Coos County Oregon Gold

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‘Whiskey Run Creek’

Coos County Oregon Gold

May.05, 2009 in Coos County GoldLeave a Comment

Beach

Near the town of Bandon, the ocean beach black sand deposits produced rich placers and they are still being worked today at a profit. These beach sands produced platinum and of coarse Oregon Gold. East of Bandon, the elevated marine terraces as high as 170 feet have been worked for the ancient black sand deposits and are said to be rich. North of Bandon, all the way to CapeArago, in the black sand is very fine placer gold and platinum. Also North of Bandon by 10 miles in township 27S, and range 14W, in section 10 you will find the Seven Devils Mine. It was worked for gold and platinum in the early days and for chromium in 1942-43. In CoosBay on the ocean beaches North and South of the CoquilleRiver produce platinum and oregon gold in black sand deposits. Near the town of Powers you will find the Independence Mine which was a large lode mine.

CoquilleRiver

In the regional streambed, bench and terrace gravels around Myrtle Point you can find placer gold in the CoquilleRiver. Along the South Fork of the CoquilleRiver, on Poverty Gultch, you will find the Coarse Gold Mine. North of Poverty Gultch you will find the Salmon Mountian Mine.

Steamer dispatch on the Coquille River, Oregon circa 1910.

Cow Creek

EdenValley on the upper west fork of Cow Creek there were many large placer operations that had rich gold deposits.

Cut Creek

If you go North of Bandon 6 miles you will find Cut Creek. It can be found by taking Seven Devils Road. This was the location of the Pioneer Mine, which consisted of an ancient elevated beach terrace black sand deposit that was sluiced until around 1915 and still occasionally worked for its placer content. Near by is the Eagle Mine.

Sweat Creek

Sweat Creek is located in section 36 of township 31S and range 10W and was a substantial producer of gold and platinum in placer deposits.

Whiskey Run Creek

At the turn of the century Whiskey run Creek was the scene of a very large Chinese placer operation. Today the beach sands and the creek itself have a lot of fine gold. Whiskey Run Creek is located about 6 miles northwest of Bandon on Highway 101.

CaliforniaBeach Placers:
Ocean-Beach Auriferous Sands: The gold-bearing deposits of California occur in many forms, but perhaps the least worked are the beach placers of the state. Beach-mining is the business of washing the sands of the ocean-beach. Between Point Mendocino, in California, and the mouth of the UmpquaRiver, in Oregon, the beach-sand contains gold, and in some places it is very rich. The beach is narrow, and lies at the foot of a bluff bank of auriferous sand. In times of storm, the waves wash against this bank, undermine it, sweep away the pieces which tumble down, leaving the gold on the beach. The gold is in very fine particles, and it moves with the heavier sand, which alters its position frequently under the influence of the waves and surf. One day, the beach will have. six feet depth of sand ; the next, there will be nothing save bare rocks. The sand differs greatly in richness at various times : one day, it will be full of golden specks; a few days later, at the same place it will be barren. The sand in the mean time has been moved by the waves, and replaced by other sand. Generally the layers of black sand, showing a concentration of the heavy materials in the sand, are the ones that carry significant gold. When it is most perfectly concentrated, it is said that at times the beach sand in the sunlight is said to be actually dazzling yellow with visible gold.

The auriferous beach sands, which once afforded profitable employment to many men, have years since become so impoverished that they figure but slightly among our available mineral resources. These ocean placers have, in fact, responded feebly to the attempts made of late to work them. But, for all this, we have these deposits of low grade in infinite quantity occurring at intervals. They reach along the sea-shore for many miles, extending at several points, in the form of buried channels, some distance inland. So abundant, but now so poor, these gold-bearing sands await the mining machine that is to make their further working profitable. Meantime, the auriferous beaches continue to be worked by hand at a few points and in a small way. Along the sea-shore in Humboldt and Del Norte counties, formerly the chief sites of this class of mining, the residents of that section of the State gather from these sands by hand-sluicing a little gold every year. Normally this is done during the low tide after major storms, during which time the wave actions form lines and layers of gold bearing black sand along the beach. The richest dirt often lies the farthest down on the beach, so still weather and low tide are the best times for getting it. When a rich place is discovered low down on the beach, great exertions are made to get as much of the sand as possible before the tide rises and covers it. The beach sand, having been separated from all clay and soluble matter by the action of the sea, is very easily washed, and all the gold bearing material collected in a month can be washed in two days time in a sluice.

High Banking (Hi-banking) and Related Topics - see our Gold Buddy power sluices and other high-banker models below.
Hibanking Tip #1
Do not run your high banker water pump without an air filter. Even though it may not look dusty, microscopic dust will score the intake valve and the combustion chamber, greatly reducing the life of the engine. Change the air filter a minimum of once per year.
Tip # 2
Change the engine oil after the first 5 hours on a new motor. This is "break-in oil." After that, change the oil every 20-25 hours running time. Typical high banker engines do not have an oil filter, and the oil must be changed more often than your car. Use ONLY grades and weights of oil recommended by the manufacturer. For Briggs & Stratton engines, ONLY 30W detergent oil (do not use 10W-30 or non-detergent oil).
Tip #3
Do not leave the water pump's gas tank empty, even overnight. When done for the day, top off the tank with fuel to prevent condensation from forming in the tank.
Tip #4
To store the water pump at the end of season, hook a water supply to the pump (do not run dry). Fill the tank with fuel treated with a fuel stabilizer, such as STABIL. Run the engine for 5-10 minutes. Cover and store in an area not susceptible to gas fumes buildup.
Tip #5
Use only the amount of hose necessary to bring the water from the water source to the work site. It is better to have 2 or 3 section of 25 feet each than a single 75 foot length of hose. The longer the hose, the more the pump has to work to get the water there.
Tip #6
Keep the speed of the water in the sluice box only fast enough to get a good "bubble" over the riffles. The water needs to be fast enough to wash out the light gravels, but too fast will also wash out the fine gold.
Tip #7
Feed the high banker slowly. Packing the hopper full will only cause the fine gold to ride the gravels farther down the sluice box, and possibly out of the sluice box all together. Feed it slow to keep the fine gold.
Tip #8
Watch the tailings coming off the grizzly. Large nuggets or specimens will fall off the grizzly into the pile of rocks and be lost. When the high banker is moved, check the tailing pile with a metal detector.
Tip #9
Use ribbed carpet under miner's moss in the sluice box. This will do a better job of catching fine gold better than miner's moss or ribbed carpet by themselves.
Tip #10
Attach a garden hose with a garden sprayer nozzle at the hopper. If necessary, you may have to modify and attach a connection for it. This hose will be used to spray down those areas of the hopper that don't get enough water to properly wash the gravels shoveled into the hopper.