Oregon Lost Mines, Legends &
Fieldwork
Explore Oregon's lost-mine legends through historical research, annotated maps, treasure-hunting adventures, field notes, and campfire humor.
Along the way, Jimmy and his sketchy raccoon companion turn fieldwork, folklore, and questionable decisions into stories worth telling.
Research
Oregon lost mines, treasure legends, folklore, and historical mysteries, researched source by source.
Research & Evidence
Deep dives into historical records, documented sources, maps, and the evidence behind Oregon legends.
Ground Truth
Treasure-hunting trips, field observations, route stories, and outdoor misadventures from the places behind the legends.
Articles
The Illinois Valley has always been a little wild. From the rough mining camps of Browntown and Waldo to remote roads, old legends and the Triskett Gang’s missing gold, Part I follows the history of a place that has never felt completely tamed.
A small nineteenth-century friendship album preserves handwritten names, dates and messages from Damascus, Eagle Creek and early Clackamas County.
History is almost everywhere we go. This article explores the author’s fascination with following old traces, learning from the past, and the rare possibility of reaching somewhere no one may have stood before.
Legend Files
Before the Lost Blue Bucket became a legend, the Meek emigrants first had to cross the country where the story began. Part I follows the surviving 1845 diaries back to the road itself and one of the Oregon Trail’s most enduring mysteries.
Was Eight Dollar Mountain named for a gold nugget or a ruined pair of boots? History offers both stories. Jimmy eventually tested one of them the hard way.
L. W. Musick’s 1896 work preserves early accounts connected with Oregon’s Lost Cabin Mine, including Hall and Thompson, the first searches, and a legend that spread across the Pacific Coast.
Campfire
At eight, Jimmy found one impossible tree branch, a nearby teeter-totter, and a friend willing to help. Naturally, an experiment followed.
At seven, Jimmy turned a playground slide into a BMX ramp, launched into the air, and learned the jump worked far better than the landing.
At five years old, Jimmy set out to find the perfect ants for a new ant farm and instead discovered that not every hole in the ground appreciates being investigated.
Field Humor
The Sketchy Raccoon turns a simple situation into snack-related chaos in this Lost Cabin Mine comic.
Jimmy takes the treasure hunt indoors at a strange hotel in the woods, searching halls, rooms, and vending machines while a soggy raccoon keeps watch.
One more hill. One more bad decision. Jimmy pushes ahead while her exhausted partner questions everything, only for the soggy raccoon supervisor to claim the final victory.
Adventures
Jimmy learned to drive a stick shift the sensible way: by pointing an old truck at a creek, saying “I got this,” and letting momentum handle the details.
Some treasures aren't found in the woods. Some are parked in your driveway... waiting for a bad idea and a full tank of denial.
Mabel and her search partner find shelter in a strange hotel where the woods seem determined to follow them inside.
