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About The Coquille Valley sentinel. (Coquille, Coos County, Or.) 1921-2003 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1942)
SECOND SECTION Coquille Valley Sentinel SECOND SECTION JUUJ—B -B«- I Story Of Discovery Of The Johnson Creek Gold Mines to the vanishing point, and it was he will ever have to whack another ’ necessary that he should go out after bull, in* since we have been suckers I more, so one morning at the eaHy day to follow him in here, it is my wish break he was off for the outside that this other stream that comes la world. The following evening found te it be named for the rest of us an* him at the Summers’ home and after that means that it be called Sucker giving his friend the good news, they Creek, an’ now what do the rest of began to arrange to make a trip back you fellers have to say?” Bray’s to the diggings the following morning. wishes were unanimously agreed to John had kept himself well con by the assembly and from that time cealed and was able to get out for the on these naptee have prevailed. Back in the logging camp, every return trip next morning, without being seen by any of the men em thing was in a state of topsy Curvy, ployed at the lagging camp or mill. no crew, no bull driver; While the old Johnson'«TatheFextended vacation schooner, Hea Gull, was -still lying at began to work a hardship on the boss the dock'awaiting a cargo of lumber, at the logging camp, as he was hav with the barnacles and teredoea eat ing a hard time to get a bull driver, ing her up. Meanwhile Cavanaugh and had began to inquire around try had gone into the barn to curry the ing to locate Johnson and get him old bovines and about the first thing back on the job, but to no avail aa his he knew, he was headed out feet first man seemed to have dropped com through one of the square holes, pletely out of sight, Sdme of the labor- which little incident didn’t improve era about camp had often heard John matters very much; but when he got son and Summers talk about pros dusted off and straightened up a lit pecting and made them the butt of tle, he grabbed the remainder of his crew and took off -------- after -- the — long over- a joke in the matter, but now that--------------------------- ... — Johnson was gone, and Summers was [ due first contingent. Before taking (By Bob Harrison) It was in the midsummer of the early 50’s that two roughly clad, bearded faced men sat together, out in front of a little logging camp bunk house, in the Port Orford district along Qte Oregon coast. One ot n»*n was tail, with , drooping shoulders' His dark hair was slightly tinged with gray, while his companion was rather short in stature, and his few remaining sandy locks hung down from bpneath his coon skin cap, to rest on the shoulders ' of his elaborately beaded buckskin coat. The short man with the sandy locks, was known throughout that region as “Sandy” Summers, while the tall man, whose occupation was that of an ox teamster, - had spent many years as a "Bovine Director," and earned the name, of Bovine John acting rather strange, they decided son. . .... Johnson and Summers I hqd crossed to look about to see what was really the plains together, and 1 had long going oh. One evening in the bunk been very close friends. They had house some of them began to- sur drifted into the Port Orford region mise as to what they thought about for the purpose of prospecting for the matter. Among the crowd, was gold, and while their finances were an old Indian fighter and keen-eyed very limited, one of them would work frontiensman, known as Ira Bray, who for wages, in order to keep the other was first to venture a guess on the fellow going, and as Summers knew mystery. “J,’U tell you boys jest what the mining game best, and had an In Ive got fig'ered out’ on old Bovine, dian women for his wife, re naturally an’ Sandy; them coyotes have been had better access to the ins and outs lookin’ fer diggins fer a long time, of traits, streams and hunting grounds an’ by gum. I’ll be} a cookie they’ve struck it, an' what’s more, old Bovine throughout the country. Aw the two men sat on the rough would never quit his whackin’ bulls bench out in front of the bunk house unless he has struck it dang rich, for that summer evening, they were tiiere’s nothin' he loved to do, more eagerly looking at some nuggets of than to tear the hides off’en them old gold that Sandy had taken from his critters, with his goad stick. Now walletrand as he did he said to his I’ll tell you fellers, that I’ve got my friend—“Now listen, Bo, these are the ideps screwed up to the top notch an* nuggets that ole Big Injun John give if I’m alive in the mornin' I’m goin' jne, an* sgRT that he found them at to pick up their trail, an' see Jest what the forks of a creek, over on yon side they’re-up to, an* if old Bovine is of that "bald knob, and’ I just now got playin possum on us I'll skin him back from thar, an by cracky, the alive, or bring him back in chains.” stuff is sure thar, an now we got to, “An* I’m goin’ right along with you play foxy, so’s the Injuns won’t get “Ira,” broke in Joe Sweat, another "mad at me for tellin’ whar it was, keen-eyed old woodsman and trap an’ I think the best thing to do, is we per, “£auae since that old bull both start back tonight aa soon as whacker Johnson has snuck out on us the moon comes up an* I will go as wa’ce all shut down an'-out’an work, far as the Bald Knob with yotnand an by gqrahwthat dude that the boas you go in alone and do the locatin' hired to Whack the bulls is a plitm jest like you done the findin,’ an' fizzle, fer when he went to herd ’em when yoirget camp started, then I can out into the woods, he let out a r be the. packer. I’ve got everything screech, an I guess the bulls thought all set 1for the trip, an’ all you got to it was a cougar a »quailin," an’ they do is to get yourself reedy.” Johnson jest h’isted their tails an’ left the soon found his way to the boss* quar country,“ About this time Cal Cavanaugh, the ters where he asked fof a few days boss, stumbled into the bunk house layoff on account of feeling bad, and thought he needed a rest, to which and with a big commanding voice, the boss reluctantly consented, by said," “boys, in the mornin' part o’ asking him to make it as brief as pos yea’ll take to the woods lookin’ fer the blackguard Johnson while the rest sible. A little later the two men were at of yez'll have to go out an’ round up Summers camp, and when the first the bulls, since that spalpeen o’ a glint of moonlight shot across the sky, driver has got the wits scared out o* they took to their ponies and were off them, with his screechin.” Daylight the following morning for the. trip, which led its way along the larger part of the the winding ridges and across gullies, found camp crew, headed by Bray, wehding to finally reach the hunter’s camp at the end of the horse trail, where they their way over the old Indian trail, arrived at early dawn. After a which they had rightly guessed was hearty breakfast, Johnson, under the the route over which Johnson and direction of Summers, took oft along Summers had traveled add about the sparsely blazed trail and headed mid-afternoon, they had located their for the supposed new Eldorado, man while Summers made his way back I Rounding a sharp bend in the trail, out to the settlement to make himself Bray and bis men stood in full view of conspicious, in order'to ward off any 1« neat little bark shed camp, posed ■ ■ * betrayed ■------- - the ' in the shade of the maples, on a bar suspicion that • he had Indians, whom at that time were not at the forks ot a beautiful wildwood any too friendly to the whites. On streafh, and there out in front along his way down into the little valley the bedrock was Bovine Johnson With along the stream, Johnson picked his his pick and pan. gathering in a way very carefully and about mid golden harvest. A loud cheering afternoon, he found what he felt was shout burst from a dozen husky throats, as Johnson straightened up the place and pitched his camp. The place was on a<bar at the forks to wave his right hand, in a welcom of a beautiful mountain stream, its ing salute. In a very short time the men were waters teeming with “speckled beau ties," while the woodland about was gathered around the sluice boxes and abundant with wild game. Sitting on a one look at the golden nuggets, suf boulder by the stream for a drink of ficed to eliminate any further ex water and a few moments rest, John planation whatsoever. From that son carefully surveyed the surround moment, it was quite evident that the ing landscape, and said to himself, entire crowd had broken out with “if the gold is here, this will surely that ages old, and pleasant malady, be a Paradise.” After preparing his ’’gold fever.” The remainder of that evening the camp for the night, and having some lunch, Johnson took up his shovel and men were busy locating suitable camp pan and started digging among the sites und the following day was taken boulders and to his great surprise, up in making claim locations, and by the first pan of sand yielded almost nightfall the place took on the look of a “rip roarin’" wild west minin’ an ounce of gold. Standing thegw all alone by that camp, and in the .evening, when the crowd was all gathered »t$out their4 'rippling stream in the great wilds of the west, gazing at the golden grains cheerful log fire, J3ray rose up and in his pan, Johnson raised his hand called the meeting to order, and said. high above his head and shouted. “In callin’ this august body together, “Eureka,” foi; this was a moment in I want to propose a few things - his life when his dream had come first, I want this beautiful stream to be named for the man who took the true. For several days Johnson was busy first gold nuggets from its bed rock, making locations and doing what he an’ that means it shall be forever could with his pan, washing out the known as Johnson Creek and too, sand from among the boulders, to since he has shown such nice nug get out as much of the precious metal gets, I wish him to be known as. as possible to take out with him. Coarse Gold Johnson, and the name Finally, after several days Johnson Bovine be forever dropped, as I don't PACK NINE ■B JJ-1 " ■asm Blue. We find Bray» ridge, Barklow Mountain, Sweats saddle, Land creek, McLeon flat, Phola Waterloo, or the place where he died “mit cramps.” Also Thurston's random, or the place where he took a chance shut »nd downed a big elk on a straightaway, and many other places of interest that would recall the names of some of those old hard-fisted pioneers who planted a new civilisation in that vast and unbroken wilderness. Johnson creqk proved to be a Very rich placer stream and was famous for its nuggat gold, a> well as for some nice specimens of the platinum group of metals and with ,a good sprinkling of native copper chunks, running in size from bird shot up to several pounds in weight, on which assays * were made. The assays showed that these copper nuggets ran high in gold, all of which had evi dently washed down from the hills and settled down in the placer in the stream bed. Salmon creek, Rusty gulch. Butcher gulch, Dixie and some other strikes followed the discovery of gold on Johnson creek and along with the beach mines at Randolph, Coos county was well represented in the mining industry, and while some of these old mining fields seem to be about exhausted, there is today, con siderable gold being recovered from them. dered their field of endeavor desolate Mining Location notices tor sale al and that they must seek other fields, this ottico. « ' strange to them, and since they have “hung up the pick and the pan,” they f 7 have not forgotten their contribution to that vast horde of treasure stored at Fort Knox, and wonder if the benevolent world would remember the source from which it found its WEJ’HOTOGRAPH ty to thia treasured store. The marks of their ax and pick bear wit ness to their handiwork, carved in the BABY'S PICTURE rock of these everlasting hills^Tand while the ranks of those old heroes FAMILY GROUPS has dwindled to a mere residue, they accept that verdict with a smile, knowing that mankind has been bet Old Photographs ter off for their having lived and con Restored i tinue their march down the “old In dian Jtriail,**‘ to that land where all men are made eqaal. Keys maoe tor -ail locks. Stevens Cash Hardware. Coquille Ore. tl V ■ after his absent teamster and crew, Cavanaugh made the old China cook, Generalissimo, monarch of all he surveyed, with instructions to keep the bean pot and rice kettle a goin’ for he’d be back with the gang in a jiffy, to which the old “slant eye” re plied, “No foelie old Wong, maybe so big bossyman no come back quick, About all the streams which flowed maybe so big bad bear catches him down from Salmon mountain. Bark- too.” low mountain and Iron mountain, Dawn the following morning found were known to be good placer gold Cavanaugh and his loyal half dozen producers and some very good gold crewmen out along the old Indian pocket deposits have been taken from trail, by this time plainly visible be the upland in that region, but aa a cause of the recent heavy traffic, rule, hard rock mining never wending their way along the windtng flourished in the district, the proba- ridges and across deep narrow gullies strictly base ore in character and until they passed the great Bald Knob shows a strong inclination to copper, where they broke over into the head which of course, is mined for re waters of Johnson crek. covery by an entirely different pro The day's shadows had begun to cess from that of free gold, and since lengthen when Cavanaugh and his the situation here is so similuar to faithfuls rounded a sharp bend In the that of some of California’s very rich trail, and there before them was J» copper districts, It would suggest that new born rip-roarin minin’ camp, this district might afford a good field pos ng in the shade of the giant map for prospecting by the core drilling les, that shyly nestled along that method, instead of the “old hen"..’ beautiful stream, deep in the land of method, so*popular at present, in that the Great Swalalahist. Weary and region. hungry, the little caravan halted for At pretent" it seems as if the a moment and then with a loud whoop ’’Knight« of the gold pan** are of relief, they advanced enmam and L were soon at ease on the moony "«--i P«» bvwHh the great maples, After a groat pow-wow of welcome, the newcomers were soon made comfy for the night and as they all sat around the evening campfire, Cava naugh rose to address the crowd, and said, “Well, b’ys, I can’t blame yez fer what yea did an’ what's mor«, I’m a goin’ to stay right hers an* get rich wid the rest of yea,” Within a very short time, Johnoen creek had developed Into a very busy and bustling mining camp, with all hands preparing for the coming win- ter season by building cabins, making sluice boxes, digging trails and doing all other necessary work which goes in developing a mining community. Rack over at the logging camp, Sam Wong was in a deep stew, as some of the managers of the enterprise had arrived from Friseo and were trying to find out from him what had hap pened to cause the shut down, but all they copld get was “Me no sabee, allee man go, tellee ol * Sam cookee heap licee, no come gatee, now Bam allee same« quite«.” With this “flying switch" the fate of the logging camp, along with the old China cook, moved out of the picture, as the discovery of gold on Johnson creek had made a total eclipse of the little lumbering enterprise. Owing to Its isolated location and difficulty of access, the discovery of the diggings on Johnson creek did not reach the outside world for almost two years, and during this time what few extra men that had drifted into the region were well established on the very best of the claims, which were no doubt very rich. By the time the general rush had filled up the district, mining wsa going on in about all of the tributaries of John- ’ son creek and a lively camp had struck up on Flannagan bar, along the Coquille river, below the mouth of Johnson ereek, where a company of Chinese were doing a stroke of busi ness, until moved out by the white miners. w- s’ & EXPLOITERS '4 c • » V ote 310 x VES e J üiílji - « SAYS 1 \ Your Tires Announang lust installed I * A 1 » New Weaver Safety Lage Drive on Free ■- Check in a Seconds Glance Your Some of the names of the early day miners,can bq recalled by such ob- jects as gulches, bars, creeks, «to., being ifeuned tor them. For instance, at the mouth of Johnson creek, we find Flannagan bar, also across on the opposite aid« of the Coquille river we have Kelley’s, bar; then as we go up Johnson creek we pass in succession, Flander's bar, Jefferson Falls, Collier’s camp, Ragsdale Flat, Hayes creek, Dean’s point. Green's rock, Stauff gulch, Felix or Blue gulch, named for an old Frenchman, who had evidently drank so much red wine, that it gave him a bluish hue, found that his supplies had dwindled believe from what I have seen, that which won far him the name of old * ★ * Southwestern Motor Co. X Buick Chevrolet - ■■'F' S1! » 1111 * ’ « » * £ ■m V
