Baker — BAKER County

Source: Tom Ashworth's Prospectors Cache (tomashworth.com / Mike Higbee / 49erMike). Author: Tom Ashworth. Original page: baker_or.shtml. State index: https://web.archive.org/web/20040830075749/http://www.tomashworth.com/goldloc.shtml Area: Baker. Map coordinates are an approximate county centroid — not a precise claim site. If you go south of Baker a few miles you will find Griffin Gulch. This was the site of the first gold discovery in Baker County. The Baker District alone produced over 37,000 ounces of gold. Half of that came from placers. If you go West by Southwest by 4-6 miles from Baker you will find the Dale Mine in West 1/2 of Section 22. The Dale mine produced free milling gold. In upper Washington Gulch, in sections 20 and 29, you will find The Stub (Kent) Mine which produced lode gold. At the South end of Elkhorn Ridge in most stream gravels you will find some placer gold. West of Baker by 6 miles in Township 9S and Range 39E you will find Salmon and Marble Creeks. These creeks had rich early placers, especially the Nelson Placer. On Salmon Creek, above the Nelson Diggings (placer), in the SW1/4 section 8 you will find the Carpenter Hill Mine. This was a large producer lode mine. In NE1/4 section 7, in McChord Gulch you will find The Paine-Old Soldier Group of mines (Yellowstone). These mines had a total production of 100,000 ounces of lode gold. East of Baker by 10 miles, near Virtue Flat, you will find the Virtue District. This district produced over 100,000 ounces of lode and placer gold. All area gulches leading up to the Virtue and White Swan gold mines contain abundant placer gold. There a lots of other productive mines in the area (e.g., the Brazos, Flagstaff, Hidden Treasure, Carroll B, Cliff, Cyclone, etc.) Northwest of Baker about 15 miles on the North side of Elkhorn Ridge in upper drainage of Rock and Pine creeks is the Rock Creek District. This District produced over 60,000 ounces of gold. On the North Fork of Pine Creek, you will find the Baisley-Elkhorn Mine. This mine was a principal producer discovered in 1882, with over 2 miles of underground workings. @ miles west of the Baisley-Elkhorn mine in the Rock Creek Drainage is the Highland and Maxwell mines, which were also major producers of lode gold. The Chloride, Club, and Western Union mines were all minor producers.