned out the tom and brought it over to Jacobs cleanout station for him to work on tomorrow. He had already finished up the concentrates from the 250 yard run and we were all anxious to see the results. There were 13 ounces of gold in the finish pan. Jacob didn’t like the number 13 much and said it was bad luck. Vern said he was thinking it would have been double that. We just laughed and said gold is gold and cracked open some cold beers as we fired up the cook stove. Jacob brought out a bottle of Bushmills and we all had a couple of shots of the good Irish whisky and chased them with the beers. We all had another round as the hot dogs and beans were cooked up and pretty soon we forgot all about the broken down trommel. TO BE CONTINUED ................. 7 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostMiner Posted May 19, 2023 Author Share Posted May 19, 2023 June 10 2002 Part One We were up and at it around 8:00 AM. Jacob was busy with the gold cleanup chores and the rest of us shoveled gravel by hand into the tom. It was a giant step backwards and the weather was hot as all get up. Jim stockpiled the days pay gravel with the excavator first. This only took a short time because we could only process just so much by hand. After we’d shoveled for an hour we were all soaked in sweat and the temperature was already over 80 degrees. By lunch time it was over 90 and we took a break. I was too hot and tired to eat much of anything and had to fight the urge to have a cold beer. I told myself no, that’s for tonight after the mining is done. Around 3:00 PM the temperature was sitting at 95 in the shade. Then the water flow stopped. I hollered over to Vern who was the pump tender. I was angry and figured he had forgotten to keep the gas tank filled but he said no, he had been up there tending it not too long ago. The three of us hiked up the mountain to have a look. The lay flat line had been slashed and the pump's fuel cap was off. It wasn’t running. The oil cap was off as well. Upon inspection we realized someone had dumped some kind of grit into the oil reservoir and also something into the gas tank. The pump had seized up. Also, our hose had been slashed in about ten places in a 200 foot length from the pump and would need replaced. I was hot and tired and took it out on Vern saying he was responsible for guarding against this kind of sabotage but instead was down at the digsite working. I took off my hat and threw it on the ground and stormed back down the mountain in anger leaving Jim and Vern to look at the mess. TO BE CONTINUED ................ 1 1 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostMiner Posted May 20, 2023 Author Share Posted May 20, 2023 June 10 2002 Part Two When I got back to camp Jacob was finishing up the gold weigh and had two ounces in the pan. I told him what had just happened and he was real upset about the situation. We had managed to process 25 yards before being sabotaged. Vern and Jim eventually came back down to camp and then Vern and I took the steer back up to the pump. We put it in the bucket of the steer and hauled it back to camp. There was nothing left to do but haul the pump into town to have a mechanic look at it. When he did he said he might be able to get it running with new parts but we were probably better off to just buy a new one. So we placed an order for a new pump and left the old one at the shop for the mechanic to look over. We still had the smaller pump and extra hose at camp. By now it was past 5:00 PM and we decided to call it a day. We’ll set up the old pump and replace the bad layflat hose in the morning and get a fresh start. TO BE CONTINUED ..................... 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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