Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Jacksonville, in the Ashland district, in the Applegate
River valley and Takilma area, and in the upper Illinois
and Chetco river watersheds.
The Galice-Silver Peak mining district, a
narrow zone about 5 miles wide and 15 miles long
through the rugged Rogue River valley, began with
placer mining about 1854. By the 1880s, Chinese were
working small placers on Grave and Galice creeks for
an estimated total of $8,000 a year. A 5-stamp mill at
the Gold Bug Mine in 1886 and a 100 ton furnace at
the Almeda Mine north of Galice in 1908 initiated lode
mining. Rising and falling gold prices dictated the
opening and closing of mines in this and other districts
before World War II. Since then, only a few seasonal
placers have been worked in the Galice district.
At Galice, the Almeda mine exploited the Big
Yank lode, discovered in 1874. With more than 3,000
feet of underground workings, the extensive Almeda
was only exceeded in length by the 5,000 feet of tunnels
at the Benton mine southwest of Glendale, the largest
underground operation in southern Oregon. The
presence of massive copper sulfide in association with
gold here was soon recognized. Once the Almeda
California. Soon Jackson was the most populous county
in Oregon with mining camps springing up in adjacent
Josephine County as well.
Rich stream deposits of placer gold were washed
out of gravels by hydraulic methods that necessitated
the construction of ditches and flumes to bring water
from miles away to the diggings. Many of the ditches
were dug by Chinese laborers, and the famous 23- mile
long Sterling Creek ditch constructed in 1877 was fed
with water from the Little Applegate River. Most of
the old placer workings are still visible. With over 75%
of the gold produced in the Klamaths from placers, the
Sterling Creek find proved to be one of the most
productive with a total output of more than $3,000,000.
As the placers were fully exploited, gold was
traced along the streams back to its lode sources. Lode
gold mining began during the 1860s, and in the peak
years from 1879-1908 over 150 lode mines were operat-
ing in the Klamath province. Of these, 6 mines sup-
plied the bulk of the gold estimated at $7 million,
while 14 other mines produced $600,000. Aside from
the North Pole Mine in Baker County, the Greenback
Mine located on Grave Creek in Josephine County was
the most productive in Oregon at $3.5 million.
Six leading mineral-rich regions in the Klamath
province are found near Galice and Canyonville, in the
Greenback and Grants Pass district, near Gold Hill and
Paleoenvironmental setting of the
Turner-Albright mineral district
(after Harper, et al., 1985)
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