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

[GhostMiner]

37 minutes ago, maxxkatt said:

0k gold was 34.87 per oz in 1936, so lets say $35.00 per oz for easier calculations. 1,000 oz = $35,000 in 1936.

$35,000 in 1936 is worth $714,392.81 today. Not bad, not bad at all. One would think that if Jed survived all this he would have lived very comfortable in terms of having sufficient funds in the bank.

 

Yes. The key here is did he get to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Perhaps he did but then given the extreme danger he & crew have faced he may not have. Of course only I know the answer to that. 

[maxxkatt]

It seems like the only people who held on the the wealth in the gold prospecting towns were the merchants and saloon girls.

 

 

[GhostMiner]

   The question for readers of the journal at this point is how it ends and what does the name I gave it mean? Is someone going to die? Or might more than one die? What about all the gold? Jed kept a very good journal but left a lot of the story out. I know from the report that he worked with a prominant geologist. I also know from the report that there was a lumber company involved. He also made some enemies that are not mentioned in the journal. And at the end of it all we are left with two big questions  ....................

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

[GhostMiner]

   AUGUST 26   1936

   No one was up too early today as we were all nursing hangovers from the night before. I had my usual coffee and whiskey starter and beans and bacon. We eventually got started back at the pit although an hour later than usual. Once the pumps sent up the water to the tom me and John got busy with our shovels. It was a bright, warm day and got up to about 80 degrees by lunch time. The afternoon went well and the gravels were flying. By now the shovel felt like part of my body to me. I had three of them and used whichever felt better on that day. We worked a little later than normal to help make up for the late start although by now we all felt like easing the work and enjoying the later part of our season. We got the weigh finished up not long before dark and had 2 ounces in the pan. What we are doing is reworking the bottom of the pit that the old boys worked years ago. We are scraping up anything that has washed in off the side walls over the years and cleaning up what’s left on country. Every now and then we get a nice size piece in the sluice run along with plentiful fines mixed with some coarse. It’s not bad working in there at all. 

  TO BE CONTINUED ..............

[Hunterjunk]

They needed a pump and pipeline just for their whiskey supply !

[GhostMiner]

   AUGUST 27   1936

   Last night we had a visitor to camp. It was right at supper time and I heard Sarge holler out. There was a man standing down below camp and Sarge had him at gunpoint. It was the guy John had beaten up the other night. He was drunk and belligerent and was wanting to fight the guy who had roughed him up. John laughed and told Sarge to let him come up to camp.

   When he got up there he wanted to know who beat him up. John said it was him and said he was stupid for coming back here and he had been warned. The guy said he wanted to fight John man to man without his gun to protect him. He started calling John a bunch of names and I knew this wasn’t going to work out good for the hooligan. John didn’t say a word as he walked over to him and backhanded him across the mouth. John called him trash and a worthless drunk. The guy took a swing and John blocked it. The guy tried again and John moved his head to the side and the punch missed. The hooligan was off balance after the second try and John threw a right cross that connected on the guy's jaw. He went down in slow motion and John was telling him to get up and fight. As he got to his feet John threw a straight right hand that caught him square in the face and he stumbled backwards and fell over a log we were using as a seat. All of the crew had gathered around now and were watching the action. Whiskey Jack was cheering John on and telling him to finish the guy.  To his credit the hooligan got back up again but was wobbly now. John told him to come ahead and fight. The guy stepped forward with a wild right hand that missed by a mile and John slugged him in the side. It was a hard blow that we all heard and sounded like a thud. The hooligan fell to his knees gasping for air. John put a boot to his head and the hooligan was finished. He laid on the ground moaning. John told him to get up and he wasn’t done with him. The guy swore at John and was trying to get to his feet. John grabbed the guy's shirt and helped him to his feet. Then he drilled him in the stomach with a right hand and he fell back down. He’d had enough. John and Sarge dragged him down to the main road where his car was. Sarge drove the car to town with the hooligan in the back passed out and John followed with Sarge’s truck. They dumped him off outside the tavern where he most likely got his courage. Then they came back to camp.

   Whiskey Jack was all wound up and reliving the fight as he poured his cups. The entire crew was stirred up good and were all talking loudly. John didn’t have much to say and just shrugged it off saying the guy was stupid to come back here running his mouth. I agreed and told John i didn’t think he would ever be back. It took the crew quite a while to calm down.

   The next morning everyone was up bright and early and in good moods as well. We all had a good breakfast and went about the normal mining routine. Jack came up to the pit with us and gave encouragement and advice. He was a wealth of knowledge and knew the property well. He also knew where the old company had tested and found good ground but never worked it completely. Jack had marked out potential dig sites on a map for me and we agreed to one day walk the property with him and mark them out for ourselves and our future mining days. I told Jack that I planned to mine here a long time if possible. Jack agreed that the claims held lots of unmined gold still to be found.

   At the end of our day John and me had done some good work in the pit and the crew helped finish up the wash and weighing. The results were real good with 3 more ounces in the pan. The pit was paying us well. 

   TO BE CONTINUED .............

[GhostMiner]

4 hours ago, Hunterjunk said:

They needed a pump and pipeline just for their whiskey supply !

They didn't drink while working.

[GhostMiner]

8 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

They didn't drink while working.

But some of them over did the drinking at night LOL.

[GhostMiner]

   Unfortunately for the crew the time is nearing when Sarge & Ben have to go back home to their farms. This is going to leave the miners vulnerable to hooligans again. Hopefully they will be able to finish the mining season safely and with their gold.

[D&P-OR]

1 hour ago, GhostMiner said:

   Unfortunately for the crew the time is nearing when Sarge & Ben have to go back home to their farms. This is going to leave the miners vulnerable to hooligans again. Hopefully they will be able to finish the mining season safely and with their gold.

I think they (I hope they) leave out of there with Sarge & Ben.-----At least then they would be able to get out of there safely with their gold.