Panning for Gold at Whiskey Run in 2023

While reading about the history of Randolph, I began to wonder about the accuracy of my childhood memories of Whiskey Run Creek. My sister and I would hunt for agates alongside our parents and grandparents, wade in the water, and investigate whatever had washed up on the beach, usually seaweed.

I returned to the creek this past May and found it largely unchanged since the 1960s: It remains wide and gravelly, passing through driftwood as it flows into the Pacific Ocean; except for an absence of bull kelp that washes onto the beach in the winter, it closely aligns with my memories.

Whiskey Run Creek flowing onto Pacific Ocean Beach. — Whiskey Run Creek flowing onto Pacific Ocean Beach

An online aerial view provides a greater view of the area.

Gold-Bearing Black Sand

On this sunny day (May 05, 2023), a group of three men and a young boy came to the creek. They carried with them a shovel and sifting pans. As one of the men put a shovelful of gravelly sand into the set of pans held by another man, I could not believe my luck: 170 years after the gold rush at this site, Don, from Roseburg, Oregon, was going to pan for gold. He kindly granted me permission to take pictures of him to include in this blog post.

An experienced prospector, Don recently panned for gold in Alaska. He heard about the gold-bearing sand at Whiskey Run and wanted to check it out before attending the Umpqua Club’s Gem & Mineral Show the next day.

The images below illustrate the process of panning for gold:

1. Sand from the creek bed shoveled into two pans fitted together.

2. Upper pan (a sieve) lifted from lower pan, rinsed, and its contents inspected

3. Washing sand from second pan begins. Creek water flows into the pan and Don repeatedly swirls the sand in the pan, allowing the water to wash lighter-weight brown sand away–a lengthy, laborious process.

As the brown sand eventually washed away, Don said, “there’s too much black sand in here” (momentary pause) “said no miner ever!” [Hint to his humor: black sand can bear gold.]

I saw the two glimmers that Don recognized as gold, but without his keen eye, I doubt that I would have been able to distinguish them from pyrite (fool’s gold), mica, or any other mineral.

A couple flecks of gold found after half an hour of work did not seem profitable to me, but Don seemed to enjoy checking out the black sand at Whiskey Run. Likewise, I was delighted to see actual gold mining at the creek: A new memory to add to my collection!

What are your favorite memories of Whiskey Run beach? If you still visit the beach, what is your favorite time of year to be there and what do you most enjoy about the beach?