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

[GhostMiner]

   SEPTEMBER 12    1936

   This morning we were all watching the sky to the west. The smoke had not gotten any worse and seemed to have moved some to the northwest of us. Hopefully we will be spared. We were all in slightly better spirits today and John went up to the pit while I stayed on watch duty. It seemed really odd to not be digging although I must admit the rest did me good. I had no way of knowing how John was doing up there but was hoping he got some gold. 

   In the afternoon a deputy was walking up towards camp and I hollered over to him and told him who I was. He had come up to tell me about Jack. He said as far as they were able to find out Jack had no family and he wanted to know if we wanted to pay for his burial and have any kind of funeral for him. I told him I would talk with the crew and come into town with money for the burial but didn’t think there was a need for a formal funeral service. I said we couldn’t all come into town at once because we worried about thieves coming to our camp. The deputy understood and said this had been a bad year for people getting robbed around the area. He said there had been a lot of the criminal types hanging around but he thought they had gotten rid of them. I thought to myself that when he said they got rid of them he had no clue. So he left and I waited until dusk for the crew to get back. When they did, John said he got one ounce. I told him that was better than I was able to do yesterday and we had a good laugh. I told John about the deputy's visit. We decided I would go to town and pay for Jack’s burial and then in a few days we would go to the grave site two at a time to say our last goodbyes to Whiskey Jack.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[Old Miner Don]

Wow, things sure seem to have slowed down with whiskey Jack, Ben and Sarge gone.

Kinda depressing 😢

[BobC]

21 hours ago, maxxkatt said:

Man a rattlesnake bite to the face? Cannot see many people surviving that. One thing that I watch for carefully in Georgia is Copperheads. I try to remember never put my feet or hands anywhere I cannot see carefully. Snakes blend into their backgrounds and snakes don't always run when you are near them. It is in their nature to stay hidden up to the last moment when they are within striking distance. Only had one close encounter with a Copperhead in my garage. A flat headed shovel separated his head from his body. Out in the wild, I let them alone and move elsewhere. But in my garage is a different matter.

 

 

came within 24 inches of stepping on him, was working in my shop and had walked round my truck to come out the door. 4/8/22

[GhostMiner]

   Today marks 86 years since Jed began mining at his claims.

[Zincoln]

You know GM, with all the shooting they did on their mine site...you should be able to find plenty of spent cartridges and bullets.  Seems Sarge and team sprayed some lead and there are likely some concentrated areas.  Wasn't he shooting a 30-06 BAR?  Other fella had a Thompson if i recall.  Good chance they may have old military cartridge markings with year of mfg on the base.

If you get the book published, imagine sending along a spent bullet or cartridge case along with every book in say the first 100 or 500...or during signings.  I'm sure there have been a lot more rounds spent up there over the years, and no way to know with absolute certainty if what you found tied to the group...but it would be a rather fun way to promote the book and tie real history to it. 

Metal detectors would easily pick these out if you have a group up there, and they'd be rather shallow in general with the limited growth of plants up there.

Food for thought.....

Zincoln 

[GhostMiner]

17 hours ago, Bedrocker said:

Wow, things sure seem to have slowed down with whiskey Jack, Ben and Sarge gone.

Kinda depressing 😢

Not for long.

[GhostMiner]

   SEPTEMBER 13   1936

   I was up bright and early and it started to rain. We had a tarp over the outdoor cook stove that we sat under to provide us shade and I watched the water rolling off and splashing on the ground. It was a welcome thing to us. If it would last a while it would help with the wildfire. Eventually everyone was up and stirring. I had a shot of whiskey in my coffee and headed into town to pay the undertaker. When I got back the rain was coming down hard. We decided to wait it out as it got heavier. The temperature was also dropping and the thermometer read 49 degrees. The wind was starting to come out of the northwest. By late morning it wasn’t stopping and I went up to the pit to dig leaving John on watch duty. Will and Jacob got the pumps going and water was shooting into the tom. Some of the heavy rain was starting to build up in the pit and I was shoveling water and gravel together. It just kept coming and it was cold as well. By late afternoon I signaled the crew to shut the pumps down and we weighed up the take. I had 2 ounces in the pan and was real happy, tired, hungry, and wet all at the same time.

   Down at camp I had a good supper of hot water corn bread, bacon, and beans, and a cup of whiskey. By dark the rain had slowed some but was still going and the temperature was about 45 degrees. We all retired to our tents early. I built a nice fire in my tent stove and dried off my clothes and had another cup of whiskey and rolled a couple Burley’s. 

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

[delnorter]

It’s amazing the energy those guys, and us as well, get out of a basic staple like beans. I’ve worked real hard, all day long for extended times, but the kind of work these guys did was incredible.

Mike

[GhostMiner]

3 hours ago, delnorter said:

It’s amazing the energy those guys, and us as well, get out of a basic staple like beans. I’ve worked real hard, all day long for extended times, but the kind of work these guys did was incredible.

Mike

A great work ethic and no complaining. Of course, I wouldn't complain either if I was getting the gold they are.

[GhostMiner]

20 hours ago, Zincoln said:

You know GM, with all the shooting they did on their mine site...you should be able to find plenty of spent cartridges and bullets.  Seems Sarge and team sprayed some lead and there are likely some concentrated areas.  Wasn't he shooting a 30-06 BAR?  Other fella had a Thompson if i recall.  Good chance they may have old military cartridge markings with year of mfg on the base.

If you get the book published, imagine sending along a spent bullet or cartridge case along with every book in say the first 100 or 500...or during signings.  I'm sure there have been a lot more rounds spent up there over the years, and no way to know with absolute certainty if what you found tied to the group...but it would be a rather fun way to promote the book and tie real history to it. 

Metal detectors would easily pick these out if you have a group up there, and they'd be rather shallow in general with the limited growth of plants up there.

Food for thought.....

Zincoln 

Thanks for the ideas.