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sumpter valley gold dredge part of sumpter's historic gold mining heritage

Sumpter Valley



Did you know......
Gold Dredges operated in the Sumpter Valley
1914-1954


the monighan dragline in sumpter oregon

Hey, they moved the Monighan!
It now sits at the Cracker Creek
Museum of Mining!

The Monighan came to Sumpter in 1940. This 12 ton monster was used to dredge dry land on a large scale in the Sumpter Valley.


Visit the Sumpter Museum for more history about Sumpter - It's FREE!

the sumpter municipal museum downtown

Just click on the
photo to visit the
website now!


"The Sumpter Gold Rush!"
"Ghosts and Gold in Eastern Oregon!"

The Gold Rush

the gold rush in sumpter oregon
According to legend...........
Gold was first discovered in the
Elkhorn Mountains by Confederate
Soldiers in 1862........who then named their new town after historic Ft. Sumter
in South Carolina, thus giving birth to our
historic gold town! The name was changed later to Sumpter by the
U.S. Postal Service. Legend tells that the
U.S. Postmaster ordered the spelling changed because of the Civil War Reference to the real Ft. Sumter...................
Regardless of how it was spelled, Sumpter was booming by the late
1890's growing to 1500. Of course the U.S. Census Bureau wasn't
counting Chinese, or Women and Children at that time so that number
could easily have been double. For more historical information about
Sumpter, Oregon, visit www.historicsumpter.com! Gold Mining
still continues today with private Placer and Hard Rock Mines peppering
our historic mountains! Visitors to Sumpter enjoy trying their luck at
panning for gold in Crack Creek from Bourne to the State Park......
where it is then considered the Powder River, and everywhere through
the Sumpter Valley! The old saying: "There's Gold in them there hills!"
rings true around here since the U.S. Geological Survey says we have at
least 80% of original gold still in the ground here! Just in case you forgot
to pack your gold pan, don't worry, the friendly folks down at the
Gold Dredge will loan you one of theirs free of charge for use
in the Dredge State Park!


Have some questions about Gold Mining in Sumpter, Oregon? Just send us an email: info@sumpter.org


Visit our friends up at www.boulderpatchmines.com Ask for Diggerdan!


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