TOO many leads

[Jeffro]

I've got entirely too many leads in the State of Oregon. Over 750 that are factual, and about as many that are dubious to outright false....

If you are seeking leads or want to collaborate, I'd be happy to share.

Topics are:

Lost mines- most are dubious at best

Buried treasure- same

Gems/minerals- 160 sites verified

Caves- 32 verified

Fossil areas- 33 verified

Prehistory-187 verified

Artifacts- 28 sites verified

Forts- 18 verified

Anomalies(just plain weird stuff)- 15 verified

Indian battlegrounds, villages, hunting grounds, summer and winter camps

Game trails, trap trails, military trails, wagon roads, etc.

Spring sites

Hot springs-140-150 or so

Swimming holes, old and new- several hundred

And of course, my own personal favorite public gold sites. Many of which you won't find publicized. Everything from leisurely panning to hardcore dredging.

 

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[Semtex]

hey bud would love to talk about oregon treasure what ya looking for ?

 

[Jeffro]

Well, right now my girlfriend and I are into ghost towning, mostly. Also doing a little more research into a couple lost mines in the Steamboat region. How about yourself?

 

[Semtex]

their is a lot of ghost towns on the southern coast of Oregon. I'm mainly into the lost mines and gold caches where in Oregon are you from? if you didnt mind me asking.

 

[Jeffro]

Eugene. I've done a bit of mining around the Rogue area, beautiful country down there. I'd like to do some scouting a little further south of there, maybe down below Galice, you know where I'm talking about?

Which lost mines are you interested in? PM me if you would rather talk private.

 

[bpedersen]

Do you have any leads on any shipwrecks Oregon? I know that in a couple area the seas can be rough. Let me know. Thanks.

 

[Jeffro]

234 between Shoalwater Bay (WA) and Clatsop beach (OR) prior to 1964- Try and find "Pacific Graveyard" by James A. Gibbs, Binfords and Mort publishers.

 

[tinkb]

Hi guy, I lived in Seaside for a couple years. I bought a map one time for the Astoria/Seaside area listing shipwreck sites on it. I will try and find it and try scanning it if you like. I think there is over 300 shipwrecks listed with the names/date wrecked/the country and what was on board. I am in Portland/Gresham now and don't get to the coast very often.Can't wait to try the MXT/M6 down there in a few spots I used to hunt. Let me know if your interetested.

 

[Jeffro]

Sure- I'd like to hit the coast this winter after the storms. I hear people have made some good finds down around Coos Bay and Bandon areas. Lincoln city has good agates and jasper on it, and even a some really fine gold, believe it or not.

I'd like a scan of your map, if its not too big to scan, LOL! What sorts of stuff are you interested in up there?

 

[wayne]

jeffro - this is oct. 7th and i am going to try to be somewhere near medford on a week from this coming tuesday. i would like to know of a good place to pan for gold and to metal detect in a very general way. do you know of any pay for pan sites (in case i get desparate? ) i will have only four days total for this great outing. i will be coming from eastern washington. thank you very much. wayne

 

[Jeffro]

There's a gang of good stuff down there. Are you going to be north or south of Medford, and how far are you willing to travel in a day?

 

[wayne]

thanks for the comeback jeffro. from the yakima valley it will take a lot of the day just to get to medford. if you know of somewhere that is a shorter distance to a gold field i'm not rabid about being in medford. have you anything in mind? i'm 80 years old and am not too hot to walk long distances (i hate to confess this). thanks wayne

 

[Jeffro]

Sure, there are several areas on the way. First is Brice creek, which has three different free areas. Lund park, Cedar creek, and Hobo camp campgrounds. I have done the best at Cedar creek. Exit I-5 at Cottage grove and follow Row River road to the south and east for about 30 miles, they are all on any good map. Delormes atlas of Oregon is pretty good. Brice creek has good little nuggets in it, and not much fines.

Sharp's creek is right next door, to the west, and hasn't got much for nuggets, but fines a plenty. On Sharp's creek, any of the Weyerhauser land is open for panning, but no campfires or engines for dredges or highbankers.

Further south, just the other side of Roseburg between Roseburg and Myrtle creek is a good area. I have personally seen about a pound of gold taken from this stretch of the South Umpqua river, and its all free. There is a RV campground at exit 112 off I-5. My favorite areas are the campground, and the stretch on the east side of the river just north of Myrtle creek. Nice little tinker nuggies here, just a stone's throw from the freeway.

At exit 102 is Lawson's bar, on South Umpqua just below where Cow Creek dumps in. I've dredged nice gold from there, but not much off the bank if you're just panning. Who knows, maybe I just didn't hit the right crack? Scratch around in the brush anywhere you see bedrock poking up, no matter how far from the river, gold is all through the bar. It is deep, so don't waste your time unless you see bedrock...

At exit 76, Wolf Creek, you can pan from the I-5 bridge down to the town on the west side of I-5. These are known as the "Firehouse digs" -used to be a firehouse there. If you continue on under the I-5 bridge and south and east on Coyote Creek road, you will come to the quaint little ghost town of Golden about 12 miles east of the freeway. The church and store are still standing, last time I was there. On the way back to I-5, there are some free digs in the tailing piles from the old bucketline dredge that used to run at Golden. They're not well marked, but there aren't a whole lot of roads to check that head south, and they are right next to the Coyote creek road.

A little off the beaten path, there are great diggins at Galice on the Rogue River, about 20 miles North of Grants Pass. You can get there from Wolf creek, but the road is pretty windy and one way in spots. Usually closed in foul weather. Best road in to to go on down to Grants Pass and backtrack north on the Rogue.

Check the mouth of Galice creek at the Rogue on the east side of the road. Bedrock is the key here, lots of broken bedrock cracks to check, all of which hold color. Bring a prybar and a pan. Also check Rich Gulch and Rocky gulch, just downstream. Graves creek is just a little north of here, and the first 1/4 mile from the Rogue is open. Nice fines and little tinker nuggets here.

We haven't even hit Medford yet, but there's good digs at Gold Ray dam near there. Look east from Medford for it, and pan the bedrock below the dam. I think its 1/4 or 1/2 mile below the dam is open.

The campgrounds up Brice creek are free, I think, or 5 or 6 bucks if they changed it. The RV park at Rivers west, exit 112, is 12 bucks for camping and 20 bucks for an RV with full hookups. You can also camp on Graves creek pretty much anywhere alongside the creek for free as well, no hookups and pretty remote, so be careful out there. Most of these sites are near towns too, if you are looking for motels, etc.

Thats a good weeks worth of poking around right there, hope you hit a good one! Please pay me back by letting me know if you did any good, I don't need much else but to know you got a little color.

While in Wolf creek, take a look at the old Wolf Creek inn

 

[wayne]

hi jeffro - thanks for the gold sites. i've got my gps out , a map my car checked out and the gpaa atlas - i guess that i'm ready to go. i'm also bringing along my gm/vsat and my mxt. if i find or don't find any gold i'll let you know. i'm hoping for some real good weather in oregon from the 17th to the 20th. (its the least that it could do !) wayne

 

[Jeffro]

Best bet with the Goldmaster (My favorite) would be the Galice, rocky gulch and rich gulch sites. Use a prybar on the bedrock, then sweep.

 

[Peg Leg]

Hi Jeffro,
Got your EM.
I also have some info you will be interested in.
Later
Peg Leg

 

[wayne]

jeff - i just sent you an e mail telling you of our trip (kind of lengthy) if you don't get it , i will send it to you again on this forum. wayne

 

[Jeffro]

Cool- Hope you had a good time, I'll check it out now-

Unfortunately it didn't come through on e-mail-

 

[wayne]

jeffro - did you ever get my email to you or get the post on this net about my trip to some of the places that you suggested? wayne

 

[Jeffro]

Yeah, I got your PM and replied... no e-mail though. Sorry to hear you didn't get into some good stuff, but it sounded like you had a good trip anyways... remember when I replied I offered to go down with you next time?