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

[GhostMiner]

   I have a special guest who may be adding to the story soon. From Paxton California  -  The Honky Tonk Stardust Psychedelic Cowboy. He knows a lot about the history of our mining area as well as some untold stories about the old crew circa 1936 - 1937. 

[GhostMiner]

   According to the Honky Tonk Stardust Psychedelic Cowboy his grandfather kind of knew the old crew from 1936 - 1937. He said his grandfather worked part time at the Paxton Hotel back then as a bartender & sometimes a cook. The mining crew was run by a couple of Irish brothers named Stevens. Sometimes the entire crew came in and sometimes just one or two of them. Supposedly they always carried guns and knives and were a rough bunch. Jed was supposed to be meaner than a snake when provoked and loved to fight. Heavy drinkers and hell raisers according to him. They were involved in a bunch of fights in Paxton. Lots of times it was with loggers who hated the miners and vice versa. His grandfather told him about one fight where one of the Stevens brothers (he wasn't sure which one) threw a logger right through a plate glass window and out into the parking lot of the hotel. They were a wild bunch.

   This is just a little bit of what the cowboy told me & I will be posting more here soon. Interesting stuff.

[GhostMiner]

   June 24   2002

 

   When morning came we were all eager to resume mining. Jim took his position as guard up at the pump location. He was getting more mobile now and able to do a little bit of patrolling up and down the water line trail as well. 

   Our gravel pile was getting low so I jumped in the excavator and deepened the trench some while depositing the material near the tom. It was a big plus having pay gravel right at the head of the tom. No buckets to carry and we were only limited by how many shovels full of gravel we could feed into the hopper. By 2:00 PM the temperature sat around 100 degrees. This was a very dry and oven-like heat that sucked the moisture right out of your body. Vern, Jacob, and I all did our work without much talk. Only an occasional grunt or curse word when the shovels struck something large and unmoveable. When that happened it sent a shock wave right up the forearms and into the elbows and shoulders. We always estimated the yardage of pay sent through the tom. There was no way to give an exact figure but we believed we were always within a yard or so either way.

   Jacob was working right along with us and he kept a slow and steady pace for most of the time. Sometimes it was hard for me to think that he was 85 years old. He could still do a fair amount of work over the course of the day. We always kept a close eye on him and made sure he took frequent rest breaks. By the end of the day we had sent 32 yards of gravel through the tom and were completely wiped out. We headed for camp and some cold beer.

   TO BE CONTINUED ..................

[GhostMiner]

  June 25   2002

 

   Last night we had a black bear that kept circling our camp. He came near the perimeter a bunch of times but never all the way into the actual camp. Jacob dealt with him as usual by firing a few bursts from the Thompson which sent him packing. That gun will scare the heck out of anyone or anything.

   Other than the curious bear we had a quiet night which is always welcome out here. We all got to work early and were actually shoveling gravel into the tom at the crack of dawn. We wanted to get as much work done before the big heat reared its ugly head. It would usually be around 90 degrees by 11:00 AM and top out around 5:00 PM in the afternoon at around 100 to 110 degrees. It was beginning to take its toll on us. We are discussing stopping work around 5:00 PM but starting a little earlier to make up for the lost couple of hours. Today we managed to process 36 yards of pay gravel and the weigh brought us 3.8 ounces of gold.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

[GhostMiner]

Heading out on a concert tour until early next week. I'll leave you prospectors some good music to listen to until I get back. May your pans be full of course gold & pickers.

 

[Mike Furness]

Thanks for the warning GhostMiner! LOL Have a fun time!

[GhostMiner]

   June 26   2002

 

   Morning seemed to come fast and we were up before the sunlight took control of the dark. A good breakfast and off to work we went. Jacob worked the concentrates and by lunchtime had the gold tally ready for us. We were more than surprised to see 6.8 ounces in the jar. This was the stuff that legends are made from. So rich was the ground we were working that if we had the trommel working we would be rolling in money. We talked to Jacob about the gravels we were in. All he said was the old crew had seen yards to the ounce and sometimes ounces to the yard. We were somewhere in between. He told us that if we hit a jackpot we could see hundreds of ounces very quickly. There was just no way to know and we needed to keep working a steady pace and not let the fever take control of our minds. Of course we all had gold fever and were doing our best to control it. We were ready to kill for gold. The fever had us by the throat and was squeezing every day we worked. We dreamt of gold and talked about it all day. There was no returning to normal life for us now. I began to understand how the old crew felt every day.

   By dusk we were all physically wiped out from the shoveling and the heat. I had sweat so much there was no moisture left in me. Jacob warned us to be careful in this dry heat because once the moisture was sucked out of your body you could drop over with no warning. He said he had seen strong men drop over and were unable to get to their feet. Somehow we didn’t care. All we could see and think about was gold. I saw gold in the gravel. I saw it in the rocks. I thought I saw it floating in the dust our shovels kicked up. Sometimes  I feel like I am losing my mind out here. Today we worked as hard as men can work in extreme heat and processed 47 yards of gravel. We are a proud crew tonight.

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

[GhostMiner]

   June 27   2002

 

   We were back to shoveling gravel at 7:00 AM. We were planning on an earlier start but were just too tired out to get up in time to do so. However, once the crew was in place we were a lean and mean gold producing machine. Jacob worked at cleaning the gold. Jim was tending the pump and working as watchman. Vern and I shoveled gravel into the tom. When Jacob finished with his cleanup he always came over and shoveled right along with us. He loved it and never complained.

   Around 1:00 PM we broke for lunch and Jacob was finishing the weigh. We had 14.4 ounces. We were all stunned and nobody was saying much.Then Jacob spoke up. He said we have us an official strike. We all looked silently at him as he spoke in a very solemn tone. He went on to explain that he believed we were now in a section of the big strike the old crew had discovered back in 1937 before they were murdered and he was run off. Jacob told us he figured there were hundreds or maybe thousands of ounces of gold in this new deposit. He said it’s here and we found it and it’s real. Then he brought out a bottle of Bushmills and we all drank a toast to the gold. He said it would bring us luck.

   If I thought the crew had gold fever before it was nothing compared to the way we were after seeing this latest cleanup. Jacob was singing away on some old Irish song I’d never heard and the rest of us were talking excitedly. 

  Then Jacob got real serious with us and said we needed to watch our backs for sure now. He said gold strikes have a way of filtering back into town somehow and before you know it you have a war on your hands. He reminded us of the hooligans that had been roaming around the mine at night. We all agreed that the crew must use extreme caution at all times. By dusk we had processed another 41 yards of gravel. Are we really glory bound?

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

[dig4gold]

19 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

We were ready to kill for gold.

Not a good thing to think.... let alone say. There in lye's the problem with some people & gold. It takes their mind, mixed in with the heat, fatigue & whiskey. 

D4G 

[GhostMiner]

36 minutes ago, dig4gold said:

Not a good thing to think.... let alone say. There in lye's the problem with some people & gold. It takes their mind, mixed in with the heat, fatigue & whiskey. 

D4G 

I must admit you are correct. History also says you are correct. At the time of writing I may have been overly dramatic but if someone were to try to take our gold we sure would fight for it if pressed.