TOO many leads

eathan · Dec 11, 2006

Jeffro, thanks much! I'll have to check it out next time I'm down that way.

Nashoba · Dec 12, 2006

Jeffro said:
Eathan- That place on Coyote creek near Golden is called "Miller's Gulch". I like it, it looks promising, but I haven't found much there myself. I did see a three pennyweight nugget that came from there though. According to my source, they ran an especially fine screen in their bucketline, as there was gangs of fines, but not much big stuff. A lot of the the big stuff passed right through. There's a dinky little trickle of water running through there in the summer, I guess you could call it a creek, but I suspect the time to do anything serious down there would be in the fall and spring, when the water's really running. Of course, a detector's good all year round.

I can say from experience it is not a place to run a sluice in the heat of the summer...There ARE some promising looking areas up there though. I'm thinking come Spring we should all get together and check her out and sample a few spots. I am definitely not scared of doing my share of digging. I know of a couple of cracks there too that simple HAVE to have some gold carried in by winter water!

~Nashoba~

Jeffro · Dec 12, 2006

Saleen- Ok here's a few good spots to check out

Corbelt warm springs- about 15 miles east of Portland in the NE 1/4, sec. 27, T 1N, R 4E

I've done pretty good around hot springs with a metal detector, especially if they've been known about for quite some time. Check the surrounding areas where people may have changed clothes for rings and coins.

There was a portage area for immigrants from Bonnevile dam to the cascade locks. From what I understand it was a pretty sad story for those who had made it almost all the way here on the Oregon trail. Whatever they had left was pretty much stolen from them by unscrupulous persons controlling the area. May be a good area for artifacts.

Scarborough cache- I dunno about this one, kinda sketchy, but I'll give you the info I have on it and you can decide for yourself....

Southeast of Chinook, WA is a place called Scarborough Hill, named for Capt James Scarborough who took a 640 acre donation land claim there. He amassed quite a fortune, mostly in gold, exporting fish to the English. Died suddenly ( like most in these stories, LOL) and his cache has never been recovered.
"Fort Columbia cache" Oregon Journal, Feb. 14th 1932, sec. 5 p. 6
Lucile McDonald, "Washington's yesterdays" Binford's and Mort pub. Portland, OR 1953, pp.40-41
Letters of John McLoughlin, Oregon historical society, 1948, p 323.
Hult, Ruby El- Lost mines and treasures of the Pacific NW, 1954, "Scarborough Cache" pp 144-146

This one is definately true but I have no idea if its been recovered-The Johnson gold cache near Ilwaco on Baker's bay- Long story but well documented by those who were present, several eyewitnesses. I'll just give the references- 20,000 in gold slugs wrecked off the bar and salvaged by Capt. Johnson.

"Naming and early settlement of Ilwaco" Oregon historical quarterly, vol 47, (June 1946) p 181.
The Oregonian, March 30, 1936, p16. Item about Charles Bradt's discovery of a $5 gold piece on Johnson's claim.
L.R. Williams, "Our pacific county" Raymond, WA Herald 1930

For the full stories of both, see Ruby Hult's Lost mines and treasures of the Pacific NW, and the follow up, Treasure hunting NW. I see them both in the used bookstores every now and again. She was an excellent researcher and lists her sources, most of which concerning these two stories I have put down above.

The ghost town of New Era is just a couple miles south of Oregon City, on Market road off 99E. Several buildings and a mill should still be standing.

There are several fossil areas in Columbia county, OR just south and west of St.Helens. Mostly shells.

Agates are found a couple miles up Clear Creek, Columbia county, as well.

Jeffro · Dec 12, 2006

Nashoba said:
I'm thinking come Spring we should all get together and check her out and sample a few spots. I am definitely not scared of doing my share of digging. I know of a couple of cracks there too that simple HAVE to have some gold carried in by winter water!

~Nashoba~

Not a bad idea, Gypsy suggested this to me awhile back as well. I've had quite a bit of stuff holding me back from getting out there this year, but hopefully by spring we'll be able to travel. I'd be up for it!

saleen87 · Dec 12, 2006

thanks jeffro
funny you should mention lost mines and treasures of the pacific NW,I just purchased it a couple of days ago and it should be here any day,

Jeffro · Dec 14, 2006

I would give my left you-know-what for the ladies notes. Ruby El Hult was probably one of the best researchers I have come across.

I got your PM and hopefully I've pinned it down for you- Good luck!

eathan · Dec 15, 2006

Nashoba said:
I can say from experience it is not a place to run a sluice in the heat of the summer...There ARE some promising looking areas up there though. I'm thinking come Spring we should all get together and check her out and sample a few spots. I am definitely not scared of doing my share of digging. I know of a couple of cracks there too that simple HAVE to have some gold carried in by winter water!

~Nashoba~

Nashoba, I'd be up for it for sure. I'm from that area and love it!

Also, I'd love to swing a detector with anyone coming through the Salem to Eugene corridor.

saleen87 · Dec 15, 2006

Jeffro said:
I would give my left you-know-what for the ladies notes. Ruby El Hult was probably one of the best researchers I have come across.

I got your PM and hopefully I've pinned it down for you- Good luck!

Jeffro
I would have to agree with you there.I am reading Lost Mines and Treasures of the Pacific northwest and she deffinitly put her time in on research.

i got your pm and will try to get out there asap and check it out. Have you personally been to that site in the past?
thanks Ryan

Jeffro · Dec 16, 2006

Nope, but I have been to too many sites on my map not to trust it. To get to all 700+ sites would take many, many years. Thats why I'm passing out the ones I'll probably never get to. Hopefully it'll do somebody some good.

I'd appreciate a report, no need to make it public, but I like to know. So far a couple have done pretty good, a couple not so good. Its all for the adventure and no one has had a bad time.... Have fun out there and be safe!

cmeskim · Dec 17, 2006

Hi, I purchased a whites goldmaster.... I live in Eugene.. i recently found a chunk of platinum which i didnt expect it to be. in a gravel bed up sharps creek. i bet it was droped. .... I'am available to go detecting, prospecting, rain or shine.

FILL

Jeffro · Dec 19, 2006

Cmeskim, next time your up there, check out Brice creek just above cedar creek campground. We pulled some nice nuggies from the far bank just above the waterfall. Just one piece is worth thousands of sharps creek fines.

Unfortunately I can't get out much this winter, but next spring I think we may just do something like Nashoba mentioned.

cmeskim · Dec 22, 2006

Been to ceder creek, but not where u mentioned. I know the creek is full, but i plan to take a drive up there to get an idea what the creek does when full. hopefully it will give me ideas where to look when the creek lowers. i wouldn't mind taking my metal detector. is it worth looking above this area? Thanks for the info. i will get back to you. I have a the next week off and nothing to do.

Phil

Jeffro · Dec 22, 2006

Yes, it is.... it definately is. Don't bother going above where Champion dumps in though, thats where the good stuff comes from. Never found nothing worth squat on Brice above where Champion dumps in. There's a couple GPAA claims up there, everything else is pretty much claimed up. Don't bother panning, its all big and in the cracks in the bedrock. Boulder flipping time.

Brice, on the other hand, is still good in the spots where you can find hardpan. Its been hit hard over the years. If its loose diggin, you may get lucky, but I generally just rake it out of the way to get down to the hardpack.

Depending on the rain, you may have to cross the bridge at Cedar creek to get to this spot, but if the water's still low enough you can wade to it- here's where I got some good nuggies-...... unfortunately I can't get a "X" to mark the spot, after trying google earth, topozone and Maptech..... but anyways, go upstream from Cedar Creek campground till you hit the falls. Go about 100 yards upstream further. You'll see a deep pool with a gravel rapids at the lower end. On the east side, just above the rapids is a good settling out spot. Nice stuff in there under the tree roots.

Good luck and be carefull, if the water is high, hike the other side across the bridge at Cedar creek. Don't risk it. I just about swept over the falls one time.

nugets4me · Dec 26, 2006

Jeffro said:
Hey there all-

Jack, I think I sent you an e-mail on this one, but I can't be sure... For some reason if you attach a pic my e-mail won't let me open it.... if you imbed in the text of the email, it comes right up. I dunno why...

Sorry I missed You again but life happens! Try again tomorrow

cmeskim · Jan 2, 2007

I was up just above ceadar. the creek was raging, very neat to see 6-10 feet higher. I was up in your area and was scared away by a brief dark cloud which rendered strong winds, a few load cracks of lightning with immediate hammering thunder,and a huge cracking, snapping sound above me, which ended with a huge crashing sounds of a tree falling hard to the ground. i dropped what was in my hands, and ran like a champ out of there. that cloud quickly passed and i retrieved my things.

i went back 4 days later. the creek level went down considerbly. I found good flakes in the grass and moss, and nothing bigger.
i was using my GMT e-series, and found almost a dollar in change on the bed rock. I ran across a few rocks that were quartz looking and kept getting a zip-zip sound from them but saw nothing. i put them in my pocket and forgot about them. yesterday i found them in my pocket doing laundry. i looked close at these rocks and saw very small gold colored viens and spots. not much. could this be gold?
phil

Jeffro said:
Yes, it is.... it definately is. Don't bother going above where Champion dumps in though, thats where the good stuff comes from. Never found nothing worth squat on Brice above where Champion dumps in. There's a couple GPAA claims up there, everything else is pretty much claimed up. Don't bother panning, its all big and in the cracks in the bedrock. Boulder flipping time.

Brice, on the other hand, is still good in the spots where you can find hardpan. Its been hit hard over the years. If its loose diggin, you may get lucky, but I generally just rake it out of the way to get down to the hardpack.

Depending on the rain, you may have to cross the bridge at Cedar creek to get to this spot, but if the water's still low enough you can wade to it- here's where I got some good nuggies-...... unfortunately I can't get a "X" to mark the spot, after trying google earth, topozone and Maptech..... but anyways, go upstream from Cedar Creek campground till you hit the falls. Go about 100 yards upstream further. You'll see a deep pool with a gravel rapids at the lower end. On the east side, just above the rapids is a good settling out spot. Nice stuff in there under the tree roots.

Good luck and be carefull, if the water is high, hike the other side across the bridge at Cedar creek. Don't risk it. I just about swept over the falls one time.

Jeffro · Jan 3, 2007

Definately could be, although there's alot of leaverite up there, too.

Grab a loupe and check it out further. If the bedrock you're talking about was just upstream, thats where I found this-

Jeffro · Jan 3, 2007

I should really rename that, its not gold, but I thought it was at the time, LOL! Lots of coins up there, as you found out. Brice creek is spotty. Either you get the goods or you don't, up there. When you do hit a good one, you'll be pretty doggone happy.

steve m · Jan 3, 2007

Hello all. I too live in Portland area. Would be great to hook up with fellow detectorists and go detecting. Just recently got a whites M6 to go play with. Anyone in se Portland area want to go detecting let me know. Very cool thread by the way. How do I get one of those hippy made maps?

LOL
TTYL
Steve M
smcki49637@aol.com

Jeffro · Jan 3, 2007

They are no longer being made. I keep up to date with the guy who holds the copyright, and he says he wants to publish them again, but he doesn't know when.

Nashoba · Jan 3, 2007

WEll ladies and gents....Looks like we have to plan a springtime get together....We all love it and want to go, so I say let's DO IT!!!!!

Anyone interested just shoot me a messege or email me!

~Nash~