Gold Pockets

There are counties in Oregon that are distinguished for rich pockets of gold in near to the surface zones of supergene enrichment. A number of of these pockets were spectacularly rich despite the fact that they were rapidly mined out. One very well known pocket digging was located in Josephine County and this was the Briggs Mine, where a lot of gold adding up to 2,000 ounces were taken out in 1904. Hunks of gold up to three feet in length were said to have been recovered.

Gold Nuggets
A number of nuggets that were reported to have been the size of chicken eggs are said to have been found in placer gravels and pocket deposits in Oregon. The biggest confirmed nugget was found in 1859 on the East Fork of Althouse Creek under the Briggs Pocket and it had an astounding weight of seventeen pounds. There was also another gold nugget that was found in the gravels close to the Esterly hydraulic cut in the early 1860s and it was reported to have weight an incredible fifteen pounds. Regardless of the abundance of nuggets in Oregon, for the most part gold that is recovered in placer mining operations can be found in the form of fine flakes.

Placer Gold
Placer gold in Oregon, Josephine County was first discovered in 1850 and uncomplicated hand mining techniques started in 1852. After a short time, hydraulic techniques came into the picture and an amount of deep cuts were made in the area. Placer gold can sometimes be located in stream channels, in bench gravels, and in terrace gravels up to six hundred feet above the current stream levels. Older channels can be located in the terrace gravels, some of which are rich. Gold is in general found at or close to fractured or decomposed bedrock. A number of the bench and terrace gravels are cemented. Boulders are frequent in a lot of the stream gravels, and a good number of the gravels have a range of a few feet to over fifty feet in thickness.

Placer Mining Work
Power shovels, dredges, and dragline excavators were commenced close to the turn of the century and were utilized until around 1952 all along a quantity of stream courses. Ever since 1960, people that have their own portable suction dredges have been able to locate a good amount of gold in some of the stream courses in certain places such as in Josephine County and in Jackson County to the east. A large amount of the placer work takes place between February and September which is a good time because the stream courses have an adequate amount of water.