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

[Mike Furness]

And you, GhostMiner, leave us hanging on that last sentence! Well played! LOL!

[GhostMiner]

 August 2   2002     Part Four

 

   At this point I would have taken Bill’s story with a grain of salt except for the fact that he had a remarkable ore specimen in his possession. Bill continued to tell us that he and one of the prospectors who had been run off went up to this mine. According to the way he told it it would have been five or six months  after the initial discovery. The other prospector had given up on his golden dreams and went back home by then. The remaining prospector decided to show Bill the location in hopes of getting some help.  The mine was way up the mountain a good mile or more and very remote. The prospector used some landmarks to find it. There was no trail and no markers but soon the two of them were standing in what was left of the miner’s camp. It was vacated. There were old cans piled up in one area along with lots of bottles. The prospector continued on past the old camp and after another 100 yards they were at the mine. Or at least what was left of it. The entire entrance had collapsed and been buried by mountain slides from up above. The prospector had ideas of talking to the miner about reforming the partnership along with Bill but obviously the miner was long gone. Eventually Bill and the prospector split up and he never heard from him again except for one little detail - Bill had the ore sample. Bill didn’t want to say how he ended up with it at first but when we pressed him all he said was the prospector had met with some bad luck and gave it to him to show possible investors and that the prospector told him he’d  be back in a month. That was over ten years ago.

   Bill had kept the sample a secret with the hopes of digging out the old mine and had worked at it on and off since that time but never could remove enough of the overburden to make entry. There was supposed to be another entrance on the mountain somewhere but he could not find it. He was getting older now and if he was ever to get into this mine he was going to need help. He offered to take us to the area and show us what he thought needed to be done. He said there was no way to get an excavator up there because of the terrain unless someone took the time to build a road in. He didn’t want to do that as it would mean permitting and the word would get out. He believed the vein was so rich and went so far back in that even hand working it would make us millionaires.

   TO BE CONTINUED .............

[GhostMiner]

 August 2   2002      Part Five

 

   We continued our talk well into the night. Just the fact that Bill hadn’t been able to make access into the mine after all these years was a big concern to me. Jacob didn’t seem to make much of that point and he figured it would just take a few more people to clear overburden. I made the suggestion of filing for a permit and finding some investors to help get the old mine dug out and operational. This idea was not received well by Jacob and Bill who looked horrified by that idea. Bill said that he wouldn’t want investors telling him what to do and taking some of the gold. Jacob felt the same way. So that plan  was dropped abruptly.

   Jacob’s idea was to form a partnership just on that particular mine with a three way split on expenses and gold. He figured we could hire some help to get the entrance dug out. We would have to keep any information as to possible gold strikes to ourselves. We would need to explain to any hired help that we were just digging out a buried adit that had been abandoned and leave it at that. Once the tunnel was opened the help would no longer be required or if needed we might make one or two of them junior partners. It was all speculation of course and there was no guarantee of any big gold in the buried mine tunnel. That specimen could have been from another location for all we knew. However, I could see that the evil gold fever was beginning to take the three of us for a ride. Possibly a wild ride into unknown territory. 

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

[GhostMiner]

Hey hey, I'm a platinum contributor now. Took almost 2 yrs.

[GhostMiner]

You see, it was me & this old man were like desperados waiting for a train lode of gold back then. THIS SONG SURE BRINGS HIM BACK TO LIFE. MY GOOD FRIEND JACOB. 

 

[Bedrocker]

5 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

You see, it was me & this old man were like desperados waiting for a train lode of gold back then. THIS SONG SURE BRINGS HIM BACK TO LIFE. MY GOOD FRIEND JACOB. 

 

Aren't we all?

[GhostMiner]

August 2   2002     Part Six

 

   At 3:00 AM we were still talking about this glory mine Bill had informed us of. We had lost all track of time. Jacob suggested that the lower drift mine we had opened might contain the same vein as the upper drift mine Bill told us about. Jacob thought that the vein in the upper mine was richer and possibly the motherlode source for this area. Again, this was all speculation and I was trying my best to keep my feet on the ground and not get carried away by gold fever.

   It was getting pretty late when we finally decided to explore the area up there and make a determination as to any possibility of getting this legendary gold mine open for business once again. We knew it would not be easy if we tried and would require a crew of some tough characters capable of old school work. Would that even be possible? And what if this phantom crew caught wind of a big gold strike? That could mean a run on the area the likes of which we would not be prepared for. We eventually called it a night and tomorrow will be an interesting day for sure.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[Mike Furness]

Given the history of the area and the type of people it often contained I personally would try to open that old mine with just the three of you. And I would require a gag order for the three of you not that you three really need it! It will definitely take longer to do but in the end it would be worth it if no one other than you three knew about it and it produced great gold! Just my opinion for what it's worth!

[GhostMiner]

   August 3   2002    Part One     Up The Mountain   

 

   To my surprise Bill Anderson was down at our camp at sunrise this morning and raring to get the long hike up the mountain started. Jacob and I were just making coffee and a little breakfast so Bill took a seat and joined us. It was clear to me that he was quite excited at the possibility of taking us on as partners in his proposed venture. I was still skeptical as to the ability of a small crew opening up an old mine tunnel in the middle of nowhere. I wasn’t sure just where Jacob stood. It would mean setting up a remote camp and hauling everything we needed up the mountain by hand and with no road to boot. Also, if any of the crew got in trouble it would be extremely difficult to get them back down the mountain  for help, especially at night. Once again, when I brought up these concerns, Jacob seemed oblivious to them. Nothing much ever worried him as far as I could tell.

   As the sun was getting up over the trees we set out on our expedition. I took Bill aside and told him to set a slow pace because Jacob, although more than willing, was going to need to take his time and a few breaks as well. He would never admit it but I would never want to put him in a situation where he needed to ask us to slow down or stop. Bill understood and off we went with Bill leading the way at a slow and steady pace. We were all armed and of course Jacob took his trusty Thompson machine gun. He was rarely without it.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................