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

[GhostMiner]

   More diggin' commin'

 

[GhostMiner]

   July 9   2002     Part One

 

   We started work around 8:00 AM. Once again Jacob was running the excavator. Suddenly I noticed that he stopped digging and was climbing down off the machine. He approached the cut he was working and was staring down at something. I walked over to see what he was looking at. I could make out what appeared to be metal. I asked Jacob what he thought it was and he just shrugged. He said he couldn’t tell but it was definitely metal. Maybe an old piece of scrap?

   Jacob climbed back on the excavator and started to carefully dig around the object. It was in the hill about ten feet or so below the surface. After about another twenty minutes of careful excavation it became clear what the object was. Jacob let out a slew of swear words and climbed off the machine to get a closer look. Then he looked directly at me with an amazed look. He said it was his old truck.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

 

   

[GhostMiner]

July 9   2002     Part Two

 

   I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. Jacob cut a gentle slope into the facing of the wide trench. We hooked a chain up and slowly pulled it out and onto the surface. I had the water bypass open on the trommel and we took a few minutes to look it over. It was rusted and dented. The windows were broken and the interior was half filled with gravel. Jacob figured that the thugs that had murdered his crew had buried the truck so it wouldn’t be found. They had worked the claims for a few years and eventually hightailed it out of the area. Jacob said he didn’t know who they were but had heard rumors that they were wanted for a number of felonies. We pulled it out of the way and got back to work. Jacob said we could look it over more closely after we shut down for the day.

   TO BE CONTINUED .............

[GhostMiner]

   July 9   2002     Part Three

 

   We knocked off work a bit early. We had washed 130 yards of pay gravel and pulled the matts from the sluice run. We had concentrates from 315 yards of gravels in the tubs. We could see some nice looking gold poking out of the black sand. We will spend tomorrow doing the cleanup together.

   We got cleaned up and had a quick supper. Jacob wanted to look over his old truck before it got dark. So did I. Then he told me something. He said whoever buried that truck probably didn’t know he had some gold hidden in the dashboard. It seems he had stashed ten ounces of gold in two containers. They were tucked up behind the dash in a little compartment he had made. Jacob told me to feel up under the dash on the passenger side. I shoveled out some of the gravel from the cab and got down on my back with a flashlight. There was a black metal box bolted up there. He said yep, that’s it. I got some wrenches and after spraying the nuts and bolts with penetrating oil they came loose and I dropped the box down to the floor.

   There was a rusty latch on the box which I broke loose by prying on it. When it opened there were two smaller boxes inside. They were wooden but had been wrapped in leather. Jacob was shaking his head and gave out a chuckle. He said he remembered wrapping the boxes with leather so they wouldn’t rattle. He told me to go ahead and open the boxes. There was the gold still sitting in them. I weighed it up and there was indeed ten ounces. Jacob was holding them and remembered he had kept a poke of gold in the truck for emergencies. Unfortunately he had never got the chance to get that gold. He handed me one of the wooden boxes and said it was mine because we were partners. That’s the way he was.

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

 

      

[GhostMiner]

 

[GhostMiner]

   July 10   2002

 

   We spent most of the day doing the cleanup and gold weigh. The results were disappointing compared to what we were expecting. We saw more fine gold than coarse in the final pan and the total was 10.7 ounces. Jacob thinks that the rich pay streak has vanished as quickly as it appeared. He told me to be thankful for the streak while it lasted and if we continue at a steady pace of washing gravel we may very well find another one. He reminded me that gold is a fickle friend. I am indeed learning that lesson. 

   Tonight is peaceful and Jacob’s old truck is sitting just outside our camp. It is a monument to the old crew who worked so hard here and gave their lives for gold. Jacob and I had a drink of Irish whisky together and he reminisced about the old days. I always enjoy hearing about those times. Every now and then he gets in one of those moods to talk about them. I know that someday I will be doing the same to a younger generation of miners.

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

[dig4gold]

Please correct me if I am wrong. So you are out there playing gold miner with your friend. Risking your life daily with hooligans who want your gold. While your wife is home alone with the kids for months on end. Doesn't seem right to me.

D4G

[Ken Walls]

Its not uncommon at all, our Military comes to mind.

[GhostMiner]

On 9/29/2023 at 2:31 PM, dig4gold said:

Please correct me if I am wrong. So you are out there playing gold miner with your friend. Risking your life daily with hooligans who want your gold. While your wife is home alone with the kids for months on end. Doesn't seem right to me.

D4G

You'll nave a hard time making it as a miner if you can't make the sacrifice. There is a big diference between playing a gold miner & being a gold miner. Living alone or with a few people off grid & giving up most comforts. Missing home so bad that some nights you cry. It ain't an easy life. There is good & there is bad. The highs & lows are hard to handle at times. It takes people with an iron will like Jacob sometimes. If you can have your family living with you it can be good or go wrong. It's way too dangerous to even consider having family on this mine. In most cases it's not practicle. I bought & paid for my home & retirement because of mining. No different than being in a touring rock band or on deployment in the military.