Cracker Creek District – Baker County, Oregon
You can drive directly to the main portal of this mine.
The claim is located up a steep but really easy 4WD road. The entire 9 miles outside of Sumpter is on dirt.
Contact us for exact coordinates

The Buckeye Mine is the only accessible portal on what is referred to as the Buckeye Group. The Buckeye is the gem of the group. The main mine camp is located on this claim. Consisting of a series of buildings and workshops. These buildings are not necessarily historical as they have been built from the ground up over the last 30-40 years. The camp and the mine are also somewhat famous in that they were both featured on the TV series "Ghost Mine". On the TV series, the mine was referred to as the Crescent, which is incorrect and references a patented mine site farther up the mountain. This was likely obfuscated just to keep people from finding it. The Crescent Patent property with no real development above is listed at a price of $1.7 Million for 17.5 acres. The Buckeye mine is listed at a fraction of that and actually contains valuable deposits and workings. The roads to the mine are steep and require 4WD for loose rock and dirt. They are in excellent repair and will be easily passable to most any 4WD vehicle. The town of Sumpter, below the mine does not offer much in the way of amenities. There are buildings on the claim that were built in the 1980s in support of logging operations. These buildings consist of a series of small bunk rooms, a main office and some smaller storage buildings. The buildings are newer and could be easily utilized in support of the mining operation. Excellent roads, large mine, documented productions, really can't’ lose with this one.

The district northeast to southwest is about 10 miles long, and most of it is in some variety of argillite, although occasional bodies of greenstone are present. The argillite and the greenstone are the oldest rocks in the district. Practically all of the important veins outcrop in argillite, but they are not far from the irregular southern border of granodiorite which extends for miles to the northward.This is the westward extension of the contact mentioned in the description of the Rock creek district, and also in the description of the Granite district to the west.[1]

The Buckeye Claim is part of a larger group of lode claims known as the Buckeye Group.[1] It's been developed since 1900, and was owned by W H Gleason and J N Doane of Sumpter.

While a good portion of the Buckeye property near the ridgeline was Patented, the actual Buckeye and Tunnel #1 are not on any sort of patent. Early development showed $142, $105, and $24, which is an average of $90 per ton in gold and silver(gold at $20 per ounce).[2][3] It was eventually sold to the Sipe Mining Company.[4] By 1914, the mine has produced $5,000 worth of free gold specimens.[2] By 1916, there were two-thirds of a mile of drifts and raises developed on the property. The strike of the main vein is north 60 degrees east, and dips 70 degrees south east. There were also narrow branch fissures containing limited quartz lenses which frequently found coarse free gold. The No. 3 tunnel, which was about 300' below the one above at the time, followed a branch fissure for 1,000' before encountering the main ledge.[4] In 1917, a fire tore through the town of Sumpter and the town never really recovered to its former prominence. There is very little data on the mines of the area after the fire. It is assumed that the mine continued to produce up until is was shuttered by the War Act in 1941.

In 1940, a Bureau of Mines inspector observed that there were likely more than $10,000,000.00 in reserves of free gold in the mine as assessed by observations made in Tunnel #1.

The Buckeye mine explores a group of nearly parallel veins in carbonaceous variety of argillite. In most places the veins display several ramifying strands, each of which is made up of angular argillite fragments show clearly as angular patches containing disseminated carbon in the midst of quartz, which is itself crushed and recemented by quartz. The percentage of sulfides is low.[5]

The Buckeye is an important and valuable mine for its native (free milling) gold values. The mine has produced thousands of tons and according to 1940 statements has $10,000,000.00 in reserves. Interesting inside the mine are a variety of iron stalactites. Water pushing through these fissures to create the formations. The gaps and spaces that allow the water to come through are textbook examples of where the gold deposits are likely.

Excellent 4WD road to the claim. The mine portal has been improved recently and a good gate will restrict any unwanted visitors. Mine is seeping a small amount of water. less than a gallon per minute at the portal. There is water inside the mine as well. Native gold deposits noted in 3 distinct veins. A short blockage roughly 90 feet in (near old powder room) has allowed the water to pool to roughly 24 inches. A piece of pipe would clear this. Surveyed to where the water was up to 30 inches. Historical reports put the tunnel at Very cool and well-kept old mine. Excellent entrance, mine is in really good shape. Only impediments to working will be the flow of water that can be subverted with pumps. When surveyed there were pumps, a generator and a rock crusher on the claim.

Access to the Mine: You can drive directly to the main portal of this mine.
Tailings Present: 50,000 + tons. Mostly waste rock. The waste rock has been used to make a flat for
the camp. Some iron/copper/quartz near the north end of the claim.
Entrance: Timbered at the entrance with a lockable gate and chain.
Mine Cut: Adit
Depth / Length :3500-4000' at minimum on main level.
Minerals in the Mine: Historically this claim was mined for gold.
Foot Traffic in the Mine: Light traffic near entrances, likely from the filming days 2012-2013.
Last Worked: 1983.