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

[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 .................

[GhostMiner]

   August 3   2002     Part Two

 

   It took us a while but we finally made it up to the location of what we are now calling the Hidden Mine. If you didn’t know it was there you could walk right past it. There was a tremendous amount of overburden and the site was remote. There was a lot of the mountain from up above that must have collapsed during heavy storm conditions over the years since it had been worked. The only one who had a guess as to the amount of overburden was Bill but he seemed vague about it when asked. This would be a big time job trying to get back into the main tunnel. Any other entrances were unknown and Bill had searched and found nothing. No doubt they had been buried as well.

   To my eyes it looked nearly impossible to get back in without equipment. To get an excavator up here would take a lot of doing. Then, as Bill correctly stated, prospectors would see all the work being done and know there must be a gold strike here. The trespassers would come and the nightmare would begin. Working it secretly in a clandestine operation would have to be the way to go. Would we even be able to do it? Bill had chipped away at it over the years but when Winter storms came his work was washed away and covered over by new slides from above. Jacob wanted to give it a try but I was not so sure.

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

[GhostMiner]

  August 3   2002     Part Three

 

   The three of us ate supper together at our camp and talked about the proposed project. Bill was in his early sixties and in great shape. I was up for the job and so was Jacob. However, Jacob would be very limited as to his work because of his age. I told Jacob and Bill that we might need to spend a month or more of digging to get into the tunnel. Perhaps we wouldn’t be able to do it without help. It would also mean no more gold this season unless we were successful. 

   Jacob suggested that we consider just making an entrance into the old drift mine to see what it contained and take it from there. If it looked to be of poor value we would probably still have some time to work our lower claim and get more gold before we went home for the season. Also, Bill promised us that if we helped him make entry he would commit to working the vein himself if necessary and give us our cuts of any gold. Reluctantly, I told them I was in. Jacob was beaming from ear to ear. So was Bill. I figured what the heck, it was all just a big adventure now anyway and we already had banked some nice gold for our season. And there was always next year as well. We started making our plan.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[GhostMiner]

   August 4   2002     Part One     A Geologist’s Story     

 

   Last night we decided that today we would move our camp back up on the upper claim where Jacob and I had started out. Bill will also share camp with us. We figured that trying to set up a camp at the Hidden Mine site would not be practical and was too remote. However, in order to get to the Hidden Mine from there would require us blazing a new trail over a mile long through some rough country. It would be a walking trail but it wasn’t going to be easy.

   As we started to break up the lower camp to make the move we had a surprise visit from a local geologist. He was out hiking some of the creeks and looking for promising areas. The geologist told us he had a client that was willing to either pay good money or partner up with an active claim owner if the ground was good. He gave us his card and told us to give him a call if we knew of anyone.

   The geologist saw one of our claim markers down near the south creek and informed us that there was a lot of history here back in the late 1800’s. Evidently, there had been a group of local prospectors that had hit a nice gold strike when a mining company got wind of it and tried to run them off the claim. He told us the name of the company. He said there was a big shoot out and several of the company men had been killed including their mine superintendent. According to some old records the prospectors lived in an old cabin down here near the creek. I looked at Jacob and his face looked to be made of stone. After a few more words were exchanged we shook hands with the geologist and he hiked on down the creek. I looked at Jacob and he nodded. We had found their cabin.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..............

[GhostMiner]

   August 4   2002     Part Three

 

   We spent the rest of the day moving camp back up the mountain. It was well over 100 degrees and by 5:00 PM we were finished and ready for a good rest. Tomorrow we will need to find a route between here and the Hidden Mine which is roughly one and a quarter miles northeast of this location. The going is tough with a few drop offs and lots of boulders scattered all over the area. 

   We have decided that Bill and I will head out in the morning and leave Jacob at camp. We are hoping to find a reasonable route up the mountain and discretely mark the trail when finished. I am planning to disturb the route as little as possible to avoid unwanted trespassers and curiosity seekers. Tonight we will have a feast of canned hash and beans and chase our supper down with some cold beer. 

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

[GhostMiner]

   August 5   2002     Part One     Trail Blazing

 

   Bill and I set off on our expedition just after sunrise. It was nice and cool. We were armed with our handguns as well as shovels and hand saws. We decided to skirt the deeper areas of two deep gullies or drop offs that run north and south across our path. It made for much easier traveling but added quite a bit of length to the trail. We disturbed as little as possible and placed a few notches in trees as well as rock markers along the way to mark our path. They were few and far between and discretely placed so as not to draw unwanted attention. By early afternoon we had finished. We figured the trail to be about one and three quarters of a mile in length. It still had a number of fairly rough areas where we would need to climb over some rock outcroppings as well as a few dangerous drop offs of 50 feet or so where you needed to stay close against a mountain rock outcropping so as not to plummet into a deep gully. I also shot two Northern Pacific rattlesnakes on our way up to the mine site. We would need to watch out for those critters. Bill also warned that there were mountain lions in this area as well.

   When we got back to camp Jacob was curious to know how we made out. We informed him of the details of our day and he shook his head when I told him about the two snakes. He said snake bites were big trouble, especially in remote areas where it was hard to get to help. I agreed and told him we needed to keep an eye out for them. The three of us then gathered up some tools and we made our way back up the mountain to the mine. We were figuring to get a start on expanding Bill’s dig into the old mine before it got dark. 

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

[GhostMiner]

   So what's it like to be in a gold mining crew? Here is actual footage of part of our trip up to the Hidden Mine.

 

[GhostMiner]

   Dealing with hooligans at the mine.

 

[rvpopeye]

 Nice video of Gerry doing training !