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Dying deer and run-away dog lead to amazing gold strikeBy ROGER BRANDT
For IVNNewspapers declared it to be the most wonderful gold discovery ever reported in Oregon history.
But more amazing was the fact that this gold was found after prospectors had combed this same area for more than 50 years.
The discovery was made by an 18-year-old named Ray Briggs, who lived with his family on a mining claim they had near the headwaters of Sucker Creek. Like many others, the Briggs family was able to find enough gold to buy necessary staples, but had to supplement their food supplies by hunting in the nearby mountains.
The big gold discovery occurred when Ray was on one of those hunting trips.
It was July 1904 when Ray set off on foot with his dog to do some hunting. One account said that he was hunting grouse and found the gold. Another version said he was hunting deer and shot a buck, which his dog took off chasing.
His dog did not respond to his calls to come back, so he reached down for a rock to throw at the dog and picked up a chunk of quartzite streaked with gold. He looked down and found gold lying on the ground all around him.
He carefully marked the spot. Then he went off to find his dog and the wounded deer, which he killed, dressed out, and hung up. Before heading home, he loaded his pockets with as much gold as he could carry and hurried back to tell his family the news.
The next day they returned, staked a claim and named it the “Wounded Buck Mine.” The mine turned out to be a small vein of gold 12 to 14 inches wide, 12 feet long and 7 feet deep. Veins of gold were reported to be in slabs 1 inch thick and 2 to 3 feet long.
In two weeks the claim yielded more than 1,777 ounces -- or about 110 pounds -- of gold. In 1904 gold was worth $18 an ounce, so the Briggs family was able to sell the gold for around $32,000. In today’s market, this same amount of gold would be worth more than $700,000.
The location of the mine was 1.5 miles east of Tannen Mountain near where the Boundary Trail crosses a saddle between Thompson Creek and Fahley Gulch.
Some people believe that the Wounded Buck Mine may have been originally discovered in 1855 by two men who were on their way to Illinois Valley to fight in the war between settlers and Native Americans. They took some samples of gold with them, probably thinking they would return after the war to stake a claim.
But they were never able to relocate their find.
It may never be known if this “lost mine” is the same as that discovered by Ray Briggs, but both stories illustrate that some of the greatest gold discoveries are made when prospectors are looking for something else.
Caption: Ray Briggs holding a pan of gold from the Wounded Buck Mine.
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