Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
Cracker was an honest genuinegold mining and placering town in the 1870's
Several saloons,gambling houses ,bordello's,general store and hotel helped line the steeply inclined street. At the end tho little streets zigzagged off , haphazardously up the incline ,perching where they could.
At the turn of the century cracker began to deviate from honest mining and began to speculate. This was coincidal with their name change to ...Bourne...after US Senator Jonathon Bourne. The post office wasestablished in 1895.
Bourne became the bubble of "Get Rich Quick Schemes", all which burst in short order.
The post office closed in 1927 indicating the end was near.
Mines in the Cracker Creek district near Sumpter and Bourne tapped into what was known as the great mother lode of the Blue Mountains, reportedly one of the world's largest unbroken veins of gold. These mines furnished more than a quarter of the total of $17,000,000 for Oregon's gold output in the years 1896 to 1900. From 1900 to 1908, the Sumpter area produced $20,000,000 in gold; $12,000,000 of this came from fifty-three quartz mines.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mines at Bourne are still producing today, but it is a prime exhibit of a typical mining ghost town.
Bourne is located 7 miles up Cracker Creek from another familiar mining community, Sumpter
Several saloons,gambling houses ,bordello's,general store and hotel helped line the steeply inclined street. At the end tho little streets zigzagged off , haphazardously up the incline ,perching where they could.
At the turn of the century cracker began to deviate from honest mining and began to speculate. This was coincidal with their name change to ...Bourne...after US Senator Jonathon Bourne. The post office wasestablished in 1895.
Bourne became the bubble of "Get Rich Quick Schemes", all which burst in short order.
The post office closed in 1927 indicating the end was near.
Mines in the Cracker Creek district near Sumpter and Bourne tapped into what was known as the great mother lode of the Blue Mountains, reportedly one of the world's largest unbroken veins of gold. These mines furnished more than a quarter of the total of $17,000,000 for Oregon's gold output in the years 1896 to 1900. From 1900 to 1908, the Sumpter area produced $20,000,000 in gold; $12,000,000 of this came from fifty-three quartz mines.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mines at Bourne are still producing today, but it is a prime exhibit of a typical mining ghost town.
Bourne is located 7 miles up Cracker Creek from another familiar mining community, Sumpter
