In 1859 Mattie Collins retrieved a gold nugget weighing 17 pounds from the North Fork of Althouse Creek. The 15 Best Abandoned Places in Oregon For 2023 And Beyond November 29, 2022 by John Bourscheid With a reputation for being slightly quirky, it's no surprise that Oregon is a gold mine for interesting and unusual abandoned places to visit and explore. As of January 7, 2014, there are 595 entries. Back. Independence Lode and Placer Mining Claims. Most of the time all they had was an old homemade sluice box and a shovel, and they certainly did not have access to the quality mining equipment that we have today. There are lots of reasons why a claim may become abandoned. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; . Although there are over 300 documented abandoned towns in Oregon, here's a look at 14 of the most spectral ones. Lake County The Lost Forest Mine in south-central Oregon was discovered by a cowboy who was rounding up cattle in the early 1900s. The green was broken by a river of orange, which turned dipped foliage rusty. $500.00 0 bids 9d 6h Local Pickup Premium Mining Claim - Rye Patch Nevada Section 18! In 1859, miners struck gold in what is today the Opal Creek Wilderness, and later established a mining camp called Jawbone Flats. With a properly set up placer mining operation, you can often find good gold in the exact areas that were already worked by the old-timers. Buy multiple state maps and save up to 50%. This will depend on your particular situation. After telling her story, numerous farmers and Indians searched for her cache, and one can containing $1,100 in gold was found on land, that at the time, was farmed by P.F. Inside, it tunnels straight into the heart of the mountain, at one time more than 7000 feet, but is now blasted shut about 20 feet inside the entrance. Recreational mining is allowed at Jawbone Flats and along a stretch of the Little North Santiam River, Opal Creek and Cedar Creek. Baker City is home to one of the best small-town museums in Oregon, the Baker Heritage Museum, as well as gorgeous architecture and the fascinatingly depressing Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. Rarely is it because all of the gold is gone. Even with these restrictions, a patient gold prospector can still find very good gold here. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. Coos County According to legend, some forty thousand dollars in gold bars were buried by miners during an Indian attack halfway between Sugar Loaf Mountain and Coquille. Later in the century, corporations replaced small, independent mine operations as mining company towns sprang up all over the state. In Season 1, which premiered in 2010, novice miner Todd Hoffman, who lived in Sandy, Oregon, led a crew of workers looking to make some money during an economic downturn. Lincoln County There is a pirate treasure that is said to be buried near Cascade Head near Lincoln City on the Pacific Coast. The property is north of the town of Keating, and as such, part of the Keating Mining District in Baker County, Oregon. Notable mines include the Old Channel mine which was the largest hydraulic mine in the state. This is a very fine gold property with great access to a rich gulch located on the claim. Places that were once claimed and actively mined are no longer protected by claim. Reserves have been estimated but not blocked. This creek is named after a Mr. Althouse, the first person to find gold in the stream in 1852. . amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; We stopped at the saddle to play for a minute, and to look around. Dredging was done on many parts of the river, and many mining towns such as Greenhorn, Susanville, Dixie, and Canyon City are all located on very rich tributaries of the John Day River. The mines of Galice were some of the of the largest in this part of Oregon. I live in NH and the ancestors lived in Worcester, MA. Here, lived an elderly man who upon his deathbed, revealed that he had placed $10,000 in a coffee can and hid in a tree stump near his cabin. Of those active claims, 3,761 are lode claims and 3,056 are placer claims. The major gold-bearing areas in Oregon are primarily in the southern part (Grants Pass & Medford area) and the eastern part of the state (Baker City, John Day area). The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. What would we find, if anything? 1. I know many prospectors who metal detect for gold nuggets who do not own claims. Its dedicated to the Bohemia Mining Districts history, and the volunteer docents are very well acquainted with the mines and stories of the past. Two good placer mines working were the Jackass and Donaca Bar mines located on the lower drainage of Quartzville Creek. Legend has it that buried in the area is an estimated $50,000 in gold bars and coins. More often the claim holder simply forgot to do their annual paperwork, lost interest in the claim, or perhaps even died. The Illinois River is another golden river flowing through Southern Oregon in Josephine County. Almost a decade later, gold was found in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon, which ended up being the richest mining area in Oregon. A few more footsteps forward and we saw the entrance. As miners tore apart southern Oregon, gold prospecting moved up into the Cascade Mountains. Of those active claims, 22,397 are lode claims and 2,761 are placer claims. This means the ground is wide-open for you to prospect on! They struck it rich in 1901. Reports of gravels paying as much as $500 per yard were reported when the first gold was mined here. In 1960, Ray Nelson bought the mine, but it has never produced gold again as far as I can find. The Painted Hills unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is about 9 miles northwest of Mitchell. 7,949 active mining claims. Though the old woman insisted there was more, she was too weak to provide more details and died without the rest ever being found. During its peak there were hundreds of men working the underground tunnels to extract the ores. If you go, get permission first! In the years that followed more than 80 gold mines operated in the Greenhorn District. Abandoned claims will appear as little blue (lode) and green (placer) clusters. We took our 6 kids up for three days of hiking and exploring around Musick Mine. This Abandoned Mining Town In Oregon Is Downright Fascinating To Explore The small town of Cornucopia, Oregon sits at the base of the Eagle Cap Wilderness in the breathtaking Wallowa Mountains. More than 2,500 acres of farmland were dug up by these monsters in an effort that produced more than $10 million worth of gold. The first miners found gold in the Klamath Mountains of southwest Oregon, working their way along the Rogue River to the Pacific Ocean. It wasn't long before deposits were discovered in the. Black dots are mines without gold as a primary commodity, but may have gold listed as a secondary or tertiary commodity. 80 Acre Oregon Claims For Sale The Independence Mine is the larger development of the Cougar/Independence Mines. A gold miner blasts rock and dirt with a powerful stream of water along a river bed near Galice, Oregon in 1910. Is the ground rich enough to justify the effort and money (annual fees) that are required to keep your own mining claim. This is where the 80-ounce Armstrong Nugget was found, just a mile or two away from the Middle Fork of the John Day at the town of Galena. amzn_assoc_asins = "B01881N5BS,B00TADH9HA,B01CHB1Z6M,B00CYG9MG6,B00C7YCQIQ,B005PZQLOO,B000K3EIPU,B07H3DZCY6,B00AZ80EX0"; the site for gold prospectors and treasure hunters. My husband hiked further down the road by himself, but he didnt find any remnants of the town that was located here, nor of the huge 2-story bunkhouse that is famously shown in photographs. EV Nickels stock soars after announcing enormous maiden mineral resource in Ontario, Workplace Safety North initiates awards for risk management, Denarius resource supports restart of 230-year-old Colombian gold mine. The Independence consists of over 2000 of workings on gold veins and lodes running through the property. He planned to meet up with other wranglers at Sand Springs near the Lost Forest. Trust me, just because miners have already worked an area does not mean they got all the gold. Numerous gulches near Weatherby including the Raven placers just below the Gold Ridge mine as well as the rivers tributaries Sisley Creek and Chicken Creek were also very productive. The Burnt River is one of Eastern Oregons longest gold bearing rivers. Most gold mines consider 0.07 ounces per ton to be very good. There is plenty of gold in the current river channel, but the richest spots are actually in the ancient river deposits that follow well above the current water level. From discarded old mining towns to abandoned logging regions, Oregon has it all. Hydraulic miners scoured the hillsides with high-pressure water and released gold hidden within the gravels. A person might be content with finding as much gold as they can from unclaimed ground and then moving on. We took samples from three different spot. Mining claims serve a very important purpose to gold miners. The photos below are of the claim known as The VAULT. Miners had crawled over every inch of western Oregon, but there was still gold to be found out in the high desert to the east. In the woods: Abandoned mine near Granite the perfect place to make a horror movie. One special creek worth mentioning is Althouse Creek, which has the distinction of producing the states single largest gold nugget reportedly weighing in at 17-pounds! The single largest pocket gold discovery was at Gold Hill. Double click here to add text. This post may contain links to products that we use and love, and we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Wherever gold was extracted, environmental devastation followed. January 26, 2022 at 11:21 pm . The Independence consists of over 2000' of workings on gold veins and lodes running through the property. The material at this shaft is largely iron . Gold was found in this area during the 1860s and several small mining towns dot the landscape. In 1860, Thomas Chavner and his partners discovered some gold-bearing quartz near his farm and immediately filed mining claims. See more ideas about gold claims for sale, black hills, oregon. Canyon City is a few miles south of the town of John Day. There are thousands of active mining claims throughout the West, but there are literally thousands more locations that have been abandoned. Weve since learned that this is indeed private property. The Balm Creek Property is a lode mining property consisting of seven (7), lode mining claims, covering a total of one hundred and forty (140) acres. I'm a middle-aged mom of up to 6 and sometimes more if my kids have friends along. The upper reaches of the Powder River were mined with several bucket line dredges for many years, and miles of dredge tailings can be seen throughout the Powder River Valley. Tillamook County Legend has it that a Spanish ship carrying a large amount of gold disappeared in a storm in 1679. Specific areas for gold prospectors to look out for are Grants Pass, Gold Hill, Gold Nugget Waysides and within Hellgate Recreation Area. While you're in the area, check out the Oregon Vortex, a mysterious roadside attraction built on an old gold mining claim. A Golden History Oregon's gold rush started in 1851, when rich veins were first discovered along the creekbeds of southwest Oregon. They may suggest a better adventure. Clatsop County Overlooking the river in Astoria is a landmark on Coxcomb Hill called Astoria Column. The mines at Greenhorn are part of the rich Eastern Oregon gold belt. Its the best look youll get at what all those prospectors were after for all those years in the Oregon hills. Gold was first prospected in Cornucopia in 1880 before the first lode deposit was discovered in 1884 by Lon Simmon. In the late 1800s, additional lode mines sprung up throughout the county. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Resources Data System catalogs information about mineral resources around the United States and the world. Harney County In the Owyhee Desert, an arid region of canyons, volcanic rock, sagebrush, and grass, that lies not only in Oregon but also in northern Nevada and southwestern Idaho, is said be a hidden mine. Nearly half of Southwest Oregon miners were Chinese in the 1860s. amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; After acquiring the pro Read More, Workplace Safety North (WSN) announced a new awards program to recognize Ontario mining and forest products companies. ;) Our favorite activity in both summer and winter is getting outdoors and finding adventure. We can find gold on this claim right now. The bandits made off with about $1,200 in gold but were quickly captured. Some incredible gold nuggets have been found in the state, and there are countless creeks and rivers where gold is hidden within the gravels. We came up the mountain from the East side, where Musick Mine is located. You may find lost coins and other mining relics here. This once thriving community sprung up after rich gold mines were discovered in the 1880s. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); This was the site that most consider to be the single richest placer deposit in Oregon. There are a variety of different tools (online and offline) that can help you to determine the land status of a particular area, but ultimately you will need to check with the local county that you intend to mine in. amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; Gold was discovered in the Blue Mountains in 1862 and the nearby Sumpter Valley was awash with gold that drained from the mountains. Most of the gold produced in Oregon is extracted in the Blue Mountains in an area that straddles Grant and Baker Counties. It was standing the last time I was here, maybe 15 years ago. 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