found to be in paying quantities. The sand in which it was found existed not only on the modern beach, but on the upper Coquille, forty miles in the interior, at a place known as Johnson Diggings; but the principal deposits were from the Coquille River south along the recent beach to the California line.[1]
A mining town called Elizabeth sprung up during the summer about thirty miles south of Port Orford, and another seven miles north of the Coquille, called Randolph City.[2] The latter name may still be found on the maps, but the town has passed out of existence with hundreds of others. For, although the returns from certain localities were at first flattering, the irregular value of the deposits, and the difficulty of disposing of the gold on account of expense of separation, soon sent most of the miners back to the placer diggings of the interior, leaving a few of the less impatient to further but still futile efforts.
The natives living at the mouth of the Coquille questioned the right of the white men to occupy that region, and added to insolence robbery and murder. Therefore, on the 28th of January, a party of forty, led by George H. Abbott, went to their village, killed fifteen men, and took prisoners the women and children. Seeing which, the chiefs of other villages were
- ↑ 'The deposit where the gold was found is an ancient beach, 1½ miles east or back of the present beach. The mines are 180 feet above the level of the ocean, which has evidently receded to that extent. The depth of the gold varies from one to twelve feet, there being 12 feet on the ocean side to one foot on what was formerly the shore side. The breadth is from 300 to 500 feet, which is covered with white sand to a depth of 40 feet. The surface is overgrown with a dense forest, and trees of great size are found in the black sand, in a good state of preservation, which proves that there the beach was at no remote period. Iron is a large component of this black sand, and it would probably pay to work it for that metal now.' Gale's Resources of Coos County, 31. See also Van Tramp's Adventures, 154–5; Armstrong's Or., 64–5, 57–9; Davidson's Coast Pilot, 119; Harper's Monthly, xiii. 594–5; S. F. Com. Advertiser, Feb. 23, 1854; Taylor's Spec. Press, 584; Cram's Top. Mem., 37. W. P. Blake, in Silliman's Journal, vol. 20, 74, says: 'Gold is found in the beach sand from the surface to the depth of 6 feet or more; it is in very small thin scales, and separates from the black sand with difficulty. Platinum and the associate metals, iridosmine, etc., are found with the gold in large quantities, and as they cannot be separated from the gold by washing, its value in the market is considerably lessened.'
- ↑ Parrish, in Ind. Aff. Rept, 1854, 268–75; S. F. Alta, June 5, 6, July 15, and Aug. 16, 1854.
