While we were staying at Fisherman's Trailer (now RV) Park in Winchester Bay during the summer of 1958, the owner Jack Himbaugh invited Dad to go with him on a visit to the gold mining claim in a remote part of Oregon* that he and a partner were working. The first photo shows the bulldozer the two men were using in their attempt to reach bedrock on the property.
[Northwest United States -- Physical. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]
To reach the claim, Dad said they turned off a county road onto a logging road, then left that to follow a fire trail, and finally several traversed a couple of miles of rough track bulldozed out of the wilderness, ending up at an old cabin built by earlier miners next to the gold-bearing stream. Farther on the canyon opened out into a sunny water meadow filled with carnivorous pitcher plants (Darlingtonia californica).
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| [Jack Himbaugh, right, and his partner Ferdinand (last name forgotten) on the left] |
[Ferdinand standing next to the chain at the entrance to the claim]
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| [Jack drove an old Dodge Power Wagon--this was probably taken through its windshield] |
[All color slides from my personal collection]
*Probably in either Coos or Douglas County.
© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.
Imagine getting all he stuff up there. I guess the bulldozer makes its own road but you need to bring fuel. I wonder if they ever found anything? Other than bears and pitcher plants. I do love the water meadow, and imagine how many mosquitoes a pitcher plant can eat!
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