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

[GhostMiner]

 September 7   2002     Part Two

 

   Just like the Forest Service agent said, when I got to the ranger station my paperwork was approved and waiting for me. I asked if I needed to talk with anyone and the lady in the front office told me I was good to go. When I got back to the mine I drove up to where the crew was working and showed them our approved permit. As long as we didn’t go near those reclaimed areas we were good to mine.

   Clay hauled gravel until dark and the crew got together for supper, just like a family would. We were all anxious to put the new tom to work in the morning. We had a huge mound of pay gravel to start working on until we got the trommel back. I fried up hash and cooked up some hot dogs to go with it. We all had a couple of shots of whisky to celebrate. Clay was going on and on about how anxious he was to see that gold come out of the mountain. I told him we were digging on rich pay ground up there and we should have gold soon. We all turned in except for Clay who once again sat up drinking beer. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[Joe L]

Whiskey and beer, ahh to be a miner….oh yes, that gold stuff too.

[GhostMiner]

1 hour ago, Joe L said:

Whiskey and beer, ahh to be a miner….oh yes, that gold stuff too.

LOL. But only after working hours. Never on the mine site.

[GhostMiner]

  September 8   2002

 

   Well the day finally came and we were mining as the sun came up. It was perfect weather as well. I told Conor to go ahead and feed the new tom with the skid steer. I wanted him to get his confidence back. He was being extra careful but after an hour I could see his confidence return and he was operating the machine like a pro. Jacob was up on the mountain digging pay gravel and Big Clay was hauling. Jacob loves to run that excavator and he knows how to stay on the pay gravel.

   At noon I jumped in my truck and took some sandwiches up to Jacob and Clay. Jacob climbed down off the machine and walked me into a fresh cut in the mountain. He scooped out a pan of gravel and panned it out for me to see. There were seven pickers and a lode of coarse gold. Jacob gave me a wink and told me he was onto something special in this location. I asked Clay to come have a look as well. He blinked twice to make sure  he was really seeing the pans’ contents for real. I told him he was hauling some very rich material. Then I headed back down to tell Conor.

   The plan was to process carefully and not overload the tom. That way we could get a good read on the values we were mining. The toms’ sweet spot seemed to be around ten yards an hour so that’s how we fed it all day. We shut down at sundown having washed 100 yards. Then Conor and I pulled the mats. The concentrates were heavy and we could see abundant gold in them. Tomorrow morning we’ll do a cleanup and get back to work after lunch. I am hopeful that this gold weigh is going to be a whopper.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

[GhostMiner]

   MORE ON DREAMWIND CANYON  :  I've got a lot of information on this canyon and a few more experiences to relay. This particular one came about in the Fall of 2016. My brother in law & his wife along with my wife Lindy and I were doing a bit of exploring in the canyon. The weather was much cooler than the extreme Summer heat that sucks the water right out of your body. There had been some old rumors of an old mine entrance on the west side of the steep cliff. We had an old map from way back but there was no date on it. It did show a drift marked out in a location that seemed to match up with the stories. 

   We hiked out early in the morning wearing heavy back packs. We were heading north from the lower elevation and climbing in altitude. The going was tough and slow. The canyon floor was strewn with heavy rocks and boulders as well as thick Manzanita. All four of us were also sporting snake gators for safety as the rattlesnake here may be more abundant than the gold. We took a short break around noon and the girls stated they thought we ought to go back. I talked them into continuing for another hour. What happened next is something I can't explain. 

   About 45 minutes into the extended hike my brother in law hollered out and pointed to the left. There was the entrance that was marked on the old map. I couldn't believe it - the stories were true. The entrance was timbered but they were old and partially rotted. They looked to be hand hewn and were probably set back in the mid 1800's. I shined a flashlight inward and the tunnel looked to be solid. The adit was just tall enough for me to stand upright and was about five feet in width. Who wanted to venture inside?

   My brother in law and his wife said they wanted to take a look so they headed in as my wife and I watched. I asked them how the air was and they replied it was good so far. As they got in about 100 feet both their flashlights died. They came back out. It was strange for two flashlights with new batteries to die at once. More than strange. However, they were not ready to quit so my wife and I gave them our flashlights which also had new batteries. Well, about the same distance in both lights went dead and back out they came. Now they were visibly disturbed. This just wasn't right. Reluctantly, the four of us eased on out of  Dreamwind Canyon. The mine had seemed to want to keep its secrets. And it did, at least for that day.

[GhostMiner]

 

[Bedrocker]

5 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   MORE ON DREAMWIND CANYON  :  I've got a lot of information on this canyon and a few more experiences to relay. This particular one came about in the Fall of 2016. My brother in law & his wife along with my wife Lindy and I were doing a bit of exploring in the canyon. The weather was much cooler than the extreme Summer heat that sucks the water right out of your body. There had been some old rumors of an old mine entrance on the west side of the steep cliff. We had an old map from way back but there was no date on it. It did show a drift marked out in a location that seemed to match up with the stories. 

   We hiked out early in the morning wearing heavy back packs. We were heading north from the lower elevation and climbing in altitude. The going was tough and slow. The canyon floor was strewn with heavy rocks and boulders as well as thick Manzanita. All four of us were also sporting snake gators for safety as the rattlesnake here may be more abundant than the gold. We took a short break around noon and the girls stated they thought we ought to go back. I talked them into continuing for another hour. What happened next is something I can't explain. 

   About 45 minutes into the extended hike my brother in law hollered out and pointed to the left. There was the entrance that was marked on the old map. I couldn't believe it - the stories were true. The entrance was timbered but they were old and partially rotted. They looked to be hand hewn and were probably set back in the mid 1800's. I shined a flashlight inward and the tunnel looked to be solid. The adit was just tall enough for me to stand upright and was about five feet in width. Who wanted to venture inside?

   My brother in law and his wife said they wanted to take a look so they headed in as my wife and I watched. I asked them how the air was and they replied it was good so far. As they got in about 100 feet both their flashlights died. They came back out. It was strange for two flashlights with new batteries to die at once. More than strange. However, they were not ready to quit so my wife and I gave them our flashlights which also had new batteries. Well, about the same distance in both lights went dead and back out they came. Now they were visibly disturbed. This just wasn't right. Reluctantly, the four of us eased on out of  Dreamwind Canyon. The mine had seemed to want to keep its secrets. And it did, at least for that day.

100' eh? I've got flashlights that will light up a 1/4 mile or more. You don't have to walk in too far.

[GhostMiner]

8 hours ago, Bedrocker said:

100' eh? I've got flashlights that will light up a 1/4 mile or more. You don't have to walk in too far.

Yes, ours weren't very good and we had safety concerns as well. More on Dreamwind Canyon in the future.

[GhostMiner]

   September 9   2002     Big Time Gold Again

 

   The morning finally came. I didn’t sleep all that well. I kept thinking about the gold weigh. What if we were wrong and were over estimating how much gold was in the concentrates from 100 yards of washed gravel? Today we found out.

   We finished  the cleanup just after noon. It was a good one. We had 29 ounces of gold. Nearly 9 grams to the yard. Jacob was right, we are onto something special. If this holds up we are going to end the year on a high note.

   Big Clay was dancing around camp at lunch time like he was a new millionaire or something. Everyone was in a good mood. We finished lunch and got back to mining and worked straight through until dusk. The tom had processed 60 yards of gravel and we could see the pickers practically jumping out of the sluice. Jacob said we would run another day and then do a cleanup. The morning couldn’t come fast enough for us.  

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................