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

[GhostMiner]

Heading out on a concert tour until early next week. I'll leave you prospectors some good music to listen to until I get back. May your pans be full of course gold & pickers.

 

[Mike Furness]

Thanks for the warning GhostMiner! LOL Have a fun time!

[GhostMiner]

   June 26   2002

 

   Morning seemed to come fast and we were up before the sunlight took control of the dark. A good breakfast and off to work we went. Jacob worked the concentrates and by lunchtime had the gold tally ready for us. We were more than surprised to see 6.8 ounces in the jar. This was the stuff that legends are made from. So rich was the ground we were working that if we had the trommel working we would be rolling in money. We talked to Jacob about the gravels we were in. All he said was the old crew had seen yards to the ounce and sometimes ounces to the yard. We were somewhere in between. He told us that if we hit a jackpot we could see hundreds of ounces very quickly. There was just no way to know and we needed to keep working a steady pace and not let the fever take control of our minds. Of course we all had gold fever and were doing our best to control it. We were ready to kill for gold. The fever had us by the throat and was squeezing every day we worked. We dreamt of gold and talked about it all day. There was no returning to normal life for us now. I began to understand how the old crew felt every day.

   By dusk we were all physically wiped out from the shoveling and the heat. I had sweat so much there was no moisture left in me. Jacob warned us to be careful in this dry heat because once the moisture was sucked out of your body you could drop over with no warning. He said he had seen strong men drop over and were unable to get to their feet. Somehow we didn’t care. All we could see and think about was gold. I saw gold in the gravel. I saw it in the rocks. I thought I saw it floating in the dust our shovels kicked up. Sometimes  I feel like I am losing my mind out here. Today we worked as hard as men can work in extreme heat and processed 47 yards of gravel. We are a proud crew tonight.

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

[GhostMiner]

   June 27   2002

 

   We were back to shoveling gravel at 7:00 AM. We were planning on an earlier start but were just too tired out to get up in time to do so. However, once the crew was in place we were a lean and mean gold producing machine. Jacob worked at cleaning the gold. Jim was tending the pump and working as watchman. Vern and I shoveled gravel into the tom. When Jacob finished with his cleanup he always came over and shoveled right along with us. He loved it and never complained.

   Around 1:00 PM we broke for lunch and Jacob was finishing the weigh. We had 14.4 ounces. We were all stunned and nobody was saying much.Then Jacob spoke up. He said we have us an official strike. We all looked silently at him as he spoke in a very solemn tone. He went on to explain that he believed we were now in a section of the big strike the old crew had discovered back in 1937 before they were murdered and he was run off. Jacob told us he figured there were hundreds or maybe thousands of ounces of gold in this new deposit. He said it’s here and we found it and it’s real. Then he brought out a bottle of Bushmills and we all drank a toast to the gold. He said it would bring us luck.

   If I thought the crew had gold fever before it was nothing compared to the way we were after seeing this latest cleanup. Jacob was singing away on some old Irish song I’d never heard and the rest of us were talking excitedly. 

  Then Jacob got real serious with us and said we needed to watch our backs for sure now. He said gold strikes have a way of filtering back into town somehow and before you know it you have a war on your hands. He reminded us of the hooligans that had been roaming around the mine at night. We all agreed that the crew must use extreme caution at all times. By dusk we had processed another 41 yards of gravel. Are we really glory bound?

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

[dig4gold]

19 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

We were ready to kill for gold.

Not a good thing to think.... let alone say. There in lye's the problem with some people & gold. It takes their mind, mixed in with the heat, fatigue & whiskey. 

D4G 

[GhostMiner]

36 minutes ago, dig4gold said:

Not a good thing to think.... let alone say. There in lye's the problem with some people & gold. It takes their mind, mixed in with the heat, fatigue & whiskey. 

D4G 

I must admit you are correct. History also says you are correct. At the time of writing I may have been overly dramatic but if someone were to try to take our gold we sure would fight for it if pressed. 

[GhostMiner]

4 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

I must admit you are correct. History also says you are correct. At the time of writing I may have been overly dramatic but if someone were to try to take our gold we sure would fight for it if pressed. 

My name could easily be changed to High Drama LOL. Has a nice ring to it.

[GhostMiner]

   June 28   2002     Part One

 

   Gold Fiends. That’s what I would call our visitors last night. After our supper we were sitting at camp enjoying some cold beer when three men came walking up the creek from the main road to the south. They were all armed with sidearms and cocky as you can be. They hollered over to us that they were entering our camp and for us not to do anything we might regret. Before I could respond Jacob had the Thompson pointed in their direction and he fired off a burst over their heads which sent them scrambling for cover.

   We were all still in camp and we pulled our guns and took cover as well. One of the men started to yell at us to stop shooting. He said they had a deal for us. Jacob hollered back “Here’s your deal” and fired the Thompson high but in their general direction. I told him to hold up on the shooting and I hollered over to the men and asked them why they were here. The answer was chilling.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

[GhostMiner]

7 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   June 28   2002     Part One

 

   Gold Fiends. That’s what I would call our visitors last night. After our supper we were sitting at camp enjoying some cold beer when three men came walking up the creek from the main road to the south. They were all armed with sidearms and cocky as you can be. They hollered over to us that they were entering our camp and for us not to do anything we might regret. Before I could respond Jacob had the Thompson pointed in their direction and he fired off a burst over their heads which sent them scrambling for cover.

   We were all still in camp and we pulled our guns and took cover as well. One of the men started to yell at us to stop shooting. He said they had a deal for us. Jacob hollered back “Here’s your deal” and fired the Thompson high but in their general direction. I told him to hold up on the shooting and I hollered over to the men and asked them why they were here. The answer was chilling.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

Good to see you back snakejim