August to December 1900


Excerpted from USGS Reports
The Gold Belt of the Blue Mountains
of Oregon
by Waldemar Lindgren




Placer Mines of Sanger and Eagle Creeks
--Placer Deposits--

The old placers of Sanger have already been mentioned. Shallow placers also occur on the road 2 miles west of Sanger mill and are occasoinally worked.

The placers of Eagle Creek have been worked at least since 1869, and each summer more of less mining is still carried on. The total amount extracted from these placers is probably considerable, but estimates are very difficult to obtain. In 1869 the district was known as the Cooster and 250 men were working in it. All along Eagle Creek are benches of heavy gravel, 50 to 100 feet above the stream; they are not large, however, and contain heavy bowlders, making the work expensive. In 1900 hydraulic work on a bench of this kind was proceeding on a small scale near Martin's camp, half a mile above the forks of the creek.. A year or two ago it was proposed to handle this gravel on a large scale, but the attempt was abandoned.

Near the forks drift mining has been carried on underneath the gravel benches. Similiar and more successful drift mines are located at Mile's camp, 1 1/2 miles below the forks. Finally at Martin's, still farther down, where the Cornucopia road crosses Eagle Creek, small placers have been worked for a long time.

Placer mines are also found on upper Paddy Creek and at Paddys Paradise, which are credited with a production of $43,000 between 1889 and 1892. The present annual output of the placer mines of the Eagle Creek district is probably only a few thousand dollars.

These stories are available to our electronic readers as part of our contribution to the information available on the Internet. We're interested in hearing from you especially if you've been to Eastern Oregon, the Wallowas, the Blues, or if you know of Prof. Lindgren and his trips to the many other gold camps in the West. These stories are available to our electronic readers as part of our contribution to the information available on the Internet. We hope you enjoy the stories and if you have questions or comments please send a message to editor, Keith Whittle

More on Waldemar Lindgren:
[Editor's Introduction | "Gold Belt of Eastern Oregon"]

Read our other gold mining editions:
[Sumpter, Oregon 1900 | Gold Seekers Rush to California]
[ Oregon: Land of Gold & Opportunity | Dequille Reports from the Comstock]

Bridget E. Smith, editor & publisher
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