Re: NNG: Gold prospecting in Durango, Silverton and Red Mtn. Pass?

Glad it was fun -- that's the main thing.

If you ever get up to Oregon to ride the Sumpter Valley, bring your equipment ..... much of the ROW runs through dredge tailings. It's a county park now. The old dredges only got about 60% of the gold. Rest went out the conveyor belt into snakelike piles.

One time when I was Conductor, I chatted with an old lady who grew up in Sumpter. She said she and the other kids would pan for gold there after school on Fridays, get enough gold to purchase tickets to Baker City and back, and to see the movies on Saturdays.

Skip Luke
Switchman (ret): Grand Canyon Railway;
Engineer (ret): Georgetown Loop RR Inc., Sumpter Valley Ry., Monticello & Sangamon Valley;
Dispatcher(ret): Illinois Central, White Pass & Yukon, Burlington Northern Ry.
Mariner, Musician, Miner