First person accounts served as primary sources for writing the history of Randolph at Whiskey Run. These accounts arose from a chaotic social setting where men focused on obtaining wealth and surviving harsh working and living conditions instead of creating a written record of events.
Although it took 120 years, historians finally credited the Groslouis brothers as the men who discovered the beach gold at Whiskey Run.
Why did it take so long to name them?
The story of how they were finally identified is not only interesting, but significant in terms of creating a more inclusive historical record of Randolph. I also have no doubt that my Thrush and Russell ancestors came to know one or more of the brothers after the gold rush had ended. Overall, I find their life stories intriguing.
A chronological review of local historical accounts reveals how and when the Groslouis brothers were incorporated into Randolph history. To share my findings in a systematic way, the first part of the review will examine the earliest published accounts of the discovery of gold.
Impressionistic Journalism
The recorded history of Randolph begins with adventurer-journalist William Wells who traveled there in October 1855. At that time he found a dismantled mining camp-town with very few inhabitants. About the origins of the mining camp he said, “Captain Smith, U. S. A., while on a visit to this part of Oregon in the winter of 1853, discovered gold mingled with the sands of the beach.”
Since most miners had already left Randolph, the discovery story that impressed Wells might have been based upon a misunderstanding of one of the personal accounts (discussed in the next post). The subsequent historical record reveals that no other authors have ascribed the discovery of gold to Captain Smith.
The Official History
In 1879 in The Coast Mail (Coos Bay) newspaper published a historical account attributed to S.S. Mann:
As early as 1852, a year previous to the settlement of Coos Bay, a few half-breed Indians had discovered rich gold-bearing sand on the ocean beach at the mouth of Whiskey Run, a few miles north of the Coquille river. They worked their places quietly, a portion of two summers, and must have saved a large amount of gold. During the summer of 1853, they sold their claim to the McNamara Brothers for twenty thousand dollars.
The newspaper (renamed The Coos Bay Times), republished the history in 1912 saying, “The history is said to be one of the best of the early authorities.” Indeed, this account became the dominant Whiskey Run gold discovery story. Published histories by Walling, Bancroft & Victor, Evans, Dodge, Bennett, Bright, and Peterson & Powers repeated this account with only minor variations.
Eventually, the official narrative would replace “a few half-breed Indians” with the names of the Groslouis brothers — an evolution to be examined in the next post.
Works Cited
Bennett, George. “A History of Bandon and the Coquille River.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 28, no. 4 (Dec.) (1927): 311–57, esp. Pages 322-323.
Bright, Verne. “Randolph: Ghost Gold Town of the Oregon Beaches.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 58, no. 4 (1957): 293–306.
The Coast Mail (Marshfield, Or.). The Settlement and Early Settlers of Coos Bay. Historic Oregon Newspapers, University of Oregon Libraries, October 04, 1879, page 3. https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088440/1879-10-04/ed-1/seq-3/ Note: The authorship of this history has been attributed to S. S. Mann; another possible author is Henry Baldwin who wrote historical sketches for the same publication.
Dodge, Orvil. Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, OR: Heroic Deeds and Thrilling Adventures of the Early Settlers. Salem, Oregon: Capitol Printing Co., 1898. https://genealogytrails.com/ore/coos/1898his/.
Evans, Elwood, and Or North Pacific history company of Portland. History of the Pacific Northwest: Oregon and Washington. Portland, Or.: North Pacific history company, 1889. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001875215.
Peterson, Emil R, and Powers, Alfred. A Century of Coos and Curry. 1977 ed. Coquille, OR: C00s-Curry Pioneer and Historical Association, 1952, pages 373-375.
Victor, Frances Fuller. “History of Oregon, Volume II.” In History of Oregon, edited by Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1888. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/History_of_Oregon_(Bancroft)/Volume_2/Chapter_13 [paragraph 330].
Walling, A. G. History of Southern Oregon: Comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos Countries, Comp. from the Most Authentic Sources … Portland, Or: A. G. Walling, 1884, page 492. Note: Available online at https://archive.org/details/historyofsouther00wall/page/n763/mode/2up.
Wells, William V. “Wild Life in Oregon.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 13, no. 77 (Oct. 1856): 588–608, esp. page 595. Note: Available online at https://harpers.org/archive/1856/10/wild-life-in-oregon