Roads for Adventure - Josephine County, Oregon
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 42° 32.954 W 123° 31.458
10T E 456954 N 4710893
History sign at Galice-Hellgate Backcountry Byway kiosk near the Hellsgate Bridge across the Rogue River.
Waymark Code: WM7VD4
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 12/06/2009
Views: 7
Marker Name: Roads for Adventure
Marker Text: The Rogue lives up to its name. Down falls, rapids, and rushing chutes, the Wild and Scenic Rogue River surges 200 miles to the sea. One of the wildest boat rides in the northwest, it has more than 40 named rapids between this point and the town of Marial at the mouth of Mule Creek.
The waters of the canyon push the skills of human and craft. In 1878 engineer Phillip G. Eastwick made the first known attempt to navigate the Rogue below Grants Pass.
While attempting a portage of rapids below Grave Creek, he wrecked his boat, losing all of his gear to the river. Eastwick was then forced to walk out over 40 miles downriver.
It wasn’t until 1847 that the legendary Glen Wooldridge ran the first upriver trip between Gold Beach and Grants Pass. He later blasted rocks from the most serious rapids in order to haul mail, supplies and passengers up and down the river.
Roam to find Riches. In the 1850s, a flood of miners feverishly roamed the river and its banks searching for gold bearing gravels.
Using pans, picks, shovels and sluice boxes, the miners endured freezing rains and snow, high waters and steep terrain.
Time, fires and floods have erased almost all but a few signs. Recreational miners still seek the golden flakes from the river. Only sharp eyes will spot an occasional flumebed, toppled cabin, or scattered tailings, memories of another age.
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