Gold Ridge - a Western Novel

At the moment, I'm currently working on another Western novel entitled "Gold Ridge".

This new novel follows the story of Jim Nelson, a saddle tramp, who comes back to the small Southern Oregon mining town of Gold Ridge to make amends with his younger brother whom he has not seen in five years.

When Nelson returns to Gold Ridge, he finds that much has changed since he went away. Not only is the once bustling town now practically a ghost town, but while he was gone, his brother not only got married, but was later shot down in the street for meddling in the affairs of a local lawman who is terrorizing the local population.

"Gold Ridge" should run about 40,000 words at completion. My hope is for it to be complete by December 1st, which will still give me time to finish another Western, as well as another mining book by the end of the year.

10408 / 40000 (26.02%)

 

Progress thus far.

A Flash In The Pan: Gold In Winberry; Lane County, Oregon

A sample of what I am working on at the moment; a sort of side project before I finish my novel "Gold Ridge" and my forthcoming Oregon mining book "Boom & Bust"

Introduction


A number of years ago, and quite out of the blue, I received an e-mail from an elderly miner living near Eugene, Oregon. This gentleman, whom I had never heard from prior and who's name I never knew, informed me that he was retiring from mining and that for the last thirty odd years he had been putting in a great deal of study into the history of the Fall Creek Mining District. He remarked that he knew of me by reputation of name only and pointedly asked me if I would be interested in receiving his mining archives on Fall Creek as he desired to see that his efforts in collecting documents would not go to waste. I remarked that I had heard of Fall Creek, but admitted that I had never mined there myself, nor did I know much about the area. That said, I told him that I would be glad to help preserve his research and would be willing to insure that the information was available to others.


A couple of weeks later I received a very thick, over-sized envelope in the mail. There was no sender name on the envelope, but upon opening the package, it quickly became clear that it had come from the unidentified elderly miner from Eugene. A quick skim of the material revealed that yes, the man was a very thorough researcher and had put forward much effort to put the mining history of Fall Creek together, as included among the material were numerous location notices that proved to be a record of the very earliest mining claims in that vicinity, not to mention newspaper clippings, photocopies of articles on the area's geology and related information, all neatly arranged by subject in several folders. Included among the material was a folder simply marked “Winberry”.


An examination of that folder revealed information about what could best be described as “a neighboring mining area” to the Fall Creek and Blue River Mining Districts. Up until that time, I don't recall having ever heard of Winberry Creek, let alone anything gold mining related in that area. As with anyone else, that is not that unusual, for there are many little known mining areas on the West Coast and in fact, I had previously written a little about a few of them, such as Chena Creek near Mount Hood, as well as Gold Creek in Clatsop County.


A quick look in my own library actually turned up very little in the way of mere mention of the Winberry Mining District, let alone anything solid or very detailed. What was mentioned briefly was that there was some gold in the area and that during the 1930's the area had enjoyed a brief flurry of mining activity which mostly amounted to the mere promoting of some unproven prospects.


Upon greater inspection of other material that became available to me through much great effort, while Winberry Creek never was the site of a great gold strike or of any mining of any real economical importance, it soon became clear that the story about the area deserved something more than just a footnote or a dishonorable mention in the annals of Oregon's gold mining history. Indeed, as has happened on so many other little creeks in Oregon, there was a bona-fide gold rush to Winberry Creek in the 1930's. Not only did it capture the imagination of outsiders who looked to Winberry Creek and pondered if there might be untold riches locked away in the hills above, but as so often happens, those who took part in the rush fought bitterly against the forces that were pitted against their golden dream. But unlike their predecessors in the 19th century, who fought against hostile Indians, the elements, Poison Oak, starvation and the general sense of despair and melancholy that often plagued the early mining camps, what the Winberry miners fought against the most were those who simply believed that they were wasting their time.


This is their story.

A Flash In The Pan

Gold Mining on Winberry Creek

Lane County, Oregon

Coming to Amazon.com, Fall 2012

Copyright Kerby Jackson 2012

ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED

ISBN-13: 978-1477535325

ISBN-10: 1477535322

Bull of the Woods Mine, Gold Hill Mining District, Jackson County, Oregon

Bull of the Woods


Major Commodities: Gold, Pyrite
Trace Commodities:
Host Rock: Quartz, Diorite
Legal Description: 36 South, 3 West, Section 15, NE 1/4
Elevation: 1280 feet


The Bull of the Woods mine consists of 31 acres of patented land located above the east side of the Rogue River on the western slope of Gold Hill. Very little is known about the mine prior to the 1930's except for the fact that the property was originally patented as agricultural land in the 1880's by Francis Marion Fredenburgh who was a prominent businessman in the Gold Hill area until a few years prior to his death in 1903. There is no indication that Fredenburgh engaged in any mining on the property or any indication of when mining began on the property, although it is certainly in a desireable area due to its close proximity to the famous Gold Hill Pocket.


In 1934, J.A. Clements leased and operated this property for two years, producing close to 145 ounces of gold. In 1936 and 1937, George Tulare operated the mine but production figures are unavailable, if any actually took place. In the Fall of 1938, Clements again secured the lease and began to drive a second shaft about fifty feet south east of the oldest workings. At the time, the property was owned by Mrs. Vella Hays of Gold Hill and Mrs. Rena Davis of Fort Klamath, California.


Reporting in January of 1939, J,.E. Morrison informed the State Department of Geology that there was a good road into the mine and that the topography consisted of rolling hills. Next to no mining timber was available on the property and no water was available with the exception of about 130 gallons per hour which was produced by seepage in the mine itself. Equipment at the mine included a 7 X 8 Chicago pneumatic compressor that was powered by a 4 cylinder Liberty engine, a small air powered Denver Gardner steam hoist, one ore car, an air hammer and misc. small equipment. Sometime during February or March of 1939, Clements installed a two stamp mill.


Development inside of the mine iconsisted of a total of 266 feet of workings, which did not include a vertical shaft 100 feet deep with three levels at the 35, 50 and 95 foot marks. The 35 and 50 levels connected to the mine's oldest workings, while the 95 foot level consisted of one drift that ran North 55 degrees West for 35 feet and another than ran South 55 degrees East for 25 feet. About fifty to sicty feet south west of the main shaft, a 105 foot tunnel with eight drifts ran North 5 degrees East.


According to reports, the dark country rock is: "probably diorite. (The) vein appears to be aresilicified shear zone from two to six feet wide and is composed of quartz and wall rock which breaks free from the hanging wall. (It is) difficult to determine how much of the foot wall should be mined. The values pentrate the walls. A sample cut for for 25 feet along the hanging wall on (the) 95 foot level runs $1.05 (at $34 per ounce). Samples from (the) foot wall run trace to $2.45. The 95 foot level has not tapped the ore shute (sic) found in the upper levels. (The) vein is of good mineable width. Its lateral extent is not known. Ore mined from the upper levels plated $10 per ton (at $34 per ounce). (The) vein dips from 75 to 80 degrees to the south east and strikes North 55 degrees West. (The) ore minerals are pyrite and free gold, estimated 50% free milling."


Nothing is known about this mine after 1939 and it is presumed to have been shut down in 1942 by Limitation Order L-208 and to have never been re-opened. 


Sources:


Oregon Metal Mines Handbook: Jackson County, 1943, pg. 57
Unpublished State Department of Geology Mine Report, March 16th, 1939
Obituary of "Francis Marion Fredenburgh", The Medford Mail, Eagle Point Eaglets, June 12th, 1903

From the forthcoming "Gold Hill Mining District:
Mines & Mining in South West Oregon" by Kerby Jackson
Copyright 2010 by Kerby Jackson

Chinese Miners Have Tough Time on Sailor Gulch

Sailor Gulch, Josephine County, 1864

The Chinese could be counted among the earliest of miners in South West Oregon and promptly poured into the areas richest mining districts within the first few years of their establishment. Sailor Diggings, better known as the Waldo Mining District, which was Oregon's first and now oldest organized mining district, was no different in this regard. With their sing-song accent, odd customs and strange manner of dress, the Chinese often took the brunt of the abuse which was dished out by the toughs of the early rough and tumble mining camps. In most of the early mining camps, not only did the Chinese enjoy little in the way of rights, but quite often, they were also afforded little to no protection by the existing law. This however, was not necessarily the case in Sailor Diggings, where in 1864, the early government of Josephine County investigated a major crime against a company of Chinese miners and successfully prosecuted the white perpetrators.

On the evening of February 22^nd, 1864 a company of Chinese miners working in Sailor Gulch were relaxing for the night. The nine men, (identified in the records as best as their names could be pronounced) were named Gou, You, Ohu, Hung, Ran, I, Fook, Sit and Toh and they had just completed a hard day's work and were preparing for dinner. All the while, the rest of the small mining community were attending a ball at the nearby town of Waldo. At around 6:30 PM, as most of the other men lounged about the room smoking opium and reading “China books”, Hung went outside to fetch a load of firewood.

While their partner was outside, three men slipped through the front door, drew their pistols and quietly took the eight Chinese miners captive. When Hung came back into the house with an armload of firewood, one of the men shoved the barrel of his revolver against his back and ordered him to tie the queues (pigtails) of his friends together. Once they were restrained, one of the men came forward and tied Hung's hair into the knot of his compatriots pigtails.

Having the situation completely under their control and knowing that the rest of the community was too occupied with their festivities to intervene, over the next two and a half hours, two of the men went through every nook and cranny of the house in search of their valuables, while the third man kept guard over their prisoners. Whenever one of the captives fidgeted or attempted to speak, the guard would promptly strike him over the head and threaten to shoot them all down like dogs if they watched as his fellow outlaws scoured the building for loot.

All in total, the three bandits stole the following items:

Three jackets belonging to I. One clasp knife, one bone handled knife, one pair of boots, a sliver watch worth $15.00 and a revolver belonging to Ohu. A carpet bag, one hat, awhite handled sheath knife and a clasp knife belonging to Gou. A gold ring worth $8.00 and a pair of boots with plates on their heels belonging to You. One hat belonging to Fook. They also located nearly 15 ounces (then about $250 worth) of gold that had been secreted away in various locations throughout the house.

To illustrate the thoroughness of the crooks, the records indicate that the gold had been split among three separate purses, one of which contained $110 and belonged to the company and was hidden underneath a pillow on the bed, another $84 worth belonged to I and was hidden in a box, while the remaining $56 worth belonged to You and was hidden in the blankets. Meanwhile, the pistol and the knives had also been hidden inside of several beds, while the watch had been hanging on a wall and the gold ring had been wrapped inside of a handkerchief that was again, hidden inside of a bed.

After being satisfied with their takings, the three men walked out the door, climbed aboard their horses and raced off into the winter night.

Once the Chinamen finally managed to free themselves, they promptly summoned the local authorities. The victims described their assailants as three white men, one of them with a blond beard, one with a dark beard and the third with nearly red hair and beard. The red haired fellow was described as being about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, while the dark haired outlaw was rather short and the remaining man had a missing tooth.

Sheriff Jeff Howell and one of his deputies, George M. Banks, followed the footprints of the men and then promptly mounted up and trailed the group of outlaws over the next several days into California where they were holed up at Tenmile House in the mining camp of Yreka. The three men surrendered without incident and were brought back to Oregon where they were lodged in the Kerbyville Jail. Once held, the men were promptly identified and were found to still be in possession of the majority of their loot.

On the second Monday of April, 1864, at a regular circuit court of Josephine County, Judge P.P. Primm called together J. Kennedy, A,F. Mitchell, Daniel Green, John L. Powell, James Turner, James Turnbull and Henry Thomas as jurors. John Powell was appointed as foreman and Dan Green was elected court clerk. Some of these names will be recognized as notable early miners in Southern Oregon. John Powell is of course, the man that Powell Creek was named for, while Dan Green, along with his brother George, discovered the famous Sugar Pine Mine near the mouth of Mill Creek in the Galice District.

With very little fanfare, the three outlaws (who never would identify themselves by name) were tried, convicted and sentenced to hard time at Oregon State Prison in Oregon City.

Northwest Oregon’s Lost Mining Districts

Even with all the historical data out there that is available to miners and prospectors, in the guise of mineral resource bulletins, books, old mining magazines, newspaper clippings and other references, there is still a lot that we don’t know about Oregon’s gold mining history and there are still quite a few places where gold was recovered in the past that most modern prospectors don’t know about.

Chena Creek District:

One of those areas is the little known Chena Creek District which was active around the period of 1900. Located in Eastern Clackamas County, this old mining area is said to be the northern most area of the Cascades Mountain range to contain gold. During its height in the mid 1890’s, about a hundred claims were located in the area, mostly concentrated on Cheeney Creek (formerly called “Chena” Creek) and the Salmon River (reffered to in those days as a “creek”). By 1903, only about twenty of these claims were actually active, as the road situation into that area was quite bad and most of the effort seemed to be focused on improving roads.

The only major mine in the area was that of Northern Light Mining and Milling Company based out out of Portland. Their mine was said to be located upon Huckleberry Mountain, near the mouth of the Salmon River where it enters the Sandy River (and is probably the source of what little gold can be found in that river). Development of the Northern Light, sometimes reffered to as the Cheeney Creek Prospect, consisted of an 87 foot shaft and 400 foot foot long tunnel. The equipment was powered by water. In addition to gold, the deposit also contained silver, copper and lead.

This old mining district is located due south of Mountain Air Park near the town of Welches on Highway 26. Most of the area is inside the Mount Hood National Forest and under the management of USFS and appears to have been completely withdrawn from mineral entry (ie. no claim filing). Due to the recent closure of nearly 2000 miles of roads and trails to vehicles inside the Mount Hood National Forest, I imagine that access could be an issue in this area.

Rock Creek District:

Not to be confused with the mining district of the same name in Baker County, this little known mining district was actually located in Eastern Clatsop County. As any experienced prospector can attest, this rugged coastal forest is hardly an ideal geological setting for gold country, but apparently, nobody ever told that to the early settlers in that area who decided to look for the illusive yellow metal anyway.

On May 25th, 1885, J.M. Weed filed a placer claim on Rock Creek called the “Gertrude”. Subsequent claims were located not only along Rock Creek in Clatsop County, but even extended all the way to the mouth of the Nehalam River, near the town of Vernonia in Columbia County. Weed Creek, a small tributary of the North Fork of Rock Creek, is named for J.M. Weed and was probably the location of his claim.

By July of 1889, so much gold mining was going on this area that the Rock Creek Mining District was formed. Bill H. Braden was elected not only the Secretary, but also the President of the district. Some of the claims filed in the district during the early years included the “Protector”, “Defender”, “Elkhorn”, “Bonanza”, “Mountain” “Last Chance” and the “Rolling”.

By 1894, the whole thing suddenly petered out. Nothing more was heard about the area and in fact, the reality that gold was ever discovered in that area was removed entirely to the old history books.

Unfortunately, most of Rock Creek is now located amongst private timber lands, while the majority is under management of the State of Oregon as the Tillamook State Forest and is therefore, not open to filing claims.

Gold Creek District:

Some miles west of the Rock Creek District is the old Gold Creek Mining District which is also located in Clatsop County.

It was here along the Nehalem River in Cruiser’s Gulch, that in 1901, a man named Sebastian Glaser filed a number of lode claims about two miles from the small town of Elsie. The site of his discovery lies in 4 North, 8 West and right on the line between Sections 1 and 2.

No other records for this mining district exist.

Though the name “Gold Creek” came to be attached to the locality of Glaser’s discovery, it should be noted that the current name of this waterway is George Creek.

This article originally appeared in "Gold Dust: Stories of Oregon's Mining Years" by Kerby Jackson
Available from Amazon.com

Gold on Humbug Creek

Humbug Creek is a little known area to gold prospectors in Oregon, but in its day, it was the center of a major gold rush in Jackson County.

Today, one can access this great old gold creek by following Oregon State Highway 238 (The Williams Highway) and following Humbug Creek Road which is located just due east of the community of Applegate, Oregon. (Take note that much of this area is now private property and care should be taken to respect the rights of the property owners along the creek).

Like most creeks in Jackson County, gold was discovered relatively early on in and around Humbug Creek. In fact, enough gold was found by early miners that during the late 1850’s, a small mining camp sprung up along its banks and by March of 1860, the Humbug Mining District was established, using the following camp laws (mostly adopted from those used over the state border in Yreka, California): 

The Mining Laws Of Humbug Creek

Article 1st
Size of Claims

Each man shall hold a claim 100 yards square by preemption and as much by purchase as he represents.

Article 2nd
Priority of Water Rights

The oldest claim shall have the first right to the water but shall run no water by unnecessarily to keep others from using it.

Article 3rd
Necessary Work to Hold Claim

No claim shall be considered forfeited if worked one day in every five during the time there is a good ground sluice head in the creek.

Article 4th
Restriction on Dams, Etc.

No person or company shall put a dam, reservoir or any obstruction in the creek, provided it is a damage to those above said obstruction.

Article 5th
Flood-gate for Dams to Be Kept Open

Any person or company putting in a reservoir shall have a flood gate five feet in breadth and three feet hight [sic] which shall be kept open as long as there is a good sluice head in the creek for washing up.

Article 6th
Recorder; Fee; When Claim Must Be Recorded

There shall be a recorder elected and he shall be allowed One dollar per claim for recording. Any person leaving the Creek to be gone two months shall have their claims recorded.

Article 7th
Judicial Power

Any person or persons violating any of these resolutions or by-laws shall abide the decision of a miners’ meeting.

Article 8th
Chinese Excluded

No Chinaman shall be allowed to purchase or hold any claim on this Creek.

Article 9th
Adoption of Resolutions

Resolved, the foregoing articles shall come into effect as Laws of this Creek on or after and from the twentieth day of March A. D. 1860.

J. F. Headrick, Chairman,
V. P. Comstock,
Jas. W. Mee,
E. Thompson,

Committee on Resolutions
Francis Sackett, Secretary
John Goff, Recorder.

This document was filed and recorded with the Jackson County Clerk in Jacksonville on March 24th, 1860.

Several notable mines were located in this district, including:

The Wright Mine (Lat. 42.25537, Long. -123.1442) which was a medium sized underground prospect that was active until it was shut down in 1942 by Government Limitation Order 208. In addition to gold, the Wright also yielded silver, zinc and lead.

The Nonesuch (Lat. 42.25037, Long. -123.1394) , which was also a medium sized underground mine. In addition to gold, silver was also mined in the Nonesuch. Like the Wright, it was shut down in 1942.

The Scott (Lat. 42.26117, -123.13), also a prospect of medium size, but unlike the above two, the Scott was a surface mine. Most of its activity was in the 1930’s.

The Victor (Lat. 42.27097, -123.1517), which was a well known and very profitable operation dating from before 1940. Like the Scott, the Victor was a surface mine.

The Broken Heart (Lat. 42.27007, Long. -123.1283), another medium sized underground producer.

The Ace of Hearts (Lat. 42.27757,  Long. -123.1203), which was a medium sized underground operation yielding gold and silver.

The Oregon Belle (Lat. 42.28817, Long. -123.1006), which is a rather famous mine and a fine producer of lode gold. Located due east of Humbug Creek.

The Sundown (Lat. 42.28317, Long. -123.1047),  yet another surface mine, located due south of the Oregon Belle. Also east of Humbug Creek.

The Grange Gulch (Lat. 42.25227, Long. -123.1208), which yielded gold and silver until 1942.

Finally are the Humbug Creek Placers (Lat. 42.26707, Long. -123.1389) which between the 1860’s and the 1940’s had many names, including the Benson Placer, the Johnston Placer, Exter, Pittock and the Kubli Ranch. This last name is attributed to Kaspar Kubli, a very early pioneer in the Applegate Valley. This last operation ran a drag line dredge up Humbug Creek.

This article originally appeared in "Gold Dust: Stories of Oregon's Mining Years" by Kerby Jackson
Available from Amazon.com

A Rich Strike at Rich Gulch

Following the first discovery of gold in Oregon on Josephine Creek, in late December of 1851 or early January of 1852, packers John R. Poole and James Cluggage who owned a company called Jackass Freight, were packing supplies from the Willamette Valley to Sacramento, California. The two men decided to camp near the present site of Jacksonville, Oregon. Needing water for their animals, the two men headed up the gulch (a tributary of Daisy Creek) and choosing a likely looking place, began digging a hole in the hope that it would fill with enough water to give their mules a drink. Having moved a little bit of material, they spotted pieces of color in the hole that were large enough to be visible to the eye. The two men had accidentally stumbled into one of the largest gold strikes in Oregon history.

Cluggage and Poole 

They called their find Rich Gulch and soon extended their search to nearby Jackson Creek, where they found extensive amounts of course placer gold throughout its gravels. With great foresight, the two men filed on the land adjoining their find, laid out a town site and both became wealthy, influential men in the brand new community of Table Rock City, Oregon Territory. Today, we know the town that they founded by its current name: Jacksonville.

Rich Gulch, January 2010

Miners flocked into the area and Jacksonville promptly grew into the largest community north of San Francisco, its size soon exceeding that of Oregon’s Territorial Capital of Salem. Jacksonville was named the county seat of Jackson County. Major gold strikes were made throughout the area surrounding Jacksonville, most notably on Jackson and Daisy Creeks and thousands of ounces of gold, in both nugget and dust form flowed into town, bringing instant wealth to both miners and merchants alike. One resident who became very wealthy indeed was local banker C.C. Beekman, who’s Beekman Bank held the distinction of being the only bank in United States that charged its clients for the privilege of banking and did not pay interest on accounts. It is said, that during their time, Beekman’s scales weighed over ten million dollars worth of gold.

At today’s gold prices, this would be nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of gold!

Plaque at Rich Gulch

This article originally appeared in "Gold Dust: Stories of Oregon's Mining Years" by Kerby Jackson
Available from Amazon.com

Sneak Peek ... Boom & Bust: Gold Mining in the Granite Hill Mining District, Josephine County, Oregon

A sneak peek into one of the projects that I'm currently working on. Hopefully available by Fall of 2012:

Boom and Bust

Gold Mining in the Granite Hill Mining District

Josephine County, Oregon

Kerby Jackson

Introduction

The Granite Hill Mining District, also known to history as Boardman's Diggings and the Louse Creek District, is the smallest mining district in South Western Oregon. Located in Josephine County, the district starts in the west at the confluence of Louse Creek and Morris Creek and then extends to the headwaters of the North and South Forks of Louse Creek. All total, Granite Hill takes in a total of only about 10 square miles, roughly equating to some 3200 acres of ground lying somewhat to the north east of the City of Grants Pass, Oregon. It is bounded to the north by the Jump Off Joe Creek District (once known as Wines Camp, named for the notorious murdering miner, Henry Wines), to the east by the Evans Creek District in Jackson County and the south and the west, by the Grants Pass District.

Yet despite its small size, Granite Hill represents one of the richest mining districts anywhere on the West Coast. By today's prices, millions of dollars worth of gold, both lode and placer, were taken out of this small area during the course of only a few years time, mainly by the American Gold Fields Company of Chicago, Illinois, who in May of 1902 took over ownership of a group of lode claims owned by the Booth Brothers.

Over the next few years, the Granite Hill Mine, which included the patented Granite Hill, Red Jacket, Jumbo and High Tariff claims, as well as unpatented claims such as the Ida and the Terry, became the site of a flurry of development.

In December of 1903, the richest gold strike that Southern Oregon had ever seen was made at the Granite Hill Mine, with the discovery of an ore body that was so rich that news of the discovery was reported from coast to coast, including the gold fields of the Yukon, and the financial centers of Boston and New York. In fact, the strike was so rich that for the first time in the history of Southern Oregon's mining industry, a mine was actually placed under high security and armed guards were employed.

Following the strike at the Granite Hill, extensive capital and manpower came flowing into the district. The Granite Hill Group became more than just a mine and soon evolved into a community of nearly 200 people, populated by mine workers and their families, as well as those who serve the needs of miners.

A positive side effect of the rich strike was a renewed interest in Southern Oregon's mines that resulted in an influx of people and capital into the area. Long neglected mines were re-opened, while new ore processing mills sprung up throughout the Rogue River Valley. Sudden prosperity came to the sleepy town of Grants Pass, Oregon which suddenly experienced a boom as a result which led to a population increase of nearly 20% in a few short years. Granite Hill forever put the town “on the map”.

Among those who came to join in on the strike was a beautiful young woman who gave up a promising career as an actress with the popular Anna Held Company and traded her life on the stage to run the hydraulic giant at the isolated Forest Queen Mine where she was a full partner with her father and brother.

Yet the sudden prosperity at Granite Hill was short lived. Inside of only a few short years, two shocking, well publicized murders wracked the small mining community, while the lower levels of the Granite Hill Mine itself were filled with groundwater that seeped into the mine faster than it could be pumped out.

Meanwhile, two shocking murders and their subsequent merry-go-round trials once again brought national attention on the Granite Hill Mine, reminding the entire nation that the gold rich hills of Southern Oregon were still a wild and woolly place, especially since the accused, in both cases, were so young.

By the 1920's the Granite Hill District had fallen into decline as a mining center until the pieces were finally picked up again by Charles and Ida Archerd when they re-opened the Ida Mine. Despite their best efforts, the couple found that the running of a gold mine was not such an easy undertaking, especially when they were forced to deal with the United States Government.

Copyright Kerby Jackson 2012

ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED

ISBN-13: 978-1477480106

ISBN-10: 1477480102 

The Troubled Land ... an excerpt

Chapter 1

Ken Payne saw the buzzards wheeling overhead and had heard the low hum of the busy flies before he saw the men.

There were six of them dressed in typical rider's garb still slightly dusted with alkali dirt and they were hanging from the lowest branches of a gnarled oak tree that stood alone at the bottom of a dusty wash. Though it was difficult to judge how long they had been there, the flies had already begun to gather in large numbers to lay their maggot laden eggs in their wide open dead eyes and a slightly ripe stench had already begun to fill the air.

Payne stood slightly in his stirrups to survey his surroundings and then slowly stepped down from his saddle with the ease of an experienced rider. Once on the ground, he withdrew a small bag of makings from his shirt pocket and promptly rolled and lit a cigarette, his half lidded eyes never leaving the men as he did so. He took a drag from the cigarette and then after exhaling a puff of sweet smoke, stepped toward the corpses for a closer look.

The men hung from the lowest branches in three groups of two per bough. The blue tinged tongue of the one nearest to him hung swollen from the gash of his mouth, the men having succumbed to death from slow strangulation. One of them had even slipped his hand in between the rope and his neck in a futile effort to try to stop the inevitable.

Payne had seen lots of death in his time and he had even dealt in more than his fair share of it before packing his gun belt away into his saddlebags, but the sight of this sort of a slow hanging still put a twisting knot in his guts just as it always had since he had seen his first hanging as a small boy.

"Wonder what you boys did to deserve a fate like this?" he asked aloud as if the six men might still be capable of answering him.

Payne surveyed his surroundings again with a pair of sideways glances, but there was nothing else around him but the six men in the tree.

"Well, I reckon I'll cut you boys down and give you a burial," he told them. "It's the only thing I can do for you."

Payne turned on the heel of his scuffed boot to go back to his horse, when a sick sounding, low guttural sound came from behind him. He immediately froze is in his tracks and held his breath. His first instinct was to reach for the .45 that should have been on his right hip in a well worn holster, but he had hung up his gun a year ago and it was not there to grab. He wondered how fast he could make it to the Winchester in the scabbard on his saddle, but he knew it would be a futile attempt.

The sound came again, followed by the distinct, low creak from one of the taut ropes hanging from the tree.

Slowly Payne turned around and faced the six corpses again. They were all still save the one with his fingers intertwined between his neck and the noose, whose body gently revolved in a slow circle. That was when he saw the tips of the man's free fingers articulate weakly. The man's eyes quickly flashed open and he emitted a weak gurgle of mostly garbled words.

"Cut... Please .... cut me down."

Payne could not believe that the man was still alive, but in a flash, he had drawn a knife from the inside of his boot and was at the man's side to help him. With one hand he had a hold of his legs and lifted him up to slacken the rope, while with the other he severed the stiff rope that was around his neck. Immediately the weakened man collapsed in a limp pile upon him, his dead weight bringing both of them to the dusty ground below. The man let out a low moan, but it was at least proof that he was still alive.

Once he collected himself and was certain that the man was breathing easily, Payne stood up, walked to his horse and returned to the man with his canteen. Once at his side again, he knelt down and removed the plug from the canteen. He poured a bit of water into the palm of his hand, lifted the man's head and let the water trickle onto the man's lips until finally the man showed an inclination to drink. He then did so greedily until Payne withdrew the mouth of the canteen.

"Easy there, friend," he told him. "Not too much. You need to drink it slow."

For a long while, Payne knelt there beside him until the man had drifted off into sleep.

While the man slept, Payne built up a small fire, set a pot of coffee and then undertook the grisly job of cutting the other men down.

One by one, he took them down and then drug them a short distance away from the tree and over the small hilltop where he had dug a wide, but shallow grave for them.

Before planting each one of them into the thin, dry soil, he dug through their pockets. Between them all they had little in the way of personal effects, only the sort of things that ranch hands might carry: some coins, a deck of cards between them, a Bannock arrowhead that one of them must have picked up somewhere, a gold pocket watch, a few bags of tobacco with papers, a few cartridges and a crumpled up letter that had probably been read and refolded too many times for its own good. He tossed the playing cards and the tobacco into the grave; no sense in one of the men's grieving wives or mothers knowing about their sinful vices if he could help it. The rest he wrapped up into a handkerchief that one of the men had worn and he placed it into one of his saddle bags. Then one by one he placed them in the grave as gently as he could and pushed the dusty soil over them.

When he was through, he stood back and looked at his completed work. It was a damn sorry excuse for a grave, Payne thought, and he was sure that the next coyote or wolf that came by would dig it up because it was so shallow, but it was the best that he could do with the tin cup that he had used to carve it out. Payne felt like he should say a few words over them, but he did not even know the names of the men he had just buried and he was not a religious man, so the sort of words that he felt should be said just would not come from his lips.

"This is all I can do for you boys," he told them. "I reckon I'll be lucky if someone does the same for me when my time comes. Well, maybe I'll be seein' you. Adios."

Payne tipped his hat to them and walked back to the fire.

The sleeping man instantly stirred as Payne came near and sat up as if in a daze. He gave a hoarse uncontrolled series of coughs, seemed to gather his composure and finally looked up at Payne.

"You the man who cut me down?" he asked in a gravelly voice.

Payne nodded.

"Well, you saved my life then, Mister. I'm much obliged."

"I just hope I didn't cut you down so that they can hang you again," Payne told him. He figured him for a rustler, but Payne could not very well have left him hanging there.

He knelt down on his haunches and poured two cups of coffee. He handed one to the other man who immediately breathed in its hot vapors. "Never thought I'd smell coffee again," he told him with a smile. "It's one of about a hundred things I thought about while I was hanging there."

He seemed to drift off as if in a dreamy state for a moment and for the first time, Payne noted how young he was. He could not have been more than 16 or 17 years old.

"What about the others?" he suddenly asked.

"I buried them up the hill here," Payne told him.

The boy's complexion suddenly grew pale.

"All of them?"

"Five men," Payne told him.

The boy nodded and took a drink of his coffee.

"It's hard to believe," he said suddenly. "It all happened so fast. One minute things was like they always were. We were ridin'. And then, well, it's just too real. There were riders all over us."

"What's it all about?"

Payne figured that the kid and his friends had probably been caught up in rustling cattle. Ranchers had been forming stock associations all over Oregon and their vigilantes had been riding down rustlers and horse thieves by the dozens throughout the region. They had been so fierce that even the McCartys had been keeping a low profile while it blew over.

"I really don't know," the boy started to tell him. "I ride for the Running V ..."

"Never heard of it," Payne interrupted.

"We're just a little outfit, but the boss, Mr. Voorhies, he ain't so interested in bein' a great big outfit like the P Ranch or anyone like that. We only got about twelve hundred head, but they're all good ones of the boss' own breeding. He says he wants quality over quantity and I reckon he knows what he's doing. But, we've been havin' lots of trouble the last few months. And we ain't the only ones. A couple of other outfits have been havin' problems too."

"What sort of trouble?"

"People keep seein' a group of riders comin' into their range some nights. They don't barely make a sound because they have the hooves of their horses muffled and all the men wear masks. They've been rimrockin' groups of cattle belonging to every outfit, shootin' riders who make the mistake of workin' alone and we reckon they've killed a couple of men who've disappeared over the last month."

"And that's who strung you up?"

"Yep. The boys and I were riding on our east range looking for about fifty head of missing yearlings. We found them all busted up in a canyon and they'd been rim rocked by someone and were too far gone to salvage anything. So we headed home to tell the boss, and well, the next thing we know, we saw those riders a comin' at us. There were fifteen or twenty of them all with hoods over their heads and before we knew it, they were swarmin' all over us like like a bunch of angry bees. We took cover in the rocks and we got at least one or two of them with our Winchesters, but there were just too many of them to fend off for long and they knew it too.

We had our backs against an outcrop of rock, so the only way out of there was to go through them or to come out feet first. After about an hour they told us to surrender and since we ain't gettin' paid fighting wages, we decided to do it. It might have been a cowardly thing, but we didn't have much else in the way of choices and for that matter, we still didn't know what they wanted. We should have stayed back and fought it out with them, because you know what happened next. They marched us all off to the tree and strung us up one by one."

Payne sat there sipping his coffee in silence and trying to contemplate the story the boy had just told him. He had never heard a story like it before and he didn't think the boy would have made it up. Riders in hoods riding muffled horses, rim rocking cattle and viscously killing range riders. Having once hired his gun hand out to anyone willing to pay a good wage, Payne had dealt with more than his fair share of cattle rustlers. As viscous and uncaring as some of them could be, he had never run across any that would destroy fine stock once they obtained it, let alone any that would intentionally seek out and kill riders.

"Where's this Running V at?" he finally asked.

"About half a day to the south west. Maybe further. I don't rightly know how far they brought us before they hung us and I don't know this side of the country so well. We're well off our own range."

"Well, I reckon I'll take you back to your ranch when you feel up to it," Payne told him. "We can ride double, I suppose."

"I'm much obliged to you Mister," the boy told him. "My name is Billy Howard and I reckon I   owe you my life. I'd like to know the name of the man who saved me."

"My name is Smith and it's nothin'," Payne lied. "Any man would have done the same. I just happened by."

"Nah, it ain't so. Most fellas wouldn't have seen it as bein' any of their business to stop to bury a group of men hangin'. Anyone else would have just rode on after havin' a look. But you cut me down and I'm much obliged for it, Smith. I'd like to call you my friend. I thought I was goin' to die up there on that tree. I dunno if you've ever looked death in the face like that, but I'll tell you what, I did lots of thinkin' while I was up there hangin' from that branch..."

Billy's voice trailed off and he looked down into the camp fire in deep thought.

"You ever felt that, before?"

Payne thought back on the many times that he had faced death looking over the barrel of his .45. He had killed a few dozen men in his day, looking them in the eye as each one had screamed out in agony when his own lead had hit them and shattered their bones and had ruptured their hearts. Not all of them had deserved death, but he had dealt it to them anyway, cutting them down in the prime of their lives like a newly sharpened scythe takes the head off of a stalk of ripe wheat. And each time he had stood over them with the smoking gun in his hand, he was always reminded that had they been a little faster or had a little more sand than him, that it may have been him lying on the ground instead of them. Every night those men would come back to him to invade his dreams with their pale white, agonized faces, their putrid flesh starting to hang off their bones. Though he had hung up his gun, the men still came to him each night in his sleep, bent over and whispering death into his ear with their rotten breath and reminding him that he would eventually join them.

Billy looked up from the camp fire in time to see the hollow look of torment in Payne's eyes and pushed the discussion no further.

Finally Payne looked up at him as if he was going to answer the question.

"Let's ride," Billy told him.

Without another word between them, they kicked out the fire and saddled up double and headed off to the south west.

The Troubled Land by Kerby Jackson
Available at Amazon.com

Great Gobs of Gold Abound in Southern Oregon

The largest gold nugget ever found in Oregon was discovered on the East Fork of Althouse Creek in the Illinois Valley in 1859. Its discover, a small Irish miner by the name of Mattie Collins found the whopper in the face of the stream bank under a large stump located about twelve feet about the normal waterline. Dubbed the “Collins Nugget”, it weighed in at a whopping seventeen pounds!

After Mattie Collins found the nugget, he lived in constant fear of being killed and robbed until he hired a fellow countryman of his by the name of Dorsey to help him transport the nugget out of the Althouse. With the nugget hidden in a sack on Dorsey’s back and Collins taking up the rear armed with a double barreled shotgun, the two men trekked down the old Althouse Trail (which still exists in places to this day, and upon which this writer has walked) and spirited the hunk of yellow metal out of the district under the cover of night. Every twenty or so feet, the two men would stop and peer into the darkness, mistaking every other stump or some other object for a highwayman, until finally, certain that it was a trick of the eye, Collins would tell Dorsey to go forward. Local legend has it that after selling the big yellow marvel to the smelter at Jacksonville for $3500, that awash in wealth, Mattie Collins celebrated his discovery until he drank himself to death.

Today, the Collins Nugget would be valued at about $375,000, though a gold nugget of this size and notoriety would certainly carry a hearty premium.

Other notable large nuggets found in Southern Oregon include:

The Vaun Nugget which was discovered on Slug Bar, near Browntown, also on Althouse Creek. Weight: Approximately 40 ounces.

The Oscar Creek Nugget, discovered in 1892 by Boardman Darneille. It weighed over 18 ounces. Three additional large nuggets were discovered on Oscar Creek around the same time, weighing respectively 12 ounces, 6.25 ounces and 5.75 ounces.

The Klippel Nugget, found in 1904 on McDowell Gulch, weighing approximately 25 ounces.

The Burns Nugget, discovered on Brimstone Gulch at the Stovepipe mine near the site of Leland in 1934, weighed 34.47 ounces.

Also in 1934, Ed Prefontaine discovered a piece of quartz float on Foots Creek that contained 13.63 ounces of gold.

Several large nuggets, one weighing almost 15 pounds were also taken from Sucker Creek which is due east of Althouse.

Numerous discoveries of rich gold “pockets” which Southern Oregon is famous for have dotted the mining maps of this area, not limited to the fabulous Gold Hill Pocket discovered in 1860 by Thomas Chavner and partners which some say contained over 250,000 ounces of gold, the famous Revenue Pocket (2500 ounces) discovered on Kane Creek by Enos Rhoten, the SteamBoat Pocket in the Upper Applegate drainage and the famous Briggs Strike of 1904, as well as a rich discovery by Orval Robertson and Ted McQueen at the Bunker Hill Mine on Silver Creek exceeding some 5000 ounces in 1926. One piece of nearly solid gold ore from the Bunker Hill was so heavy that when it fell from the side of the tunnel, it broke the leg of a miner named Bill Mitchell who was operating a drill. The piece of ore was only a foot long, 6 inches wide and 3 inches thick, but it contained nearly 20 pounds of free milling gold. There was so much gold in this vein of ore that Mitchell called it the “Ham and Eggs Vein”, because of the amount of ham and egg breakfasts he had been able to buy with his share of the gold.

As recently as a half decade ago, a couple of pound sized nuggets were taken from a small tributary of the Applegate River, proof that the “big ones” are still out there if you are willing to work hard to find them.

The crew at the famous Bunker Hill Mine on Silver Creek show off a two week clean up. The man at far right is pioneer Galice area miner, John Robertson. Photo courtesy of Sharon Crawford, who is the grand daughter of Orval Robertson, who discovered the Bunker Hill with his partner Ted McQueen in 1926.

This article originally appeared in "Gold Dust: Stories of Oregon's Mining Years" by Kerby Jackson
Available from Amazon.com