CALAPOOYA RIVER

[hard rider]

Howdy everyone,anyone have any info on the Calapooya River,I hear it has some good gold on it............

 

[Jeffro]

Howdy M-

Just about every stream you've ever panned has better gold than the Calapooya, in my opinion. Sure you can find a flake here and there, and sometimes even get lucky with a small pocket every now and again, but as far consistancy? Naw, its pretty spotty.

 

[hard rider]

HEy! I know that guy in the picture! Hope you been doing good and the boy's happy........I've got a 76 yo uncle that panned up there high in the river in 1952,and he says he got enough panning to buy smokes and beer every week?

 

[hard rider]

He was logging for Gilbert @ Easton logging at there camp,would you know where that was Jeff? 1952

 

[Jeffro]

I have heard from a friend that he made a half ounce a day sluicing from a gravel bar up there.

Heard the same about the logging camp, too.

My own testing has been spotty, however. The fact that there has been minimal production up there leads me to think that its not that productive. maybe just stretching the truth a bit on these stories? I dunno-

Beautiful country and a good day out, especially this time of year. Wanna meet up next week?

 

[hard rider]

I've got you in my phone,I'll give you a ring later.............

 

[stryker-one]

The dirt in the roots of any moss pulled from a rock will give up fine gold on the Calapooya River. The gold there is not large but it is there in the moss and in low areas with roots.

Stryker

 

[oregongold.net]

Since I am from Marcola I have done my fair share of prospecting and poking around up there. The area in comparable to Quartzville over by Sweet Home and you will mostly find really small specks.

I've climbed up a lot of the waterfalls in the area with not much to show for it. I found that the United States Creek has decent gold on it across the river. As it originates up by the Lucky Boy mine.

On the other side of the Lucky Boy mine there are a few tributaries to the blue river system (Quartz creeks) that I have yet to try. I do not know if there are claims or not, but I want to check it out. On the map it shows a mine called Rialto Mine. Rather than wait for all the snows to melt (in order to get over Gold Hill) I think I will drive up McKenzie highway to try to get a see from there.

 

[jog]

Oregongold.net
Haven't done any prospecting in your neck of the woods,BUT have killed some really nice bucks in that area.

 

[BudP]

The Calapooia's 'fines' seem to replenish itself for no apparent reason or source. High water moss and roots are always full of fines but are hard to keep in a sluice. I think there is oil in the water due to a long lifetime of logging. Sometime in the past (I hope it is in the 'past') miners have used copper plates/murcury to hold fines. I have found mercury there in the riffles of my dredge.

About half way up from Holley, to the top there is, what looks to be, exposed bedrock.....it ain't. There is a cap of blue clay/aggregate over the bedrock in the creek. You can stand on it and have someone fifty feet away bang the 'bedrock' with a heavy bar or sledge and feel it in your feet. It is hollow. The cap. when exposed, is rusty-red with iron, bluish-purple under water. Everything in this area has claim signs on it. I do not know if they are valid. A smart person would check at Linn Co. Courthouse.

Also.....from about the second logging road fork to the top, look up at the sheer faces at the top with binoculars. There are tall Firs growing in what looks to be eight or ten feet of soil and under that is a band of OLD river rock; this hundreds of feet above the river. The river-rock 'band' runs for ten or so miles and stops, then after a mile or so it shows again for about a hundred yards......? a tributary maybe? A piece of the 'Big Blue'

Wish I was younger. I would get as high as I could, under that river-rock band, with a good detector. There has to be stringers bleeding out, down the hill to the water.

Bud

 

[oregongold.net]

I myself have poked around some of those places your talking about without finding anything. I still need to search the area a little more. I have already climbed several of those granite faces you see off to your left looking for quartz without luck. I have covered about 25% of that area so far. As far as redepositing every year...that might be...but it just might be some missed gold. I've never found enough to make a good solid determination.

 

[BudP]

The visible band of river rock I spoke of is high above the South side of the creek. It is clearly an ancient channel that ran N & S. The Calapooia cuts through it.....or did, a million years ago.