Time for Chapter 4 on Bagby, the final chapter in my story, but not the final word on Bagby


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I worked for Bill until 1994, I found lots of things, lots of gold, and a few really good friends, On Memorial day 1994, My uncle and a few other friends, came over that weekend from Monterey, to go to a competition hunt in Sonora, We hunted that and got back to Bagby late, everyone was tired and my uncle was camped in the back camp, I was married to Dorthy then, we had been married for only a month, we lived in my 5th wheel trailer in the front parking lot, so I could have full hook ups.

We were laying on the bed watching a rented movie, and around 11 pm, a car pulled into the lot, they were over by the store, so I was lisdtening, to see what they were going to do.

There was a knock on my trailer door, I opened it up, and there was a woman stand there, and said: I want to talk to Dorthy, I said no! and tried to close the trailer door, that when I heard other people, Well there was a struggle over me closing the door! And I pull Dorthys sons 22 revolver out of the drawer on the right side of me. I struggled to hold the door from being ripped from my hand, and shaking the pistol to get the holster off, I was going to shoot the gal, I was fighting with to hold the door close, as she was tring to rip it out of my hand, I ended up shooting one of the gals, and the guy that was there had fired a sawed off shotgun at the trailer, I told Dorthy to lay in the floor in hall. After all the shooting, we heard doors of a car slamming, and them cusing saying I had shot one of them, which I did, Here we were, 14 miles from town, in a river canyon, no phone, and Dorthy telling me they were drug dealers looking for her son, and he was not even in Calif, he was in Tenn. Well after it all said and done, I was arrested, put in jail for trying to kill some one, and it was a friday night. I was in jail until Monday.

They never showed in court, they had warants out for them for drugs, and possesion of a stoleden shot gun, . Anyway, I was cleared, and Bill was selling Bagby back to MID{Merced Irrigation District} So I went back on the long haul driving with Dorthy . A year later I had my first heart attack, but recovered and went back on the road again, only to have a second heart attack that was worse than the first. The rest is history, 11 heart attacks in 16 years, and now my 5X'S bypass, I'm permanetly done with longhaul, tired and retired.

Memories I lots of, Friends still a few, detecting days are numbered, but I still have fun from time to time.

Thats my story, I'm sticking to it. Thanks for letting me ramble on. Grubstake

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Glad to see that you are feeling better, atleast enough to tell us more of your story at Bagby.Keep them coming. I'm sure you have alot of them, after all the time you spent hiking in Davids Gulch up to Dog town or Solomon up around Cat town. Tell us some more I check daily for them. Dan

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Yeh, DAN . I was a hiking fool back then. . I'll have more. Just have to think about how I want to write it, It won't be a chapter 5, it will just be life at Bagby in the 90's. Too Bad about that PIG!, I about starved to death from not getting any. Ha! Ha! Post some pictures, or email them to me, and I'll post them. Gary

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There has got to be more to the story.

If nothing else, get some tapes or a digital recorder and start writing your story. I know publishers would chomp trough the bit to make this book! I know I would buy a copy.

I advised Miss Ellie (from Congress, AZ) to get her stories down in digital. She already has a publisher wanting her story and like hers, losing yours would be a loss of a national treasure.

Thanks for sharing thus far. I really hope the vertigo and other crap gets better fast... This book can't be done, yet. I've been re-reading the stories and using Google Earth to map out this stuff, never mind the imagery in ny head

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Oh, there is lots more Glenn, Just not sure everyone would be interested in the rest of it, Its all true, not made up, Dan {dmisser} on the forums he and his family were there, He has pictures, if I can just get him to scan and post them. There will More . I;m getting old, and my memories are fading, but Bagby sticks in my mind. Grubstake

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Oh, there is lots more Glenn, Just not sure everyone would be interested in the rest of it, Its all true, not made up, Dan {dmisser} on the forums he and his family were there, He has pictures, if I can just get him to scan and post them. There will More . I;m getting old, and my memories are fading, but Bagby sticks in my mind. Grubstake

I, for one, look forward to reading them! :)

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Only took an hour to figure out how to do it. Photos too large and didn't know how to reduce size. Never too old to learn! Still working on repiping my house when its done I'll come visit you. Old age and bum knees slowed me down Dan

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Boy, you look just like I remembered you, those were some great times at Bagby, weren't they, Italked to Jeremiah, and he remembers you letting him help you on the dredge, I don't think he will ever forget that . Grubstake

I still laugh about that big nugget you put in the sleeve of your wet suit, and everyone though you had broke your arm, . How much did that one weigh?

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Just got home. Long day with doctor appointments and shopping, only go down once a month to shop glad thats over!!! That nugget was 2 1/2 oz like a small egg beat smooth no charactor, found it in a 12 in diameter boil hole full of old razor clam shells. 5 1/2 oz in the hole pennyweight and larger no fines. I had just moved to the spot to prove to Joe there was gold there. Earlier that day he had asked where was a likely spot to dredge and we parked his dredge there, he didn't like the looks of it and moved to what looked better to him. I laid my nozzle down in the same spot I had helped put his nozzle. I fired my dredge up and walked over to the nozzle only three feet of water and saw that there was only six inches of overburden to bedrock. When I moved the nozzle I found the blowhole filled with shells and gold in the bottom eight years on the river and they are the only ones I had ever seen. I was nice enough to show him what he missed out on and returned his rock hammer and pry bar he left there. P.S. I was laughing when I walked away. Dan

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Yeh, I rememer, you came up holding your arm, and yelling like you really got hurt! Funny, I still laugh when my uncleand I talk about that.

Remember that big nugget shaped like CALIF. that Evens found just below the RED BANKS, He showed it to that woman in the store, and she said can I hold it, he gave it to her, and it had a fine quartz seem running right accross the center of it, and she broke it in half. Boy he was mad, when he asked what she did, she said: Oh I'm sorry, I though gold was soft like lead! He super glued it back together. He never did get over that.

That 5th wheel trailer I bought off Ellie Nessler, I finally sold for what I payed for it, Poor Ellie, I'd have shot that guy too. Grubstake

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I know how it feels! The last large nugget I dug from under 16ft of overburden is now two smaller nuggets. I wore it for years on the leather boot lace then about three years ago I was mowing the lawn and needed to refuel the lawn mower,raised the seat poured fuel in and when I stood back up the nugget was inside the cushioning spring then I felt a tug and saw two pieces flying out. After finding them I put them in a coffee cup and thats where they still are. Come to think of it they are now the first nuggets for me to find with a detector. Does that means I'm not as much of a greenhorn to nugget shooting? Dan

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