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

[GhostMiner]

   As an introduction, I am the president of a small placer gold mine exploration & leasing company. While doing research on one of our mine properties I came across an old leather journal & thought i'd post the entries over time here. I named it "Lost Gold At The Dead Man's Mine." Hopefully the old timer who wrote it won't mind. I tried to find any relatives but have run into one dead end after another. I felt it was a story worth telling & over the period of posting the entries I will include pictures of the area as it looks today and what our modern activities at the site have been. The journal was mentioned in a 282 page government report that I stumbled upon while doing research. I was able to secure the original journal from the descendants of the president of a defunct mining company who did some work in the area back in the mid 1960's. The journal itself was written by a prospector who worked the area in 1936. He hit a gold strike of epic proportions and lived an adventure that is very fascinating to say the least. It's a wild ride showing a glimpse back into a long lost time. I hope you enjoy the journal.*

   PROLOGUE : This is a journal of the experiences written in the first person in 1936 by a prospector by the name of Jed Stevens while mining at the Whiskey Jack Mine. Jed had several claims in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. This area of claims produced large amounts of gold from the mid to late 1800's. The old placer mines were abandoned in the late 1800's as a result of California's Sawyer Decision which banned or severely limited hydraulic gold mining operations and left large amounts of undiscovered gold in the gravels. Here is the first entry :

   APRIL 12   1936  :  Today I filed all the paperwork at the county court house for the mining claims I now hold near Lost Ravine. I then drove my Ford truck out to my claims. There was a good spot near Jake's Creek up to the north about 1500 feet from the main road that follows Morgan Creek where I set up my camp. It took the entire day to pitch the tent and set up my kitchen. The tent is a 15 foot cabin tent with a stove jack. I have a first rate box stove set up inside to be used for heat and some cooking. I also set up a second stove about 200 feet from camp for the main cooking jobs during good weather. 

   Today was a good day for getting camp set as it was sunny and not too cold. Tomorrow my plan is to investigate one of the claim sites where the old diggings took place and get a bearing on my situation as far as where I might sample gravels and old tailings. I am losing daylight and getting cold so I will get into my sleeping bag on the cot and get some sleep.

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

   Here is a picture of Jed's journal as it looks today. It is in fairly good shape & also included some old maps.

 

 

*this story is based on a real gold strike in 1936 according to what reports I have in my possession, but the journal itself is a work of fiction.

[GhostMiner]

   APRIL 13   1936

   Last night got very cold. My water containers had some ice in them when I made morning coffee. I hiked out to the eastern most section of the property armed with my Smith and Wesson Model 27, a shovel, and a bucket and I found an abandoned drift going into the mountain. It was timbered for support and looked to be solid. Inside the opening was an old two man tuttle tooth two man saw. The tunnel had seen some good work. I'm guessing back in the late 1800's. All the mines here as far as I know were placers so they probly dug this when water was scarce as I saw abandoned iron pipe in the area. It was nearly high enough for me to stand upright and went back about 200 feet where some of the timbers had started to rot and were collapsing. There was signs of some exposed country rock in the drift. I used my shovel to dig some sample gravels and took them back to camp where I later panned them in the creek. There were fines and a few nice coarse pieces from the two buckets I processed and the drift looked to hold some promise. Tomorrow I am going to hike out on a fault line in the northern area of the claims to take more sample gravels. I've got beans on the stove and a cup of good Irish whiskey before I turn in tonight.

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

[GhostMiner]

   APRIL 14   1936

   Today I traversed a major fault about 1500 feet to the north east of camp. Part of the fault was exposed by old diggings while the northern portion on my claim was burried in heavy gravels. Unable to get a good hole going in the heavy material I focused my pick and shovel work near the base of the exposed area which was about 60 feet below the top of the rim. I took several buckets out of the area and panned them in the creek near camp. The pan showed fines mixed with coarse and weighed heavy. So far the claims are showing good signs of gold and I am thinking of a way to do more digging at each of these spots. I will do more exploration out there at the fault tomorrow. It is closer to the creek so i'm thinking it may be a good location for serious digging. It is beginning to snow tonight as I write this and I am stoking the stove and turning in.

   TO BE CONTINUED .............

[GhostMiner]

   APRIL 15   1936

   I woke to a cold and snowy scene this morning. About three or four inches of snow. I broomed the roof of my tent and fixed a breakfast of hot water corn bread and coffee. The snow had stopped before I woke so I set out on the hike back to the fault line and also seeing some bear tracks that looked fresh. Up at the base of the fault line I spied the critter. He looked to be needing nourishment and no doubt had not been too long out of hibernation. I have a good holler and he bolted up into the woods higher up the mountain. 

   I worked the gravels swinging the pick and scooping out gravels by the shovel full at the base of the fault. There seemed to be broken country rock at the base. I went straight in and tried to get some depth which was hard work. After several hours of this I had myself a good hole going into the fault. About mid afternoon I was in deep enough to take some good sample buckets down to the creek. I saw lots of fines and very good heavies that weighed out rich. I went back out with a hand saw and started cutting back brush and small pine in order to fashion a crude roadway for my truck. At the last of light I went back down to camp and heated up beans on the stove and poured a good cupful of Irish whiskey. I began to formulate my mining plan as darkness took the camp.

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

[GhostMiner]

Just now, GhostMiner said:

   APRIL 15   1936

   I woke to a cold and snowy scene this morning. About three or four inches of snow. I broomed the roof of my tent and fixed a breakfast of hot water corn bread and coffee. The snow had stopped before I woke so I set out on the hike back to the fault line and also seeing some bear tracks that looked fresh. Up at the base of the fault line I spied the critter. He looked to be needing nourishment and no doubt had not been too long out of hibernation. I have a good holler and he bolted up into the woods higher up the mountain. 

   I worked the gravels swinging the pick and scooping out gravels by the shovel full at the base of the fault. There seemed to be broken country rock at the base. I went straight in and tried to get some depth which was hard work. After several hours of this I had myself a good hole going into the fault. About mid afternoon I was in deep enough to take some good sample buckets down to the creek. I saw lots of fines and very good heavies that weighed out rich. I went back out with a hand saw and started cutting back brush and small pine in order to fashion a crude roadway for my truck. At the last of light I went back down to camp and heated up beans on the stove and poured a good cupful of Irish whiskey. I began to formulate my mining plan as darkness took the camp.

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

   Just a note here : Jed's use of the term country or country rock was and still is another name for bedrock. Later in the journal when things become clearer on what he is doing I will post pictures of the area he is working as it looks today and also what we are finding.

[rvpopeye]

Welcome aboard GhostMiner !

Jed's journal is a cool piece of history , Thx for sharing it here.

One word of caution, ,,, you're probably gonna want to add a detector to your equipment list after hanging out here for any length of time !😉

 

[GhostMiner]

23 minutes ago, rvpopeye said:

Welcome aboard GhostMiner !

Jed's journal is a cool piece of history , Thx for sharing it here.

One word of caution, ,,, you're probably gonna want to add a detector to your equipment list after hanging out here for any length of time !😉

 

Thanks for the welcome.

[beatup]

sounds like a good read so far

[GhostMiner]

12 minutes ago, beatup said:

sounds like a good read so far

   There'a a lot to the journal with all kinds of twists & turns. I'll try to post some of it every day.

[GhostMiner]

   APRIL 16   1936

   Got woke up last night by loud screaching sounds which lasted an hour or so. Might have been lion or bobcat. There was more than one and they came close to camp. I spent the day working on the road up to the fault line. All hand saw and pick and shovel. Was too tired to take more samples. Tomorrow I should be able to get my truck up to the dig site. I will load some gravels to take down to the creek. I have a tom sluice that will sit in the creek where the flow is right. The creek is running good from all the melt off up higher on the mountain. My claims are anywhere from 3500 feet to 4000 feet in altitude. I have a hard wood grizzly screen to set over the head of the tom. I'll shovel onto that to screen out anything over two inches. The tom is 20 feet in length and 18 inches wide. I've got it lined with carpet matting and riffles. Got a nice supper of dried beef and beens. Turning in now.

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