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

[Old Miner Don]

55 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

   NOT IN THE JOURNAL  :  Back in October of 2012 I met a guy that prospected the Sierra Nevada mountains. I was camped out on one of the claims with one of my partners. The snow was getting ready to come and the nights were clear and very cold. One night we had a nice campfire going when a man walked into our camp. He'd been roaming the mountain near our claims and as it got close to dark he had spotted our fire. Everything he owned he carried on his back. Simple prospecting tools and a 45 revolver. A bedroll, and a tent. 

   He said his name was Mountain Man Tim and he travelled the mountains year round. He had been to places where no man had ever been and found his share of gold. He was in his 50's now and been travelling since he was twenty. It was the only real life he'd ever known. The three of us sat out under the crystal cold sky and we swapped stories about freedom and gold. Tim didn't much like society and was a true loner at heart. We offered Tim our camp to sleep in that night but he said he needed to move on. Out in the cold dark of the Sierra Nevada. We never did see him again. If you're still out there Tim, this song is for you. 

 

 

That Tim dude must've been tougher than leather noodles.

[GhostMiner]

1 hour ago, Bedrocker said:

That Tim dude must've been tougher than leather noodles.

I think he was.

[GhostMiner]

   NOT IN THE JOURNAL  :   September 2015. My wife and I were prospecting an area 2000 ft south of the 1936 gold strike of 1936. We had hit gold several feet below the surface in an area right where an old hydraulic cut dropped off 100 feet into a ravine. The area was remote and secluded. We were actually screening and dry panning to test the area when we hit $100/yard pay. We had a 14 ft recirculating long tom set up in a secret location in the woods another 1000 ft to the southwest. I had to hand carry 6 gallon water containers from a water pipe in the mountain to a holding tank and use a 12 volt bilge pump to send it 300 ft to the tom where we started washing it. To get the pay to the tom I had to hand carry 60 pound buckets of the gravel down a 100 ft rock slide and through the ravine and then back up the other side to the tom - a 1000 ft plus distance. I did this for weeks and we got some nice gold. If I were to work that area again I would buy a drywasher and do it onsite. 

   We were camping at the tom in the woods. One evening three guys walked up to our camp just as night was falling. We didn't have a fire going but had our lanterns lit and were sitting near our cook stove with our shotguns when they walked in. I don't like strangers walking into a camp in the middle of nowhere and I didn't exchange pleasantries. I didn't like the looks of these creeps and we told them to git and picked up the shotguns. They got the message and we never saw them again.

 

 

[GhostMiner]

   August 27   2002

 

   Conor and I were up early and got a good start to the day. Things ran smooth and we ended up processing another 200 yards of gravel. We got cleaned up and headed back to the hospital around Jacob’s dinner time. He was in a regular room and was in a very good mood. He said the doctor was going to release him just after lunch time tomorrow. I confirmed this with the head nurse. Jacob couldn’t wait to get out of there and back to the mine. I told him we were running pay gravel and I did see some nice gold and we’d be doing a cleanup soon. Seeing as he was getting out in the early afternoon I figured we would run the trommel for a few hours and call it a day. Then the day after Jacob was back we could all do the cleanup together. Things were looking up again.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

[GhostMiner]

   TAKING A LOOK BACK AT THE 1936 JOURNAL. JED & JOHN DEAL WITH SOME TRESSPASSERS. 

 

MAY 5   1936

   Last night's watch was quiet. There didn't seem to be anything moving on the mountain. After breakfast I told John I wanted to divide our day. We would dig in the morning and take 30 buckets directly out of the fault as we worked it into the east. We moved rock with our bars and picked away at anything compacted. Around early afternoon we made two trips with the truck taking the buckets down to process. About supper time I had the panning finished with John's help. He was learning fast. Then came the weigh. I had pulled what I thought were very good pay gravels out of a nice pocket under some boulders. When we saw the scale I just blinked and started laughing. John asked if it was good. I said hell yes John, this is a good one. We had pulled just shy of an ounce out of 30 buckets. This must be a glory hole. We will glory hole the spot and get rich.

   This was beyond rich to me and we proceeded to hoot and holler and broke out the bottle. My glory days are getting closer every day. We drank into the night and never did go up to the dig site on our watch shifts.

   MAY 6   1936

   John and me woke up late this morning as we were both deep in our cups well into the night. We decided to go up to the dig site together and bring down 20 buckets and then wash them. Neither of us is up for hard work today but the excitement of seeing gold is pushing us to dig. The morning was clear and quiet with a warm sun. As we arrived with the truck we once again had a surprise. Three men I had never seen were at the hole and looking around. I did not see side arms on them but one carried a rifle. John always wore his Colt and we both got out of the truck with rifles in hand.

   The three men looked to be in their thirties or forties and looked like a rag tag crew. I was in no mood to be pleasant and gruffly asked them what they were up to. The oldest man said they were looking to mine gold and were roaming the area looking for likely places. He said it looked like we had a big dig going and asked if we were on good ground. I told him the ground was all claimed up with all the filings done legal. He asked me if we needed a crew for digging and said they would work for gold. I just laughed and said we hadn't even found any gold but were stubborn in our efforts. He asked me if I knew of any good areas ready to be tested and worked. I bluntly said no, nothing around here. The three of them kind of looked at each other and said thank you and hiked up the mountain. We watched them until they were out of sight.

   John looked at me and asked  what I thought of them. I said I didn't think much of them and they looked no good to me. He agreed and said we need to make sure to stand our watch tonight. My head was pounding from all the whiskey but I worked the bar and shovel along with John. We kept the rifles close. As we worked the heavy ground east into the heart of the fault we encountered a large boulder maybe six feet in diameter. We went to work with pick and shovel while using a bar to move smaller rock beside and underneath the big boulder. The digging was very hard but we got 20 buckets down to the tom. We worked until nearly dark as we had got off to such a late start. Then we did a weigh. We had three and one half ounces in the pan. I nearly passed out and John started to cry.

 

   MAY 7   1936

   Last night we stayed out of the whiskey and slept good. I took first watch and John was up there on second shift. Then things headed south once again. We were fixing coffee, biscuits, and bacon for  breakfast when the three rag tags walked into camp like they belonged there. The one with the rifle said they tested ground all over the mountain the last few days and none of it looked any good. He asked again about his crew working with us for a small percent of any gold found and coffee and beans. Once again I told him we weren't finding any gold and didn't need anyone. Then he started to argue with me and said being camped up and such a big excavation going we must be on to something good.

   John had stood up in front of the guy and had his rifle in hand. I was caught flat footed. The last statement by the guy made John snap. I had never seen this in the ten years I had known him. John rammed the butt end of the rifle into the guy's belly and he went down on his knees. Then John whacked him in the face with the butt end and he slumped over on his face. I jumped up off my chair ready for anything coming. One of the younger guys made a lunge at John but John caught him on the side of the head with the rifle barrel, withdrew it, and brought it up hard under his chin. He went down hard as well. The other guy stood there shaking.

   The second guy eventually got up and was cursing up a storm at John. John made the guy tell him where they were camped. I'm not saying how he did this. Then John told him to pick up his friend who was still passed out and git. And he made them leave the rifle. After this we followed them up to where they had a rough camp set up. The first guy had come around by now. We busted up their camp and told them to pack up and leave the area. John told them that if he saw them on our claims again it would go even rougher for them. They left but they weren't happy about it. Regardless of what anybody hears about this event this is the way it all happened.

   By then it was nearly noon so we decided to both go up and dig for a few hours and get back down to the creek until we felt sure they weren't coming back. We only dug 15 buckets and worked the tom. Once again we got a cracker jack return on our labor. Almost one and one half ounces. We are in something special.

[GhostMiner]

   August 28   2002     Part One     Law Dogs & Warrants

 

   I was at the dig site early with Conor and we washed 50 yards of gravel and shut down. We got cleaned up and had a quick lunch and headed for the hospital. When we arrived Jacob was finishing his lunch and there were discharge papers for him to sign. They also gave him a sack of medications to take and he was told to return for a check up in five days. He was mighty glad to be getting out of there.

   As we headed for the parking lot I noticed three deputies coming towards us. I thought it was odd but soon realized what was happening. It seems that when Jacob was in the hospital they had somehow run his information. He had an old arrest warrant for battery dating back to 1937. None of us could believe it and we were stunned. They put poor Jacob in handcuffs and were taking him to jail. They told us the judge would set bail that afternoon and we could most likely be able to get him out. The main deputy wasn’t sure how all this would play out because the warrant was so old but he said they never expire. As they led Jacob away I told him not to worry and we would get all this straightened out. He looked as forlorn as an old man could get.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[Mike Furness]

Battery in 1938 and it was then 2002! Wow! Someone must be getting desperate to nail something to Jacob! Hope the judge takes a look at the age of the warrant and dismisses it. In all likelihood the person or persons he may have caused battery on are no longer living in 2002! 

[GhostMiner]

2 hours ago, Mike Furness said:

Battery in 1938 and it was then 2002! Wow! Someone must be getting desperate to nail something to Jacob! Hope the judge takes a look at the age of the warrant and dismisses it. In all likelihood the person or persons he may have caused battery on are no longer living in 2002! 

Old warrants never die nor do they fade away with time. 

[geof_junk]

3 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

Old warrants never die nor do they fade away with time. 

Adult witness to the event would be hard to find as they would be at a minimum of 84 years old and most likely have poor memory, died or moved away. So I'm got high hopes for Jacob. 😀

[GhostMiner]

9 hours ago, geof_junk said:

Adult witness to the event would be hard to find as they would be at a minimum of 84 years old and most likely have poor memory, died or moved away. So I'm got high hopes for Jacob. 😀

In regards to that - the police must act on warrants regardless of how old they are. They have no choice & unfortunately it was a warrant in California. If it had been another state I think that state would have waived extradition. There were rumors that brother Jed had warrants in California and Nevada but of course he was deceased. There was also another rumor that Jed Stevens was a wanted man in Mexico as well. Not sure about any of this. However, when I refer to the Stevens brothers as outlaws I think it is a correct statement. They had been pushed into this because of all that went on at and around the claims by the various thugs who couldn't care less about laws. They weren't the kind of men who run to others for help even if it was available which most of the time it wasn't. So they handled their own affairs - sometimes with violence.