John Day to Deer creek, or at least I think I can get us that far in this post. Or maybe not. We’ll see.

From this point on we are getting closer and closer to 2023 as we go along. Along the way we got a little off the main highway to collect worm rock from a road cut and various other stones from old mine tailings a little further down the road. Somewhere between the Kam Wah Chung museum and Deer creek it’s starting to dawn on me that our state park system is running a big jobs creation system in Eastern Oregon. My next clue was the Bates campground.

https://stateparks.oregon.gov/index.cfm?do=park.profile&parkId=109

This is a pretty little campground with well watered and manicured lawns. It looked like you could get a spot there just about anytime you wanted one. There is also another nice state campground near Sumpter.

https://stateparks.oregon.gov/index.cfm?do=park.profile&parkId=7

The Forest Service also has a couple of regular campgrounds in the area. We passed on all of those for something nicer, but first we rode the train and looked at the old gold dredge. This is another historic site that sat alone and unloved for a long time. The state parks system restored the old dredge and added a small interpretive center, with more jobs.

On the west side of the mountains the various government campgrounds can’t keep up with the demand for campsites during the summer. One the east side it looks like you could get a camping spot just about anywhere, anytime you wanted one. The busy season is probably in the Fall during hunting season.

“Three dredges worked the valley from 1913 to 1954. Sumpter No. 3 was built substantially from parts of the first dredge, which had been idle for 10 years. Between them, the dredges traveled more than 8 miles (13 km),[4] extracting $10 to 12 million worth of gold. Still, it cost more to run than the gold could pay for. The last dredge closed in 1954, more than $100,000 in debt. In its lifetime this dredge made $4.5 million at $35 per troy ounce. That is 128,570 troy ounces which, at the recent value of $1,400.00 per ounce, would be worth $180,000,000.[5]

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has preserved this historic area as the Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area.[6] The park includes the Gold Dredge Gift Store and Museum, with a video featuring interviews with dredge workers, historic photos and artifacts. Tours of the dredge are provided. The dredge was part of a paranormal investigation on the 2013 television series Ghost Mine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumpter_Valley_Gold_Dredge

They figure that the dredges only captured about 40% of the gold there. No one has found a profitable way to dig up the rest of it.

The train runs through the 8 miles of the Powder river valley that had been plowed up by the gold dredges. The dredges created a pool to float in so the dredges could easily be moved. They left behind regular rows of tailings. The only significant variation is that the Sumpter end of the line has more trees. It takes 45 minutes to go that 8 miles and there is an hour layover at each end. So their trip back in time takes 2.5 hours. In Sumpter time pretty much stood still after the last dredge shut down in 1954. Now there are 4 restaurants, a motel and various other accommodations. Three of the restaurants were connected to a bar. The fourth one was connected to a pot shop.

http://www.sumptervalleyrailroad.org/index.html

By the time we had finished with the train the interpretive center was closed, but we were able to look around the old dredge.

On the west side of the mountains the bean counters for the federal government figured out it was cheaper in the long run if they paved the logging roads. The math appears to be different on the east side. The logging roads are still gravel. We drove about 20 minutes further into the hills on a logging road to the Deer creek campground. The campground is just a spur off of a logging road with some gravel on more or less flat spots. It’s first come, first served, and free. We were the only people there on Saturday night. A few cars went by while we were there. It’s a beautiful spot next to the creek with a lot of trees.

The next day we drove back to Sumpter to see the interpretive center at the gold dredge. Sumpter is even stranger than John Day. The population is 245 people and over 97% white. The median age is 70.5. The park ranger we spoke with said just about everyone there is from somewhere else. It’s rare to meet someone who has lived there for more than 2 or 3 years.. He lives in Baker City for his son, because there aren’t many kids living in Sumpter.

The interpretive center has free gold panning lessons. They have added small flakes of mined gold to natural sand. For $5 you can keep three small flakes of gold and a couple of small garnets. The little bottle they put them in is probably worth more than the gold and garnets.

TB

On Friday, June 16, 2023 at 8:15:42 AM UTC-7, Technobarbarian wrote:
> John Day to Deer creek, or at least I think I can get us that far in this post. Or maybe not. We’ll see.
>
> From this point on we are getting closer and closer to 2023 as we go along. Along the way we got a little off the main highway to collect worm rock from a road cut and various other stones from old mine tailings a little further down the road. Somewhere between the Kam Wah Chung museum and Deer creek it’s starting to dawn on me that our state park system is running a big jobs creation system in Eastern Oregon. My next clue was the Bates campground.
>
> https://stateparks.oregon.gov/index.cfm?do=park.profile&parkId=109
>
> This is a pretty little campground with well watered and manicured lawns. It looked like you could get a spot there just about anytime you wanted one. There is also another nice state campground near Sumpter.
>
> https://stateparks.oregon.gov/index.cfm?do=park.profile&parkId=7
>
> The Forest Service also has a couple of regular campgrounds in the area. We passed on all of those for something nicer, but first we rode the train and looked at the old gold dredge. This is another historic site that sat alone and unloved for a long time. The state parks system restored the old dredge and added a small interpretive center, with more jobs.
>
> On the west side of the mountains the various government campgrounds can’t keep up with the demand for campsites during the summer. One the east side it looks like you could get a camping spot just about anywhere, anytime you wanted one. The busy season is probably in the Fall during hunting season.
>
> “Three dredges worked the valley from 1913 to 1954. Sumpter No. 3 was built substantially from parts of the first dredge, which had been idle for 10 years. Between them, the dredges traveled more than 8 miles (13 km),[4] extracting $10 to 12 million worth of gold. Still, it cost more to run than the gold could pay for. The last dredge closed in 1954, more than $100,000 in debt. In its lifetime this dredge made $4.5 million at $35 per troy ounce. That is 128,570 troy ounces which, at the recent value of $1,400.00 per ounce, would be worth $180,000,000.[5]
>
> The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has preserved this historic area as the Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area.[6] The park includes the Gold Dredge Gift Store and Museum, with a video featuring interviews with dredge workers, historic photos and artifacts. Tours of the dredge are provided. The dredge was part of a paranormal investigation on the 2013 television series Ghost Mine.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumpter_Valley_Gold_Dredge
>
> They figure that the dredges only captured about 40% of the gold there. No one has found a profitable way to dig up the rest of it.
>
> The train runs through the 8 miles of the Powder river valley that had been plowed up by the gold dredges. The dredges created a pool to float in so the dredges could easily be moved. They left behind regular rows of tailings. The only significant variation is that the Sumpter end of the line has more trees. It takes 45 minutes to go that 8 miles and there is an hour layover at each end. So their trip back in time takes 2.5 hours. In Sumpter time pretty much stood still after the last dredge shut down in 1954. Now there are 4 restaurants, a motel and various other accommodations. Three of the restaurants were connected to a bar. The fourth one was connected to a pot shop.
>
> http://www.sumptervalleyrailroad.org/index.html
>
> By the time we had finished with the train the interpretive center was closed, but we were able to look around the old dredge.
>
> On the west side of the mountains the bean counters for the federal government figured out it was cheaper in the long run if they paved the logging roads. The math appears to be different on the east side. The logging roads are still gravel. We drove about 20 minutes further into the hills on a logging road to the Deer creek campground. The campground is just a spur off of a logging road with some gravel on more or less flat spots. It’s first come, first served, and free. We were the only people there on Saturday night. A few cars went by while we were there. It’s a beautiful spot next to the creek with a lot of trees.
>
> The next day we drove back to Sumpter to see the interpretive center at the gold dredge. Sumpter is even stranger than John Day. The population is 245 people and over 97% white. The median age is 70.5. The park ranger we spoke with said just about everyone there is from somewhere else. It’s rare to meet someone who has lived there for more than 2 or 3 years. He lives in Baker City for his son, because there aren’t many kids living in Sumpter.
>
> The interpretive center has free gold panning lessons. They have added small flakes of mined gold to natural sand. For $5 you can keep three small flakes of gold and a couple of small garnets. The little bottle they put them in is probably worth more than the gold and garnets.
>
> TB

I thought the numbers I had found for Sumpter sounded a bit off. The Wikipedia numbers are probably more accurate.

As of the census of 2010, there were 204 people, 119 households, and 65 families residing in the city. The population density was about 94 inhabitants per square mile (36/km2). There were 307 housing units at an average density of about 141 per square mile (54/km2). The racial makeup of the city was about 92% White, 2.5% Native American, 0.5% Asian, and 5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1% of the population.[25]

There were 119 households, of which about 7% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 51% were married couples living together; 2.5% had a female householder with no husband present; less than 1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 45% were non-families. About 40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.71 and the average family size was 2.22.[25]

The median age in the city was about 62 years. About 6% of residents were under the age of 18; 3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 8% were from 25 to 44; 49% were from 45 to 64, and 34% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 54% male and 46% female.[25]

When we're talking about Oregon this is another number that's important to keep in mind:

"Like other western states, Oregon has a sizable public land base, with approximately 53 percent of its 61 million acres in federal lands, most of it managed by the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service. Other important federal holdings include Crater Lake National Park, several national monuments, and the recently created Steens Mountain Cooperative Management area. State and local governments control another 3 percent of Oregon land."

https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/narratives/this-land-oregon/people-politics-and-environment-since-1945/oregons-public-lands/#:~:text=Like%20other%20western%20states%2C%20Oregon,and%20the%20U.S.%20Forest%20Service.

This is what it looks like on a map:

https://projects.oregonlive.com/maps/land-ownership/index.php

One of the biggest ranches out there in the middle of nowhere is 50 miles on one side. The usual pattern is that the ranch owns a lot of land and leases grazing rights from the Feds for even more land. Traditionally it costs the Federal government more to manage the land than they get back from the resources they sell or lease. This is another hidden way that taxpayers subsidize ranching, farming and logging. Out there in the Great Basin they figure it takes at least 30 acres to feed one cow.

TB