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

[Old Miner Don]

You are hoping that they will leave you alone?

Well that's not what I'm hoping for lol. Let's see what the Thompson can still do!

Too bad you didn't introduce Jacob to Night Vision. He would have gone crazy being able to see in the dark!

Leave the spotlights off next time and just wait in the dark and see if they come back. Wink, smile...

[GhostMiner]

  May 18   2002     Part Two

 

   The meeting was rather long. We discussed several things such as working at the site, the gold potentials where we have been working, but mostly keeping ourselves safe. Now we have unanimously decided to keep a person at camp during the day to act as guard. We will also post a night watchman for the next week and take things from there. I hate to take this action because it will hurt our gold production. We are in no position to hire a guard but if we could get one more person out here to work with us that would solve our problem. 

   For now, Jacob will stay at camp during the day while we work the dig site. He does some digging with us but losing him at the mine site will not drop total yardage down by more than a yard or so. If we need his advice we can bring him up to the site while leaving one of the other three of us at camp. I have to admit that I am very uneasy about leaving Jacob at camp alone during the day. Not so much because he can’t handle things but just the opposite - he may shoot first and ask questions later.

   Vern and Jim are going up to the mine to work while I head into town to talk with a few people to see if I can find a fifth person to work on the crew. I’m hoping I can find someone. In the meantime, the season is young and we will make do as best we can.

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

[GhostMiner]

   June 22   1950

 

   We have made another 25 ft of headway in the drift. At the gravel-bedrock contact it appears that the drift is indeed cutting a Tertiary blue channel. A somewhat muddy condition in the channel, together with the existence of a sand bar in the drift back indicate that we are presently cutting benches near the inside curve of the old channel. 

   There were 30 yards of material washed with a recovery of only ⅛ ounce of gold. Values contained in the gravels occur evenly distributed with no unusual concentrations on or about bedrock, clearly indicating that the bench gravels at our current position were not in the main flow or trough of the channel where more abundant water would have concentrated the values near bedrock.

   Bedrock conditions appear very favorable, with the constant variance in elevation of five to six feet over very short distances, with many pockets, crevices, etc. 

[GhostMiner]

6 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

   June 22   1950

 

   We have made another 25 ft of headway in the drift. At the gravel-bedrock contact it appears that the drift is indeed cutting a Tertiary blue channel. A somewhat muddy condition in the channel, together with the existence of a sand bar in the drift back indicate that we are presently cutting benches near the inside curve of the old channel. 

   There were 30 yards of material washed with a recovery of only ⅛ ounce of gold. Values contained in the gravels occur evenly distributed with no unusual concentrations on or about bedrock, clearly indicating that the bench gravels at our current position were not in the main flow or trough of the channel where more abundant water would have concentrated the values near bedrock.

   Bedrock conditions appear very favorable, with the constant variance in elevation of five to six feet over very short distances, with many pockets, crevices, etc. 

Rather disappointing so far.

[GhostMiner]

Just now, GhostMiner said:

Rather disappointing so far.

And word for word right out of his log.

[GhostMiner]

   May 18   2002     Part Three

 

   I had no luck finding another person to work with us in town. I was even told by one old timer that our property was cursed. He said there had been so much tragedy and trouble on the claims that no one in his right mind would go out there to work. He also was of the opinion that the old crews had gotten all the gold out of the ground long ago. 

   I am worried. We have already encountered trouble. I’m working with my mining hero but fear that he may shoot someone. Jacob has a short fuse and does as he pleases. I keep reminding him that this is not the old days. He just scoffs and says the law will not be there to help us and we must deal with trouble on our own as we see fit.

   By the time I got back to camp Vern and Jim had processed some good material and I jumped into the pit to do my part. I was beyond tired but somehow kept working the gravels until nearly dark. We will have set up shifts for night watch starting tonight. This is just another issue I was hoping to avoid. We have eleven yards of gravel washed into concentrates and will get a weigh done in the morning. We are all hoping for a good one.

   TO BE CONTINUED ................

[GhostMiner]

   June 25   1950

 

   As we are drifting northward we are now seeing bedrock beginning to  rise above the 56 ft level and are now at 48 ft. This is a bit of a surprise to me and I have not talked with our geologist as of the time of this entry. The gold values have remained low. I have been expecting the opposite to occur with a sudden deep drop in bedrock leading to rich values. We will continue to drift and are now in all or nothing mode. I have not discussed this new occurrence with the investor but will be meeting with him tomorrow. 

   

[GhostMiner]

   May 19   2002     Part One

 

   We had our gold cleanup and got ½ ounce. After breakfast Jim, Vern, and I went up to the dig site and left Jacob to guard the camp as planned. It was a perfect day for working and the three of us went at it hard. We ended the day with 15 yards of processed pay gravel and got back down to camp just before dark. 

   Jacob said all had been quiet and he hadn’t seen anyone go up or down the mountain near the creek. We are going to post guards in shifts tonight with Vern taking first watch. We’ll see how things go for the next few days and then make a decision about continuing with a night watchman or not.

   After supper we all sat around the campfire for a bit and Jacob brought out a bottle of Bushmills. He poured himself part of a cup and set the bottle on the top of a stump and asked us to join him in a drink which we did. He rolled himself one of his smokes and started telling us one of his stories about the old days out here. The wild and wooly days as he called them.

   He said one early Summer night back in 1936 the crew was sitting around the fire drinking whisky after a long hard day of mining. This was before the big strike in the kettle. It was around midnight and the crew wasn’t feeling any pain according to him when a stranger was spotted hiking north up the side of the creek. The stranger saw the campfire and walked into their camp as carefree as could be. Instantly, the miners were on alert and pulled their guns. Suddenly the stranger found himself looking down the barrels of four loaded weapons.

   Jed asked the man what he was up to. The guy told them that he was just moving his prospecting site further north as the spot he was working wasn’t showing much promise. He said he meant no harm and asked if he could have a seat by the fire and warm his bones. Jed told him we didn’t invite strangers into our camp.

   The prospector asked the crew if they were mining gold out here and was told to mind his own business and get the hell out of the camp. No one was in the mood to be friendly that night according to Jacob. He said the man looked a little surprised but left without any fuss and resumed his hike to higher ground to the north. 

   Jacob took a sip of whisky from his cup and a drag off his smoke and continued the story. He said that the crew went to their tents leaving Jacob on first watch that night. He said it was around 1:00 AM or so when the trouble started. The campfire had burned down to embers and the cold night air was setting in. Jacob said he was in a lookout spot just above camp where he was hidden but had a good view of the ground. He said he heard something crashing around in the trees just north of camp and then whatever was causing the ruckus started coming down the mountain towards him. I asked him what it was. Jacob leaned in a bit and continued. 

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............

[GhostMiner]

   June 28   1950

 

   After meeting with our investor we have been advised that he will terminate all funding of the project on July 1 unless we have proven ground that will pay for the work being done as well as show a profit. We have advanced the drift and the bedrock has continued to rise to the 44 ft level and we are only seeing trace amounts of gold. We will push on for a few more days and if we fail to hit a streak I may attempt to fund another week from my own funds. Our geologist still believes a payday awaits us if we are able to continue. Spirits in camp are low but no one is ready to quit.

[GhostMiner]

  May 19   2002     Part Two

 

   I was wondering why Jacob was telling this story at this particular time. At a time when we were about to start a night watch of the camp. It was almost as if he was warning us of some kind of impending danger out here. Be that as it may, I was now more curious than ever as to what he was about to tell us.

   Jacob said that when whatever it was came crashing down the mountain he also heard the scream of a man. Then he saw the man come running down past camp. It was the same guy they had sent packing earlier. But behind the man came what we would now call a bigfoot. Now I have heard that this county is considered a hotspot for such creatures but I am not someone who believes in folklore. I would need to see one to believe it.

   Anyway, Jacob said the creature was at least eight feet tall and over 400 pounds or more. It let out a blood curdling cry and stopped just short of camp. It began shaking a pine tree violently. He said it woke the crew and they came out of their tents to see what was happening. He said Jed wanted to shoot it but somehow held back. After about a minute Jed fired off several rounds from his rifle that were aimed over its head. This seemed to startle it and it ran back up the mountain faster than any human could have done. Jacob stated that they never saw the prospector again. 

   We all just looked at each other and were trying to figure out if Jacob was trying to get one over on us but he didn’t flinch and remained dead serious. I looked over at Vern and just said “You have first watch.” 

   TO BE CONTINUED ...............