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

[GhostMiner]

   May 13   1937

 

   It is well past dawn and our battle has ended. We took out half the gang of thugs. Where the other half went is unknown at this time. We took stock of our situation. Hudson and Will have wounds but we don’t think they are life threatening. John is ok as are Ben and Sarge. I had a bullet pass through the calf of my leg. John has headed into town with Sarge’s truck to get medical supplies for the wounded. No one wants to go to a doctor and be questioned by the law. We will deal with this situation on our own unless someone is severely wounded. We are all exhausted.

   Eventually John got back to camp with supplies and we dressed our wounds the best we could. Hudson and Will are in no shape to work or even move around camp and we have decided to fortify our cover and post Ben and Sarge at strategic locations where they could open fire on any attackers. There is a medium duty machine gun set up under cover at John’s post. I am tending to Hudson and Will and we are planning to sit tight at camp for the entire day. If what’s left of the gang returns we are ready for them. I am hopeful that they have had enough of us.

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

[GhostMiner]

 May 14   1937

 

   We had no further problems with the gang yesterday but had a very strange visitor to our camp. He had come up the creek alone towards dusk and was very lucky he wasn’t shot. None of us were in any mood for visitors or strangers near our mine. I had just cracked open a bottle of whiskey and was trying to calm what was left of my nerves. He was a Mountain Maidu shaman and looked to be as old as time itself. He told the crew he knew of us from the stories being told in town and also out in the mountains. He said we were big medicine but wanted to warn us of something. I told him to have a seat in camp.

   He looked around and said we had been in a fight and had killed some bad men. He knew this from a vision he had seen last night. He told us we were brave men and had become a powerful force in the spirit's eyes. But the reason he came to talk to us was what he had been told by the spirits. They had shown him much blood and death around us both in the past and yet to come. We were now as a lightning strike in a storm. But our time would come to die. The spirits would call us back soon. He said there was the smell of death all around us and we were doomed men. There was not much anyone could do to change this according to this Indian. 

   We sat and listened to what he said. I didn’t know what to say except to tell him that we will take care of each other. As he got up to leave he turned to me and smiled. He said we were a band of brave warriors ready for eternity. Then he walked off into the night. We all had a drink of whisky from my bottle and I stoked the night fire.

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

[GhostMiner]

 

 

[GhostMiner]

   May 15   1937

 

   Last night John and I drank whisky until 2:00 in the morning. Hudson and Will got a restful sleep and this morning broke clear and cold. I stoked the morning cooking fire and made hash and eggs for the crew. We washed it down with coffee and whisky and talked about what we were going to do. It was clear to me that Will and Hidson needed time to heal and we needed to keep a close watch on their wounds. John wanted to get back to digging for buried treasure and I felt up to working some as well. 

   So with Sarge and Ben on guard duty John and I went back to digging around the rocks. We were not far from Hudson and Will so we could go over and check on them frequently. We were getting deeper down on the northern side of the rocks and I let out a curse as a cold chill washed over my body. There was another skeleton lying in the freshly dug gravel. John and I carefully dug it out and set the bones on the surface. I started to think about what the shaman had told us. I took a long swig from the whisky bottle I kept close but it didn’t help me shake the cold wind that descended over us. Suddenly the clear sky turned dark and an ice cold rain poured down. John just gave me a look like what the hell is happening here.

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

[GhostMiner]

 

 

[GhostMiner]

  May 16   1937

 

   What I have to say here this day continues to haunt me. Yesterday we dug up a skeleton and under the skeleton was more treasure. This time a small box about 18 inches in length and filled with jewels. To know the value I would need to have them looked at by an expert but they were of gold, silver, and gemstones. Most likely they are of great value.

   We sat around camp at breakfast and tried to understand what was happening here. We had only come to mine for gold but now were sitting on buried treasure that seems to have no end. We also have a gold mine at the eastern drift that shows us huge potential. I am sure we are still being watched and expect to be attacked again at some point. Sometimes I feel like a walking dead man.

   Will and Hudson are somewhat better and to tell the truth I would like to send them home when they are fit to travel. I haven’t talked with them about this but I fear for their safety. I am wondering if John will stick this out as well. He has never flinched and neither has any of the crew. I am thinking that if we stay we may not get out alive.  

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[GhostMiner]

 

 

[GhostMiner]

   May 17   1937

 

   John and I did more digging yesterday but turned up nothing which actually was a relief to me. We still want to know what is left of this treasure though and will continue to dig. 

   Last night none of us got much sleep. There was yelling and gunfire way up on the mountain. Then it would move to another location. I have no idea who they were but they shot off guns until nearly daybreak.

   I fixed up breakfast and John and I went back to digging for treasure. We had gotten down pretty deep on the north side with nothing more found so we moved counterclockwise to the west side of the rocks and got up a head of steam. The sooner we finished up here the better is the way we all were looking at it. Down about nine feet we hit wood. This had a real heavy sound to it and we carefully scraped the dirt off the top. It was another chest but this one was larger than the others. When we had the top cleared off it was about four feet in length and about three feet in width. We slowly worked the dirt away from the sides and it appeared to be three feet or so in depth. When we tried to lift it out of the hole we couldn’t do it. It was too heavy and the wood was slightly rotted. John shot off the lock and we slowly opened the lid. When we saw the contents John let out a curse and a whoop. I just stood there shaking. I could not believe my eyes. I asked myself what the hell were we discovering here. Could this really be happening to us?

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

[GhostMiner]