Tuberale
Gold Member
Tom Penfield's Directory listing for Randolph Trail Treasure (gold bullion)
Pulled it out again. Don't like it.
Ed Sheiffelin's Lost Mine is given an XXX rating, while the Red Blanket Lost Mine (actually the same lost mine) is given an M rating; Soldier Treasure (a lost meteorite) given an XXXX rating, but should have been called Lost Port Orford Meteorite (now debunked: suggested to be a part of meteorite that fell in South America). But I digress.
Penfield lists Randolph Trail Treasure, said to be gold bullion worth $40,000 in the vicinity of Coquille, Oregon. To me this just doesn't make sense. Was he talking about the 2 mule loads of gold dust buried by Jean Baptiste and Joe Groulois near Whiskey Run? (Sell, Francis "The Golden Sands of Whiskey Run", in Gold! Annual No. 1, Vol. 1, p. 8)Two mule loads would have been approximately 200 pounds of gold dust and nuggets, not the $40,000 worth cited by Penfield. Coquille is inland from Coos Bay some 25 miles; Whiskey Run is an extinct mining camp found by Jean and Pierre in 1851, and first worked by them. When they returned from getting supplies at Port Orford (unlikely, more likely Northern California), white squatters ran them off their own claim.
McArthur's Oregon Geographical Names notes "Whisky Run, Coos county. Whisky Run, just north of Coquille River, was named at the time of the Coos CVounmty gold rush of 1853-55. Excitement in the locality was at a high pitch, and it hardly seems possible that liquid stimulants were needed, but the name of the stream indicates otherwise. Remarkable stories are told of the results of panning the beach sands. The community of Randolph was established near the mouth of Whisky Run but was moved to Coquille River after the gold fever subsided."
Pulled it out again. Don't like it.
Ed Sheiffelin's Lost Mine is given an XXX rating, while the Red Blanket Lost Mine (actually the same lost mine) is given an M rating; Soldier Treasure (a lost meteorite) given an XXXX rating, but should have been called Lost Port Orford Meteorite (now debunked: suggested to be a part of meteorite that fell in South America). But I digress.
Penfield lists Randolph Trail Treasure, said to be gold bullion worth $40,000 in the vicinity of Coquille, Oregon. To me this just doesn't make sense. Was he talking about the 2 mule loads of gold dust buried by Jean Baptiste and Joe Groulois near Whiskey Run? (Sell, Francis "The Golden Sands of Whiskey Run", in Gold! Annual No. 1, Vol. 1, p. 8)Two mule loads would have been approximately 200 pounds of gold dust and nuggets, not the $40,000 worth cited by Penfield. Coquille is inland from Coos Bay some 25 miles; Whiskey Run is an extinct mining camp found by Jean and Pierre in 1851, and first worked by them. When they returned from getting supplies at Port Orford (unlikely, more likely Northern California), white squatters ran them off their own claim.
McArthur's Oregon Geographical Names notes "Whisky Run, Coos county. Whisky Run, just north of Coquille River, was named at the time of the Coos CVounmty gold rush of 1853-55. Excitement in the locality was at a high pitch, and it hardly seems possible that liquid stimulants were needed, but the name of the stream indicates otherwise. Remarkable stories are told of the results of panning the beach sands. The community of Randolph was established near the mouth of Whisky Run but was moved to Coquille River after the gold fever subsided."
