How the score works
0 to 100. Distance from a primary or secondary road (35), distance from a live town (20), number of other historic sites within 2 miles (20), distance to the Oregon or California National Historic Trail (15), and a bump for ghost towns and medium or large producers (10). Remote plus clustered plus near a trail scores highest. The score is a research prioritiser, not a claim that anything is there.
Rules we hold to
- Anything 100+ years old on federal or state ground is protected (ARPA, Idaho Code 67-4119). Looking and recording is legal. Removing is not.
- Private ground needs written permission before you leave the road.
- Finds get a GPS point, photos with scale, and go to Idaho SHPO (info@shpo.idaho.gov) or Oregon SHPO as an ASI site form. That is how a museum gets the data.
- Mine adits and shafts are not entered. Ever.
Robberies and lost gold
Eight pins. Five are documented in period newspapers or agency records (Portneuf Canyon 1865, Silver City 1875, Rattlesnake Station 1876, Raft River 1872, Kelton road 1873) plus one outside the box (Umatilla 1870). Two are legend grade (Blue Bucket, Beaver Canyon) and are shown for context only. Every pin cites its source. None of them is a reason to dig.
Reading lidar
Every detail card loads a 1.5 km hillshade and slope from USGS 3DEP (1 m lidar across most of southern Idaho since 2018; patchy in SE Oregon). Old wagon roads show as a sunken lane 2 to 4 m wide following the gentlest grade; stage stations show as a rectangular platform with a ditch or berm. Modern roads are wider, straighter, and have engineered cuts. Click through to Google Earth for the tilted view.
Sources
- USGS GNIS Domestic Names (ID, OR), historical populated places and features
- USGS MRDS, past and current metal producers
- NPS National Trails: Oregon and California NHT centerlines
- Census TIGER 2024 primary and secondary roads (remoteness)
- BLM National Surface Management Agency (ownership tiles)
- USGS 3DEP elevation (lidar hillshade and slope exports)
- Esri World Imagery; Google Maps and Earth links
- Idaho Statesman history series (A. Hart), Oregon History Project, Idaho Fish and Game, L. Clements
- Basemap: USGS National Map topo
Built 2026-10-19. Coordinates come from the source databases and can be off by hundreds of feet or more, especially for 19th-century mine records. Treat each point as "look around here", not "X marks the spot".