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

[GhostMiner]

   April 27   2002     Part Four 

 

   Vern, Jim, and I walked over to the bar to listen in on the conversation. Jacob was giving the young guys pointers on how to prospect. He told them that if you take the time to prospect and find good results then you should get an active mine site up and running. He was telling them about how he did it back in the 1930’s. He explained how they ran the tom and used what water was available. They asked him where he had mined but of course Jacob was vague with his answer. They asked him if he had mined much gold back in his day and he answered that he had found a little here and there. I looked at my partners and just smiled.

   Jacob was giving all of us a crash course on prospecting and he had a captive audience. We were all learning from him and his wealth of knowledge. After about an hour he gave us a look as if to say it’s time to leave so back to camp we went. On the way back I thanked Jacob for sharing his expertise on gold mining with everyone. He just laughed and said he couldn’t take it with him.

   When we got back to camp we got a nice fire going and Jacob decided to stay up with us while we had a few more beers and talked mining. He was still concerned about what he called hooligans. He seemed uneasy as we sat there talking. I understood completely. He had been through more than I could ever imagine and it always seemed to be in the back of his mind. When he sat with us he had the old Thompson sitting near him and when he got up and went anywhere it usually went with him. He said he slept well at night but sometimes I wondered.

   Then Jacob got on the subject of our dig site. He was telling us about finding the kettle up there and how rich he thought it was. I asked him if he thought anyone might have mined it out after he was driven out of the area by thugs.   He wasn’t sure. He said that if we kept working where we were currently digging we might get lucky and find it. Jacob said there would be no mistaking it because it was well defined and the gravels were beyond rich. Vern, Jim, and I were all hoping we could find it and it still contained all of its gold. Jacob wanted to find it as bad as we did.

 

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[GhostMiner]

   April 28   2002     Part One     Jacob’s Outlaw Life After Mining

 

   We were all up at sunrise for coffee and breakfast. While we were sitting around the morning campfire Jacob seemed to be in a very talkative mood. I had brought up a question the other day about what he did after leaving the mine when he was still a young man and his life was really just beginning. He didn’t answer the question at the time and I didn’t pursue it but it must have stuck in his mind because out of the blue he brought up the subject.

   Jacob told us that after the night of the attack he hid out on the mountain. He went way up to the north for two miles and tried to figure out what he would do. At first he thought about revenge. He said he couldn’t trust Dan anymore and felt that if he went into town to see him he might be arrested. He wasn’t sure who the gang was. He couldn’t go back to camp to retrieve any of his goods because he suspected there may be armed gangsters waiting for him to show up. He didn’t even attempt to get his car and truck as he figured those were staked out by the gang. Also, the vehicles were known in the area and if he drove into town with one of them someone might spot him. 

   Jacob decided to leave the area. He debated on where to go. He did have some money and gold on him and had one cache way up to the north where he hid out for the first few days. The rest of his money was back home or buried on the mountain where he couldn’t get to it safely. He thought about Mexico or Canada but decided against it. He felt like he was now an outlaw. Later on he heard unconfirmed rumors that he was wanted by the law. He never found out if that was true but in my opinion it was more likely he was wanted for questioning. 

   He said he finally decided to head for a town in Arizona. He didn’t give the name and I didn’t ask. He hid his Thompson in a secure and dry location on the mountain but kept his 45 in a holster under his coat. He got several rides which took him to his destination. Once there he bought a truck which he paid cash for. He said he rented a cabin there and stayed for two years. When he finally left Arizona he made a stop near the claims and saw that they were being worked by a small crew. He snuck up the mountain and retrieved his Thompson and another cache of gold he was able to get to. Then he headed for Oregon where he said he had some connections. He spent the rest of his days in that state. Jacob told us he had been at the cabin we picked him up at for about twenty years. He didn’t go into any more detail on this subject.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

[GhostMiner]

   April 28   2002     Part Two     Deeper Into The Mountain

 

   We got back to digging gravels. Jim and I had the privilege of working with Jacob in the drift while Vern bucked up small diameter deadfall for tunnel supports. This is not what I expected when I came out here to mine. I figured we would be opening trenches or pits and doing surface mining. However, if Jacob believes we need to drift into the old river channels buried in the mountain we will give it a try. 

   The digging was steady and not particularly easy and Jacob worked a bit as well as giving us guidance. No one felt like stopping for lunch and we continued working straight through to 5:00 PM. We were bushed. I was fascinated at the way the bedrock continued to drop and slope away from us as we gained ground. Jacob had taken a few samples throughout the day and had the results sitting in three pans on the wooden table next to the wash tub. The entire crew went over to have a look at them before we headed back down to camp. There was some nice coarse gold. Jacob had calculated some numbers based on bucket samples he panned out. He told us the best sample was around 15 grains to the yard and the worst was around 6 grains to the yard. This was encouraging. Jacob believed the numbers would improve soon. He said we just need to keep going deeper into the mountain.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

[dig4gold]

No gold is easy gold.

D4G

[GhostMiner]

1 hour ago, dig4gold said:

No gold is easy gold.

D4G

Unless it was the gold the thieves stole. 

[GhostMiner]

   April 28   2002     Part Three     Jacob Talks About The Old Days On The Claims

 

   We sat around the fire after supper tonight and listened to Jacob talk about water pumps, the tom, and running water lines. He was going on about how John wouldn’t let anyone near the tom. He took us over to the edge of the creek and pointed to where the tom had been set. When the creek dried up where the tom was located  back in late Summer of 1936 a Myers pump was set up to the north where the creek still had water and they ran line down to the tom. He was telling us how they ran two pumps in series spaced 1000 feet apart to get the water up to the southern kettle dig site. Jacob said the crew let out a cheer when water arrived at the dig site higher up on the mountain from all the way down below. 

   Then Jacob turned the conversation to the big gold strike on the northern fault line. He said the crew was going crazy with every gold weigh. His brother had somehow stumbled onto a big kettle on the west side of the fault line and there were a couple of smaller ones as well. They had glory holed the entire area up there until the gold was gone. He said he thought there was still a good amount of gold still up in that area waiting to be discovered. It was most likely deeper down in the ground to the north and south of their old diggings. He was reminiscing about the drinking that went on. Mostly, he said, it was kept under control. However, there were nights that it got out of hand. One of the crew would get out a gun and start shooting cans off a rock with only the light of the campfire to go by and then the rest of the crew would start in. Sometimes it would go on for an hour or more and the drinking would continue as well. Mostly though, they had always been able to work the next day although with some hangovers.

   He said they were all fairly young and wild. They felt like they were a rough and ready crew and proved it on many occasions. They had gotten a bad reputation in the neighboring towns but there were some townsfolk that admired them. He said that’s when the crew started to make mistakes because they were getting pretty big heads. They carried guns and felt like outlaws. They had gold. The law, or what there was of it, left them alone. He said they looked out for themselves and made their own rules.

   Jacob told us about his older brother Jed. He said he was short tempered and would fight at the drop of a hat. He said that the crew respected him and he was a good leader even if he did drink too much on occasion. Once Jed started a dig he was relentless. Nothing could stop him. Jacob mentioned working in what he called the big heat. It would be 110 degrees or higher some days in July and August. Their clothes would be soaked in sweat and they could never drink enough water to keep up with it. Yet Jed would dig away, cursing up a storm when he’d hit a big rock that needed a pry bar and giving a big hoot and holler when the crew cleared it out of the way. Jacob said his brother was just plain tough.

   I asked him about the prospectors up on the mountain back then. Jacob shook his head. He said when word somehow got out about their crew being up there and getting gold the mountain suddenly saw lots of activity. Some of the people were ok and some were rif raf as he called them. He said there were a lot of greenhorns like us who came out there with no idea as to what they were doing. He said the old crew didn’t make much of any of them as long as they stayed off their claims. If they didn’t, all hell broke loose. He said that Jed and John beat the hell out of more than a few of them. Those were lawless days. 

 

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

[Old Miner Don]

18 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   April 28   2002     Part Three     Jacob Talks About The Old Days On The Claims

 

   We sat around the fire after supper tonight and listened to Jacob talk about water pumps, the tom, and running water lines. He was going on about how John wouldn’t let anyone near the tom. He took us over to the edge of the creek and pointed to where the tom had been set. When the creek dried up where the tom was located  back in late Summer of 1936 a Myers pump was set up to the north where the creek still had water and they ran line down to the tom. He was telling us how they ran two pumps in series spaced 1000 feet apart to get the water up to the southern kettle dig site. Jacob said the crew let out a cheer when water arrived at the dig site higher up on the mountain from all the way down below. 

   Then Jacob turned the conversation to the big gold strike on the northern fault line. He said the crew was going crazy with every gold weigh. His brother had somehow stumbled onto a big kettle on the west side of the fault line and there were a couple of smaller ones as well. They had glory holed the entire area up there until the gold was gone. He said he thought there was still a good amount of gold still up in that area waiting to be discovered. It was most likely deeper down in the ground to the north and south of their old diggings. He was reminiscing about the drinking that went on. Mostly, he said, it was kept under control. However, there were nights that it got out of hand. One of the crew would get out a gun and start shooting cans off a rock with only the light of the campfire to go by and then the rest of the crew would start in. Sometimes it would go on for an hour or more and the drinking would continue as well. Mostly though, they had always been able to work the next day although with some hangovers.

   He said they were all fairly young and wild. They felt like they were a rough and ready crew and proved it on many occasions. They had gotten a bad reputation in the neighboring towns but there were some townsfolk that admired them. He said that’s when the crew started to make mistakes because they were getting pretty big heads. They carried guns and felt like outlaws. They had gold. The law, or what there was of it, left them alone. He said they looked out for themselves and made their own rules.

   Jacob told us about his older brother Jed. He said he was short tempered and would fight at the drop of a hat. He said that the crew respected him and he was a good leader even if he did drink too much on occasion. Once Jed started a dig he was relentless. Nothing could stop him. Jacob mentioned working in what he called the big heat. It would be 110 degrees or higher some days in July and August. Their clothes would be soaked in sweat and they could never drink enough water to keep up with it. Yet Jed would dig away, cursing up a storm when he’d hit a big rock that needed a pry bar and giving a big hoot and holler when the crew cleared it out of the way. Jacob said his brother was just plain tough.

   I asked him about the prospectors up on the mountain back then. Jacob shook his head. He said when word somehow got out about their crew being up there and getting gold the mountain suddenly saw lots of activity. Some of the people were ok and some were rif raf as he called them. He said there were a lot of greenhorns like us who came out there with no idea as to what they were doing. He said the old crew didn’t make much of any of them as long as they stayed off their claims. If they didn’t, all hell broke loose. He said that Jed and John beat the hell out of more than a few of them. Those were lawless days. 

 

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

So now that you know the place on the creek where the tom was set up have you done any prospecting or panning just downstream from that location?

[GhostMiner]

3 minutes ago, Bedrocker said:

So now that you know the place on the creek where the tom was set up have you done any prospecting or panning just downstream from that location?

Yes. But there have been so many floods over the years and the lower creek has even changed course several times. More about what we found will be in the 2002 journal. 

[GhostMiner]

4 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

Yes. But there have been so many floods over the years and the lower creek has even changed course several times. More about what we found will be in the 2002 journal. 

Also, wait until my journal gets to the part of trying to locate the gold caches they hid. Crazy. 

[GhostMiner]

   Another weird thing that happened but not in any journal. A guy stopped by one of the claims one day and was talking with Vern. He asked him if the claim was his. He said he was one of the partners. Supposedly, according to this stranger, a friend of his had one of the claims back in the 1980's and found a cache of 80 ounces of gold buried not far from one of the creeks. He even showed him the approximate location. Then, according to a guy we talked to who was from Nevada, he personally witnissed someone who was prospecting the claim before we had it find a cache buried into the lower side of a mountain south of where John had the tom set. He said it was 60 ounces. The two of them went wild digging up the area for weeks without finding anything else.