Desert Queen.

Back at the farm, they had just finished the chores when John and
Trudy returned. They must have had a good time Linc thought because
they were smiling and joking. That's good, he thought, they really
needed some time off. They probably won't take any more time off til
spring.

The next day after breakfast, Linc asked Trudy if she needed
anything from town, since he was going into town. He wanted to mail
the journal and get some new sheets and blankets, along with a few
other things he needed at the retreat. He went to the Post Office
first to mail the journal, and run into Annie, Gus's wife. She said
Gus had been trying to reach him, could he run on up to the mine, and
be sure to mark time for it to the paymaster. Linc drove on up to the
mine and went in to see Gus.
Gus jumped up from his desk and pumped Linc's hand vigorously. "Boy
am I glad to see you. Also glad we don't have any snow yet. The men
got the other claims staked and filed, but there is something I would
like you to take a look at if you will. Those Chinese that were
here before, plus a geologist, came back into town yesterday and
they have been snooping around at things south of here. One of the
miners that works here told me about an old abandoned mine called the
Desert Queen, off to the north of where you found the other pieces of
material. He said the old miner who used to have it was spooked after
his partner was killed in a rock fall. Said the mine was haunted, and
would not go into it after that. He said the old timer told him that
the gold was petering out anyway because they hit a crumbling quartz
dike and behind it was clay. My man said he went over to it one day
a few years ago, and didn't go in because he thought he heard people
in there. I don't know if you are afraid of ghosts or not, but I'd
like you to check it out, since there may be a continuation of the
clay dike. I looked up the co-ords for the Desert Queen, on the old
mine maps. It should be in this area here, and handed a piece of
paper to Linc. I know you said you wanted to go to Provo for
Christmas, but could you possibly check into this first? I don't want
the Chinese to get wind of this right now. I need proof of the clay
dike, if it is the same as the one here, then my people can stake and
file it, if it is. ". Linc told him it would be a few more days
before he went to Provo, and he had the time right now, and he would
get right on it.

Linc took the paper and drove over to the old road that used to go to
the mine. The road was in pretty bad shape, washed out in areas, but
he managed to get within seeing distance of the mine, in four-wheel
drive.
He was glad he wore a heavy jacket as he got out of the truck. He
always had a rock pick with him in the truck and a rock bag as well.
His geologist's bag was always in the truck. The road that went to the
mine was washed out at a big wash that ran below the mine. He walked
on over to the mine, that was up on the side of the hill. There were
not a lot of tailings. He could see that there was no door on the
adit. May be some animals in the, but he hoped not. He took a flash
light and went in. He could see it was not a very long tunnel. He
could feel a bit of air coming out of the mine and thought that was
unusual. Just as he got inside he thought he heard someone say, oh,
oh, hurts. He called out, " where are you", but didn't get an answer.
The tunnel was only about fifty feet long, and ended at a large rock
fall. There was no timbering in the mine at all. Linc could see no
one in the mine, even behind the rock fall. He shined the flash up at
the ceiling above the rock fall. Lots of big cracks up there. That
must be where the air he felt when entering the mine, was coming from.
He had seen the rusty decomposed quartz seam on his left as he
entered. He could see where the old miner had dug a trough into it and
where they encountered the clay. It was s bit rusty, but it was the
same as at the Tru Blu mine. The clay vein was only about three feet
high, but continued down ward. He started to pick at the base of the
vein, and then he heard something behind him. He turned to see dust
filtering down through one of the cracks above the rock fall. He
hurried and dug a hole at the base of where the old timer had left
off. Down about two feet he did recover a couple of pieces of rusty
quartz with a bit of gold attached. So the mine did have more promise
than just the clay dike. He gathered some samples of the clay and
several more pieces of the quartz As he covered the hole up, more
dust came down behind him, Time to get the heck out of this place, he
said to himself.
Outside the mine he went down into the wash just below the mine, and
went downstream about twenty feet, and found an out cropping of the
clay. He took samples, staked it and tied a piece of blue flagging to
it, marked the co-ords in his booklet. He then climbed up the bank
above the stake and found more pieces. He staked this too. He went
all around, found places where it outcropped and staked them with
blue flagging. He staked the boundaries with stakes and tagged with
orange and white stripped flagging, Took him almost three hours to do
this, then he went back to the Tru Blu, mine and gave the info and
the samples to Gus, who was very pleased to get it. He told Gus the
clay area seemed to be quite extensive. But the mine itself was very
dangerous, and miners should stay out of it. Gus called in a couple
of men and gave them the info from Linc and told them, the mine was
very dangerous, and to stay out of it. He also told them to take a
barrier and no trespassing signs to post on it in front of the adit,
and all around the newly claimed property, to preserve the mines
liability.. He said to get a big survey crew together and get right
on it that very minute, before it got dark.

They talked about the mine and what he thought about the haunting
thing. Before Linc left, the paymaster came in and gave Linc a very
generous check for his time, and Gus said he earned every penny of it
too. Linc thanked him and left, thinking the money would come in
handy now at Christmas time.

He drove on into town, went to the bank, then to Walmart to pick up
the stuff he needed and the things for Trudy. He got some sheets and
two new blankets along with a larger coffee maker.
He put the tote with the stuff for Trudy in the truck, then took the
tote with the stuff for the retreat and went there.
At the retreat he put the new bedding away, and since he missed lunch,
he got an apple to munch on while he unpacked the new coffee maker and
placed it on the counter by the other one.
Back at the truck, he was just about to drive off when the Sheriff
drove up and stopped. He told Linc the Chinese were back in town, and
Linc gave him a thumbs up and told him he had already heard about
them. Sheriff told him, he wanted to make sure he knew so he could
keep an eye out for them.

Driving out of town, Linc saw the blue van of the Chinese, parked at
the BLM office. Well it looks like they wasted no time in digging for
info on mines and new claims, he thought.

Back at the farm, he gave Trudy the tote with the stuff she wanted in
it, then went in the living room, where Lucas said, " sure took you
a long time in town, did you run into some kind of trouble? "Not
really", said Linc and proceeded to tell Lucas everything that went
on that day. They sat and talked and watched the news, then Linc took
Angel outside to play with her a wile before supper time. After supper
Linc went to the office, and called Fannie and told her about the
journal he had sent that day. He asked her to read it and see if
there was ny reference to an enameled box, with diamonds in it. He
told her about the box, and how it was found. She had to give him a
bad time about how he was the luckiest person alive.

He called Lewis to see how things were on his end, and found out he
didn't know what to call the mineral he found, on the claim papers.
Linc told him that the professor had told him the mineral was unknown
and how he had told the professor to name it Lewisite. So now Lewis
could fill out the forms with the right name. Linc told him to mark
the forms, All further mining is pending further exploration. Lewis
told him that he and his Uncle with help from a friend had staked four
claims, to file on the next day.

Linc got to thinking about the way the clay dike seemed to be
trending, and decided to google the area again with that in mind. On
google he could see how the clay dike could possibly extend out onto
the surrounding desert area. The Gregory ranch was in line with that
dike. There were no roads in the area, but access to it could be
gained by following the ranch fence line almost to it. He thought
about it for a bit, then thought if Gus wanted him to follow it up if
he could, he would go over and talk to old man Gregory and see if he
could borrow a horse to go over and check it out. He also thought
that would give him an excuse to maybe talk to that youngest girl of
their's. She is still living at home helping around the ranch. This
brought a smile to his face. Oh well he thought, I'll talk to Gus
about it tomorrow.

The next morning there were a few snow flurries, so Linc decide not to
call Gus about what he had been thinking about, and instead he thought
it better to get the truck serviced and ready for the trip to Provo.
After that was done he cleaned all the un needed stuff from it and put
a tote with two heavy blankets, Heavy socks and a pair of boots and a
couple of hand warmers in it, along with a set of chains. He hoped
they would never be needed but wanted them just in case. He and Lucas
had their bags packed, so he loaded them in too, and told Lucas he
decided to leave the next morning for Provo.

The next morning after breakfast, Linc, Lucas and Angel headed off to Provo.

To be continued.