Gov. Lane, of Oregon, has resigned his office as Governor, and is contemplating a trip to the Illinois River, in search of the gold region.
"Items from Oregon," Burlington Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, September 5, 1850, page 2


Editors of the Pacific News:
    By referring to my late map of the Pacific and Sacramento gold regions--not the one published under my name but not by me--you will see, north of Pelican Bay, in about latitude 42 deg. 10 or 15 min., a cape terminating a chain of broken mountains, which I shall term the Pacific range. The main body of this ridge, or ridges, stretches in a S.E. or E.S.E. direction to that part of the Sierra Nevada near the the headwaters of the Sacramento, where the gold is no more found on the latter range. Thence the golden hill sets over to the Pacific range, touching in its course the streams near Redding's springs, the upper Trinity, the whole of Salmon Creek, the lower parts of Scotts and Shasta rivers or creeks, and thence setting over undoubtedly towards the coast in the same direction, and probably terminating in the cape above referred to. We suppose this range to be the one from which the great deposits on the Klamath have been yielded, from the following facts. No gold of any consequence has been found on the south fork of the Trinity, on the main Trinity, on the Klamath below that tributary, or south thereof, which indicates the gold region to be north of this line. To the northward, no diggings of importance have been found on the Umpqua or Rogue River, nor on the headwaters of Scotts or Shasta creeks, and consequently the gold region is south and enclosed between these two lines, which indicate a direction that will correspond with the general bearing of the Pacific range.
    That there are extensive and rich diggings in this range we know, and conclude from the following facts, firstly: Rich diggings have been found wherever good miners prospected the golden lead or belt within the two lines. Secondly, we conclude it, by the immense strata of river deposits in the vales and on the highest mountaintops to the southward, bearing fine particles of gold, and everywhere the inevitable signs of a rich gold region with them. In some parts they form whole mountains of themselves, as the gold bluffs. Generally, these deposits consist and vary in masses of soft gray clay and sandstones, strata of conglomerate of pebbles, red loam, fine gold and black sand, and of nearly petrified forest trees, all stratified. Going south, the stones grow smaller, the loam from a deep red assumes lighter shades, until at Trinidad and Humboldt they change into strata of different sands. The main body of the substratum is a talcous slate, green stone, &c. North of these deposits the country is broken, rugged and mountainous, covered with deep red soil, heaps of large, broken and red burned rocks and pounded quartz.
    If we ascend the nearest of these red mountains, we will find ourselves on the Table mountain, about eight miles N.N.E. of the mouth of the Klamath, and on the dividing line of two sections, one the northern, which rise first from the ocean, charged with the precious metals, and distinguished by the bare and dreary aspect of its lofty ridges and its deep ravines, clothed on the northern side only with gloomy pine, and growing higher and more rugged as they recede north. To the eastward, the same confused view presents itself.
    The second section, to the southeastward, is of a later elevation, and covered with some of the deposits of the first section; the ridges are still formidable, but after arriving in latitude 41 deg. 4 min., the country shelves off into hills and lagoons, into Humboldt Bay. This section, the section of deposits below the actual gold region, is generally found covered with a rich, black soil, and gloomy redwoods; only now and then green, open spots relieve the eye.
    We then conclude that the first section is the gold region, and the second bears the same relation to the former as the mountains and valleys southwest of the Sierra Nevada to that range. That is, it at one time formed the bed of the ocean near the outlets (streams) of the gold-bearing range, the Pacific range, and received, and are coated with river deposits. Some little gold will be found, therefore, nearly everywhere; but profitable digging must be looked for only at the sources.
Daily Pacific News, San Francisco, April 17, 1851, page 2


    The men who founded [Happy Camp, California] were English sailors, and convicts, and all of their quality were known in those days as "Sydney ducks," who had found their way to the mines among the first of the pilgrims to the land of gold. The creek upon which the present town now stands was known then, as now, as Indian Creek. Along this creek from Happy Camp a trail runs up to the summit of the low divide, then down another of equal size into Illinois Valley. This was then an old Indian trail, but has now been developed into something like a road. Up this trail in the following spring some of the sailors went in search of gold. They prospected the flats and gulches and streams, but found no prospects worthy of note until in a wide, flat gulch on the Oregon side they found enough pay to make them stop and go to work in earnest. In a few months the fame of their camp as "Sailor Diggings" became widely spread. The camp is yet a place of note. It is frequently called Waldo, and is the depot of supplies for the miners and farmers for miles around. It is in Josephine County, Oregon, and on the most direct and only line of travel from Crescent City to Happy Camp.
O. W. Olney, "Down the Klamath," Sunday Oregonian, Portland, November 29, 1885, page 3




    The San Francisco Whig has the following letter from Port Orford, dated December 1st:
    The trail leading from this place to the Oregon trail is now open and ready for business. A small party came through from Scott's River a few days since, and we learn by them that the miners are doing exceedingly well in the vicinity of Rogue River, and also at a place called "Sailors' Dry Diggings," which is located some forty miles south and west from Rogue's Ferry. Provisions and breadstuffs have advanced at an unusual rate during a few weeks past.
Daily Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, January 10, 1853, page 2


TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES:
    I see in a recent issue of the Times that the '49 Diggings were not discovered in 1849. Correct, but Rich Gulch was not the first discovery in this county. The first gold found in Oregon, I think, was on Rogue River, not far from the Centennial Bridge [in Gold Hill], by a man by the name of Ingles in '49 or '50, but who did not stop to mine. In 1851 there was a party of prospectors started from Yreka, crossed the mountain to the head of Applegate, which they came down as far as Squaw Creek, where they camped for the night. During that night the Indians stole a horse from them, and the next morning the miners pursued and found them with the horse killed and having a feast. The miners fired upon them and killed a squaw, and that gave it the name of Squaw Creek. (This has been found [omission--true? false?] since.) They then went back over the mountain, where some Indians told them that there were three men mining three days' travel from there and offered to go and show them the place. They accepted the offer, and were taken to what is now called Josephine Creek. They found the three men mining there, and then returned to Yreka for supplies, agreeing to keep it secret. When they went to start there were about 300 men who followed the first party that had been out. When we got back to the creek old man Rollins was in there. He had a daughter by the name of Josephine, and since then the place has been called Josephine Creek. Josephine was a sister of Mrs. J. Thompson and aunt of G. S. Butler of Ashland. All of the miners left but about 50, and we then found Canyon Creek, which was very rich, and mined there all summer. Some four or five of them went to the Big Bar on Rogue River and built a cabin. They mined there during the winter of '51 and '52, so that was the first mining that was done around here. Rich Gulch was not found until sometime in the winter of 1852.
Democratic Times, Jacksonville, March 16, 1883, page 2

    The romantic early-day history of a country is elusive, and without the effort of interested parties is lost before we know it. There are many interesting details connected with the discovery and mining of gold in Josephine County, and Geo. H. Parker has assembled much interesting data in this connection. Recently in getting the facts regarding the naming of Althouse Creek, Mr. Parker wrote to C. H. Stewart, of Albany, and received the following letter regarding the Althouse brothers, with whom Mr. Stewart had been acquainted:
    "This is in answer to your letter of yesterday in relation to the Althouse brothers, with whom I was well acquainted.
    "In the spring of 1849 Philip and John Althouse, the former being 21 years old and the latter 19, started from Illinois for the gold fields of California. There were ten men in the party, and they had four wagons. They crossed the plains safely, and when they arrived in the Sacramento Valley the party broke up. The Althouse brothers finally concluded to visit their brother Samuel, who had crossed the plains in 1847, and located at Albany, Oregon, so they sold their team for sufficient money to pay their way by steamer to Portland. Arriving there, they footed it up the valley to Albany, where they worked for some time at anything they could find to do.
    "In the spring of 1851 the two young men went out to Southern Oregon and commenced prospecting for gold. In company with three other men they took the first wagon from the Rogue River Valley into the Illinois River country.
    "In the fall of 1852 the two brothers with a few others discovered gold on a creek flowing into the east fork of the Illinois River, not far from Sucker Creek. These diggings proved to be very rich, and as Philip Althouse was the first one of the prospectors to wash out a pan of the dirt, the creek was named after him--Althouse Creek. The gold was rather coarse, and a great many nuggets were found, one of them in particular being valued at $1200.
    "The two brothers mined in that locality successfully for several years. Philip finally died and was buried there, and John joined his brother Samuel at Albany and passed the remainder of his days at this place. He married a Mrs. N. H. Cranor, and died in June 1916, leaving no children.
    "Capt. Althouse, who has recently been appointed governor of the island of Guam, and is now visiting at Albany, is a son of Wm. Althouse, the only one of the four brothers who did not remove from Illinois to this coast."
    Adding further details to the interesting story, Sheriff George W. Lewis says that while placer mining on Althouse Creek at Browntown the mining operations formed a gravel bar on a tributary of Althouse Creek, and when the high water came the current of the creek was changed enough to cut into one bank of the creek and expose the bones of two men who had been buried at that place. Jesse Randall, an old pioneer who had been mining on Althouse for many years, told them that one was the skeleton of Philip Althouse. The bones were placed in a box and reburied further up the bank.
    Sheriff Lewis says the nugget mentioned in the letter was found by Wm. Saunders, who had been very unsuccessful as a miner, and when he found the nugget he nearly went crazy. Saunders was afterward county assessor for two terms.
    About 1900 Jacob Klippel found a nugget on Boulder Creek, just across the divide from Althouse Creek. This nugget weighed $560.
Unattributed newspaper clipping, W. W. Fidler scrapbook, MS208 box 2, SOHS