***** Searching for Gold
in the Rogue River
Valley *****
Nathaniel “Yank” McNair was responsible
for the first permanent settlement on the
terrace now known as the Rand National
Historic Site. It was here that McNair staked
the Big Yank Placer Mine. In August 1874,
Yank discovered rich gold quartz veins
about one mile downstream from his placer
claim. Within a few months, Yankville, a
small logging and sawmill camp, emerged on McNair’s placer claim to supply lumber
for the mining operations downstream.
However, limited access and poor mining
technology soon resulted in a failed exploitation
and the demise of the little camp of
Yankville.
Around 1900, the Rand Mining Company
purchased the Big Yank Placer mining
property, which included the former site of
Yankville. In 1905, the company surveyed
the terrace to lay out lots for a town site they
called Rand. The name Rand came from
Witwatersrand, a gold-laden ridge in South
Africa. In 1906, the Rand Mining Company
joined the Almeda Mining Company to form
the Almeda Consolidated Mines Company.
Several dwellings and the Rand School were
constructed on the town site.
***** Jacksonville, Oregon *****
With the discovery of gold in Jacksonville,
Oregon, in 1852, Oregon’s Willamette Valley
farmers made their way south over the
California-Oregon Trail into the Rogue River
Valley in hopes of striking it rich. Miners
swarmed the Rogue River and other rivers
in the area scouring the banks for gold and
displacing local Native American bands. The
most accessible and valuable deposits were
largely extracted during the 1850s, however,
mining still continues throughout the valley
today.
***** Rand, Oregon *****
Rand
National Historic Site
Rogue National
Wild and Scenic
River - Public Lands USA: Use - Free EBook on Oregon's History.
The Rand National Historic Site (Rand) is
located in southwestern Oregon approximately
25 miles northwest of Grants Pass,
Oregon, and 3 miles downstream from the
community of Galice. Rand is located on a
terrace on the west side of the Rogue National
Wild and Scenic River in steep, mountainous
country with elevations ranging from
700 feet at the river’s edge to 4,000 feet on
nearby peaks. See more
