Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/756



country lacking population and excess of capital. But the requirements for becoming a manufacturing state are present in abundance in water-power, tim ber, minerals, and the means of rapid transportation, and out of the small beginnings here referred to as proof of what our generation of men have ac complished in the face of unusual obstacles, another generation of their descendants will be able to evoke grand results.

MINES AND MINING.

I have not yet particularized the mineral resources of Oregon, except as to iron mentioned incidentally along with manufactures. Gold, as a precious metal, has exercised a great influence in the progress of the country. It gave the people a currency which emancipated them from the thraldom of wheat-raising and fur-hunting, by which alone any trade could be car ried on previously. It improved their farms, built mills and steamboats, chartered ships, and loaded them with goods necessary for their comfort. It enlarged their mental and social horizon, and increased their self-respect. It was California gold which first revolutionized pioneer Oregon. But there was gold in Oregon sufficient for her needs, had it been known. James D. Dana, of Wilkes exploring expedition, remarked upon the appearance of southern Oregon, and its resemblance to other gold-bearing regions, as early as 1841. Ten years later John Evans was appointed U. S. geologist to insti tute researches on the main line of the public land surveys about to be com menced in Oregon, and was, through the petitions of the Oregon legislature, continued in the service for several years. Evans was thoroughly identified with the study of Oregon geology. He was born in Portsmouth, N. H., Feb. 14, 1812; educated at Andover, studied medicine, and married a daugh ter of Robert Miles of Charleston, S. C. He was appointed assistant to David Dale Owen to prosecute some geological surveys in the west, and soon after completing this work was sent to Oregon. He died of pneumonia at Washington city, April 20, 1861. Silliman* Journal, xxxii. 311-18; Or. Statesman, May 20, 1861. But aside from satisfying the government of the value of its territories in a general way, these scientific surveys had little bearing upon the actual development of mineral resources. Gold deposits were always discovered by accident or the patient search of the practical miner.

Following the discovery of the placer mines of Rogue River Valley in 1851 was the discovery of the beach mines in 1852, on the southern coast of Oregon. Late in 1853 more than a thousand men were mining south of Coos Bay. Then came other discoveries, and finally the current of gold-seeking was turned into eastern Oregon, not altogether ignoring the western slopes of the Cascades, where mining districts were marked out, prospected, a pocket or two of great richness found and exhausted, and the district abandoned. These things have been spoken of as they occurred in the settlement of the country.

The actual yield of the mines could not be determined. About Jackson ville and on the head waters of the Illinois River they were very rich in spots. While five dollars a day only rewarded the majority of miners, it was not uncommon to find nuggets on the Illinois weighing forty-six, fifty-eight, or seventy-three ounces. Sac. Union, April 23, July 28, and Sept. 10, 1858; Dana s Great West, 284. The Jacksonville mines also yielded frequent lumps of gold from six to ten ounces in weight. The introduction of hydraulics in mining about 1857 redoubled the profits of mining. As much as $100,000 was taken from a single beach mine a few miles north of the Coquille River. About the spring of 1859 quartz mines were discovered in Jackson county, which yielded at the croppings and on top of the vein fabulous sums, but which soon pinched out or was lost.

About 1857 a discovery was made of gold in the bed of the Santiam and its branches in Marion county, but not in quantities to warrant mining, although a limited extent of ground .worked the following two yea