Strangers in Our Midst: Between 1827 and 1850, trappers and government explorers passed through southwest Oregon over the ancient north-south route that became the Oregon-California Trail. Peter Skene Ogden, expedition leader for the Hudson’s Bay Company, led the first of many fur trade expeditions into the region.


GOLD!: The discovery of gold in California in 1848 brought prospectors through southwest Oregon. In 1851 and 1852, miners found gold in the Rogue and Illinois River valleys and soon gold-seekers spread throughout the region. Mining communities such as Jacksonville and Waldo developed into population centers.

 

Sojourners: The Chinese Miners: Southwestern Oregon mining communities consisted of people from a number of different ethnic groups. Chinese miners represented the largest single ethnic group in the region. Arriving with the first gold discoveries in the early 1850s, the Chinese remained in the area until the 1880s.


Jacksonville: The First Town: Developing rapidly from a tent-city mining camp to a permanent community that served as the Jackson County seat from 1852 to 1927, Jacksonville has remained a vital community through decades of change.

Claiming the Land: In 1852, the first wagons arrived in southwestern Oregon carrying emigrants who came to take advantage of the Donation Land Claim Act. The region developed rapidly in succeeding decades as settlers built farms, roads, and towns.

Living off the Land: Logging & Mining: During the last half of the nineteenth century, southwestern Oregon settlers established the mining, agricultural, and timber industries. In subsequent decades, new generations sought their livelihoods in similar ways and maintained steady pressure on the region’s natural resources.