Western Mining History Update

DirtyDog

Captain Leisure
Site Team
Joined
Nov 10, 2005
Messages
3,157
Location
Eugene, Oregon
The real reason for creating Wander the West was to develop a captive audience for my mining history work. I have added 8 town profiles for New Mexico:

http://www.westernmininghistory.com/blog-details/6478

Nothing more fun that a little mining history!
 
I was checking out some old mining towns this past week while I was at the annual fathers and sons trip. Having seen renewed mining claims filed at most of them, i was mildy suprised, considering the price of gold now, that not one of them had any recent activity.
 
The real reason for creating Wander the West was to develop a captive audience for my mining history work. I have added 8 town profiles for New Mexico:

http://www.westernmininghistory.com/blog-details/6478

Nothing more fun that a little mining history!



Thanks for the updates. Hillsboro is about 80 miles from me and my favorite breakfast and lunch stop is the General Store there. Lke Valley is another mining boom town just 15 miles down the road.
 
Thanks for the updates. Hillsboro is about 80 miles from me and my favorite breakfast and lunch stop is the General Store there. Lke Valley is another mining boom town just 15 miles down the road.


White Oaks, NM is another mining boom town that is now a little artist's colony. In fact, there's still more gold to be had in the area. There's an exploratory operation going on nearby, north of the town of Capitan. Their website indicates the gold is worth going after. Maybe it's time to get a pan and a metal detector and take up a new hobby.
 
White Oaks, NM is another mining boom town that is now a little artist's colony. In fact, there's still more gold to be had in the area. There's an exploratory operation going on nearby, north of the town of Capitan. Their website indicates the gold is worth going after. Maybe it's time to get a pan and a metal detector and take up a new hobby.



There were plans do start some more gold mining near Hillsboro as well, not sure what happened with that. Need to go visit the No Scum :)
 
Hey DD looking over the western mining site and gotta say it is pretty impressive. still lots to do I can imagine. looks like there is a lot of stuff still to find as well. Just in my area you might want to check out Butte Creak canyon, Feather river canyon, 299 east of redding... There is a lot of rich history in these areas and still a lot of placer stuff now. lots of old holes in the mountains with rail cart tracks coming out of them.
 
When i was in Jarbidge, Nevada in May a local guy gave me a cd full of historical photos of the town and surrounding mines. I just got the Jarbidge profile up:

http://www.westernmininghistory.com/towns/nevada/jarbidge/

Historical town gallery:
http://www.westernmininghistory.com/gallery/6479/history/towns/

Historical mining gallery:
http://www.westernmininghistory.com/gallery/6479/history/mining/

My town photos from this last trip:
http://www.westernmininghistory.com/gallery/6479/modern/towns/
 
Fun stuff. Is Ja-ha-bich Grill how you say Jarbridge after a few too many?

I like the photo of the five men sitting near a doorway. Four very serious men in hats and one guy that looks like he just came from a WTW rally. :D

I noticed in the photos from your visit a plate leaning against the jail. Saw a smaller version of that at Berlin Mine. Is that for making bricks or is that what they poured the ore in to make bars?
 
I noticed in the photos from your visit a plate leaning against the jail. Saw a smaller version of that at Berlin Mine. Is that for making bricks or is that what they poured the ore in to make bars?


I don't really know but that seems to be a reasonable guess :)
 
If you are on Facebook and like the site please consider clicking the new "Like" Button on the home page:

http://www.westernmininghistory.com/
 
Added over 100 historical images of Sumpter, Oregon:

http://www.westernmininghistory.com/gallery/692/modern/towns/

granitestreeteast65.jpg
 
I have added five new town profiles for the state of Oregon:

Bourne
Canyon City
Cornucopia
Granite
Greenhorn City

In addition, 139 historical photos have been added to the Sumpter, Oregon profile.

The Oregon state page can be viewed here:

http://www.westernmininghistory.com/state/oregon/

Jarbidge has been added to the Nevada section:

http://www.westernmininghistory.com/towns/nevada/jarbidge/
 
are you aware of the 16 to 1 mine? i was surprised you dont have Alleghaney Ca listed on your site...
http://origsix.com/tmarticle.asp?id=293

there is a high density of mines in the vicinity


Just a matter of time - already have over 3000 images and hundreds of scanned documents for the towns I have done to date.
 
Had an Uncle-in-Law who grew up in Halfway. At his suggestion Granddad & I fished the crick near Cornucopia in 1976 while on our way to the World's Fair in Spokane. There was a plan at one time for the railroad to cut a tunnel through the mountains near there. They were seeking to avoid something, but the cost of tunneling in those particular mountains was too high to justify it. They would have needed a machine like what was used for the "Chunnel" to do it.
 
How many of these gold dredges are out there? John D
 

Attachments

  • Yankee Fork Dredge.JPG
    Yankee Fork Dredge.JPG
    415.8 KB · Views: 28
They are still pulling specimen grade gold out of the 16-to-1 mine. I heard they were using metal detectors to find the gold. http://www.ncgeolsoc.org/Field%20Trips/Sierra%20Buttes%2016%20to%201%20Mine/Sierra%20Buttes%20&%20Sixteen-to-One%20Mine%20FT.htm
 
How many of these gold dredges are out there? John D



That looks a lot like a doodle bug dredge - there are some very rough and rusted remnants of one above Ford's bar on the middle fork of the American River.
 
DD,

If you love mining history and you haven't done so already you should really take a river trip down the Middle Fork of The American River. It was the heart of the Gold Rush in California and filled with mining history and debris from top to bottom. I spent 7 years as a full time guide out there and picked up a lot of great gold rush history from that Canyon!
 

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV Life Pro Today
Back
Top Bottom