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    Gold Hill
    Gold Hill
    Gold Hill
    Ebook182 pages58 minutes

    Gold Hill

    By Dennis Powers and Gold Hill Historical Society

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Gold Hill is a product of the frontier days, when bold men sought golden riches despite ongoing hardships. The 1860 discovery of the famous Gold Hill Pocket, overlooking the present townsite, brought about its name with a gold rush that continued for decades and spilled into the nearby creeks and valleys, including mines with names like the Millionaire, Lucky Bart, and Roaring Gimlet. In 1884, the railroad bypassed neighboring settlements, which made Gold Hill a center depot and created ghost towns along the way. While the cry of "Gold! Gold! Gold!" filled the air, women and families drove in roots that tamed the town. When the area's mining and lumbering industries phased out, Gold Hill was then rediscovered in the late 20th century by folks searching for a small-town life, exquisite surroundings, and proximity to the legendary Rogue River. Wine tasting and vineyards replaced areas where stagecoaches once stopped and orchards grew.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439625392
    Gold Hill
    Author

    Dennis Powers

    Dennis Powers started writing in the seventh grade, when his first poem, “Nature’s Sculptor,” was published. His life since then has been devoted to writing, adventure, and the outdoors, although taking a few detours to earn his living. After earning a B.A., J.D., and M.B.A., he first worked for large corporations in financial areas, while he dreamed about another life. Establishing a law practice on the California coast in Santa Barbara, he was a single dad, and began writing poetry, newspaper and magazine articles, fiction, and nonfiction books, earning his keep during the day while writing at night. Deciding that teaching would give him more time to write, he joined the faculty at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, to teach business law for nearly fifteen years and recently retired. His non-fiction book, “The Office Romance,” was his publisher’s lead book and he was on a national book tour. After writing ten nonfiction books, Dennis has returned to his first love, which is writing fiction—including a few that came to the proverbial “close, but no cigar” to being published by New York City publishers. He also writes for regional public radio with over 100 stories aired over the last few years. Whether fishing for salmon, white-water kayaking, or wilderness hiking, his interests are with the outdoors—and his writing. Dennis resides in Southern Oregon, with his wife Judy, two cats and libraries of books. Having adventure traveled to over 75 countries, he journeyed to Costa Rica four times, the setting for his fictionalized adventure piece, “The Gold Bugs” at Smashwords.

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      Book preview

      Gold Hill - Dennis Powers

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      INTRODUCTION

      When the news reached north of the 1848 gold discovery at Sutter’s Mill in California, numerous settlers left to seek their fortunes there. On the way down, they panned and searched for gold, and a few stayed in Southern Oregon.

      The early 1852 news of gold discovered at Rich Gulch in what is now Jacksonville brought miners into the area from all over. Among them was William T’Vault, who built a log cabin with a post office that year at Dardanelles as the first settlement, becoming the first postmaster in Southern Oregon, among other credits. Located across the Rogue River from what later became Gold Hill, the name Dardanelles apparently came from the strait between the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Although T’Vault moved to nearby Jacksonville in 1857, Dr. George Ambrose, John Swinden, and a few others settled around Dardanelles with their families. Sparsely populated at the time, two tiny settlements with stagecoach stops then existed on opposite banks of the mighty Rogue, Dardanelles and Rock Point. In 1852, John B. White had established this tiny settlement named for the huge rocks at its point on the Rogue’s banks. Rock Point had its own hotel, a general store, blacksmith shop, and residences, and was quite similar to Dardanelles.

      In the 1850s, prospectors began discovering gold on the nearby creeks that fed into the Rogue, including Galls, Sardine, Foots, and Kane Creeks—with the precious metal found in 1857 on Sardine Creek. Both Galls and Foots Creeks were named after the specific pioneer who settled on that particular tributary, Sardine Creek probably came from the many miners who packed its banks, and although originally named T-Vault Creek, that tributary’s name was changed to Kane Creek in honor of a Dr. Kane, another settler there. All the area creeks and watersheds—and indeed nearly all in Jackson and adjacent Josephine County—produced gold. Some would stand far above the others.

      As more miners and settlers moved in, conflict grew between pioneers and Native Americans. There were bitter skirmishes, several major battles, and violent brutality on both sides. In 1856, the Indians were removed from the Rogue Valley to southeastern Oregon. Located 5 miles northeast of Gold Hill, Sams Valley is named for Chief Sam of the Rogue River Indians, who signed the peace treaty. The rich lands of these plains supplied excess grains, livestock, and dairy products that helped support the area.

      In 1857, 41-year-old Irish immigrant Thomas Chavner (pronounced kav-ner) purchased a donation land claim near Dardanelles and later acquired a ranch on the same side. In January 1860, as the story goes, two ranch hands were searching for stray horses in the hills above Chavner’s property on the Gold Hill side. One of the men, James Willis Bill Hay, sat down to look around. He became fascinated by a dull, yellowish something embedded throughout the rock he was sitting on, and noticed that the surrounding outcropping was littered with rocky yellow streaks. Hay later showed a piece of the brilliant white rock to his boss, Thomas Chavner, who immediately recognized it as being houndstooth quartz heavily laced with gold!

      Five men—partners George Ish, James Hay, O. J. Graham, A. J. Long, and Thomas Chavner—quickly filed the first gold mine claim, but by the following night—owing to one partner having a strong liking for liquor—150 men had staked claims with roped sections over the entire mountain. Cries of Gold! Gold! Gold! filled the air, and the gold rush was on. The mine became known as the Gold Hill Pocket (on Gold Hill Mountain), located above the present town site. This discovery near the hill’s top was probably the most famous of the regional gold pocket discoveries. The ore was white, almost transparent quartz, and the pocket was heavy with free gold. Some rock was so knit together with threads of gold that pieces would not separate when hit by a sledgehammer. A total of $700,000 ($40 million in today’s dollars) was carried out in fine jewelry-like gold and quartz nuggets over nine months, but the pocket soon became exhausted; subsequent operations failed to find further paying rock.

      Miners and their families swarmed around like bees, and the town of Gold Hill quickly arose. The first steam quartz mill to reduce the rock was brought to Dardanelles, and numerous sightseers came daily to see the new machinery. A daily stage run from Jacksonville was started. When the nearby gold strike dissipated, however, and numbers of stamp mills came into existence, Dardanelles lost its influence. The rough miners fished the Rogue River for salmon, drank hard whiskey, bartered with gold, and resolved their differences indifferently or by bare knuckles and bottles. Stagecoaches rattled by, blacksmiths hammered, stamp mills clattered, and sawmills screeched.

      An astute businessman, Chavner had bought out most of his partners early on, and with his share of the profits—along with foreclosing on unpaid land loans—he acquired nearly 2,000 acres of prime land along the Rogue River. He diversified into operating hotels, saloons, general stores, and extensive ranching operations, and it was said he owned 3 miles of land to what is now Central Point. He caused the Centennial Toll Bridge to be built across the Rogue in 1876, which he operated until selling it to the county 12 years later. When the Oregon and California Railroad came to Jackson County, it was Chavner who sold the land in 1883 for its right-of-way and depot, located across the Rogue from Dardanelles. He and his wife Rosa recorded the plat map in January 1884 for the town of Gold Hill, laying it out with lots of 50 feet by 100 feet. Deeding the streets and alleyways to the public, the Chavners sold off land parcels for homes and buildings to start the new town.

      The railroad’s choice of Gold Hill for a center depot drew people away from

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