Doggin’ America’s Gold Rushes
So you think gold strikes are things you only read about in history books? Tell that to the prospectors still hunting gold in 2009. California has more than 25,000 active gold-mining claims. And when we slide into times like these when money gets scarce, people’s dreams drift back to that big gold strike - in the first three months of 2009, 1,173 more claims were filed in just California (http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2009-04-02-goldpanning_N.htm).
Those figures don't tell the full story because anyone can prospect for gold on many public lands without a claim. No one knows for sure how many people are actually actively searching for gold or how much is being found. Prospectors who find pieces big enough to bring real money aren't inclined to reveal much about the location.
The good news for dog owners is that many of America’s historic gold strikes can be explored with your dog if you are planning to chase gold this summer....
Reed Gold Mine State Historic Site (North Carolina)
On a lazy Sunday in 1799 Conrad Reed played hooky from church and went down to play in Little Meadow Creek on the family farm. Young Conrad found a shiny yellow rock and brought it home. A silversmith in nearby Concord was unable to identify the rock, purported to weigh 17 pounds, so for several years it served as a doorstop in the Reed home. Finally in 1802 a jeweler recognized the rock as being of gold and the Reed family began searching in the creek for other valuable deposits - but only in late summer after the crops were in. Soon America had its first gold mine and its first gold rush. By 1824 the Reeds had collected an estimated $100,000 worth of gold from their creek and underground mining began. Gold would continue to be removed from the area sporadically until 1912.
Your dog can’t take the free mine tour but is welcome on the trails that pick along both lode and placer mining areas. The Lower Hill Trail features “Talking Rocks” that describe the mining activities at Reed Gold Mine and various rocks found in the southeastern United States. Numerous locations feature historic mining machinery, and an area on Upper Hill has the chimney and restored foundations of the 1854 mill house. And for a couple of bucks you can rent a pan and try your luck at finding gold.
The Switzerland of America (Colorado)
The mountains of southwestern Colorado are so rugged they earned the nickname, “Switzerland of America.” Still, the promise of gold and silver brought prospectors to blaze trails and build roads deep into the mountains. In 1892 President Benjamin Harrison created the Grand Mesa National Forest as the third such reserve in America. The Uncompahgre and Gunnison forests soon followed and together the three parcels of public land, managed as one unit, contain more than three million acres - the largest national forest in the Rocky Mountains.
This is the place to come for challenging canine hiking. And there is a surprising amount of hiking and not climbing on some of the highest mountains on the continent. Uncompahgre Peak is a stand-alone “fourteener“ at 14,309 feet that can be reached with a seven-mile round-trip ascent. About half the mountain is above the treeline and this is an open hike that begins with a long, steady gain before a steep scramble to the flattish top above the Big Blue Wilderness.
Near the Victorian mining town of Ouray you can test the 4.2-mile Bear Creek National Recreation Trail. Steep inclines early in the hike serve up views of town before the trail picks its way through Bear Creek Canyon. Pay attention because the footpath, built by miners, shrinks to two feet wide in places. Your destination is the Yellow Jacket Mine but backpackers can penetrate deeper into the mountains.
Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park (California)
If you were able to assemble all the gold ever mined in the history of the earth it would fit comfortably in two Olympic swimming pools. And about 1% of all the above-ground gold ever mined was found in the first five years of the California Gold Rush. Those first shining flecks of gold were spotted in a tailrace for a sawmill James Marshall was building for himself and John Sutter alongside the American River in 1848.
Today you can stop and poke around with your dog at one of America’s most historic sites. The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill triggered the greatest mass migration of people ever seen in the United States and ignited the spectacular growth of the West but ironically, the area today is peaceful and unpopulated. You can still pan for gold in the American River and your dog will find her own treasure playing in the soothing rapids.
Empire Mine State Historic Park (California)
The Empire Mine was the richest hard-rock mine in California, operating for 106 years and producing almost six million ounces of gold. But it never came easy. Logger George Roberts discovered a quartz outcropping glistening with gold near where the present-day parking lot is shortly after the 1849 Gold Rush began. Miners swarmed the area but to get at the gold they had to dig and blast and by 1851 most of the prospectors sold off their claims to a consortium that consolidated them into the Empire Mine. It would not be until the 1880s that the mine would turn a profit. Eventually 367 miles of tunnels, some over a mile deep, would be excavated at the Empire Mine.
Today you can get a look at the main mine shaft and explore ten miles of wooded trails with your dog. The interpretive Hardrock Trail investigates the mills and machinery necessary to mine gold across two miles and 20 trail stations. A one-mile loop off the main drag climbs Osbourne Hill that is sprinkled with old mine sites and foundations. Across Highway 174 from the Visitor Center the Pipeline Trail on Union Hill follows the route of a pipe that carried water from a reservoir to power mining machinery.
Jacksonville Woodlands (Oregon)
Gold was discovered in Oregon’s Jackson Creek in 1851 but it brought neither fame nor fortune to the prospector, a lone miner remembered today only as “Mr. Sykes.” Gold fever flared soon enough and within two years there were thousands of men tediously pulling flakes and nuggets from area creek beds. Jacksonville’s first brick buildings were in place by 1853 as the town thrived. It even became the county seat but when the Oregon & California Railroad headed for nearby Medford in 1887 and bypassed Jacksonville the good times ground to a halt. Jacksonville residents built their own railroad four years later but the struggling line was dismantled and sold in 1925. During the Depression desperate residents dug deeper into the ground under the town to extract a few dollars of gold to survive. Not much happened in town after that. So little changed, in fact, that the entire downtown was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
In 1989, residents formed the Jacksonville Woodlands Association to preserve and protect the quiet forests on the slopes surrounding the town. Most explorations of the Jacksonville Woodlands will start in town along the Zigler Trail, a flat one-mile journey along the Jackson Creek where gold was first discovered. A detailed brochure tells the fascinating story and makes for a prolonged walk with the dog. Strollers will want to turn around at the footbridge and retrace your pawprints but adventurous canine hikers will turn left and climb the ridges and canyons above the town. The 3-mile Rich Gulch Trail leads to a panoramic view of Jacksonville and countryside.
After hiking through the peaceful Jacksonville Woodlands, be sure to take your dog on a walk through town. More than 80 original brick and wooden buildings from the 1800s are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Dogs are as welcome in Jacksonville today as they were in the mining camps of yesteryear - there is a water bowl placed for dogs outside the Visitor kiosk.
Fifteen miles south of Jacksonville on Upple Applegate Road you can continue your dog’s quest for gold on the Gin Lin Trail. In 1881 Gin Lin, a Chinese mining boss who had already successfully mined in other areas of the Applegate Valley, purchased mining claims in the “Palmer Creek Diggings” area. Results of hydraulic mining operations are evident along this trail. Gin Lin reportedly took up to $2 million in gold from his claims in the Applegate Valley. Jealous of his success, other miners lobbied for new laws to tax those of Oriental descent which caused Gin Lin to retire from Oregon. His trail is lost to history at this point.
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