A drive along Carberry Creek in Oregon鈥檚 Applegate Valley leads past what was the mining town of Steamboat. All that remains is a tumble-down fence amid some pines that marks the town鈥檚 cemetery.
In 1860 the rugged, remote corner of the Siskiyous was the site of what may have been Oregon鈥檚 first arrastra, a primitive ore-crushing mill.
The arrastra consists of a center post placed in a circular stone-paved pit. A long wooden arm extends from the post with flat-bottomed stones hanging from the arm into the pit. When a horse, mule or human turns the arm on its post, the heavy stones drag over and crush ore in the stone pit. The word 鈥渁rrastra鈥� means 鈥渢o drag鈥� in Spanish.
Similar mills have been used throughout the Mediterranean since ancient times and are cheap to build and operate.
The first few months鈥� pay from the mine was paltry, but in February 1861 a rich vein struck enough gold within a week to repay investment and build four new arrastras.
By November 1861 there was enough money to hire Superintendent Samuel Taylor and by 1890 the town had 42 residents, a post office, school, sawmill, and a cemetery.
Source: Ruediger, Luke. The Siskiyou Crest: Hikes, History, and Ecology. Jacksonville, Ore.: Luke Ruediger, 2013. 102-03. Print.
