Oregon Coast Vacation Rental Homes, Gold Beach, Oregon

The History of the Gold Beach Area

The original inhabitants of the Gold Beach area were, of course, Native Americans. Although there were a number of sub-tribes in the region most of the Indians along the coast were members of the Tututni Tribe. The Tututni trace their long heritage back to the original Athabascan peoples who came across the Bering Straits in pusuit of giant ice age mammals many millennia ago. Athabascan Indians living in the vicinity of Gold Beach are known by a variety of confusing names which are spelled in widely different ways. One way of classifying them lists the Tututni tribe (also written as Tutunne) as occupying the area on the north bank of the Rogue River at it's mouth, with the Chastacosta tribe upriver from them, and the Coquille tribe to their north. The Takilma lived on the south bank of the river at its mouth. The customs and languages of all four of these groups are considered by the anthropologist as being very similar. Further to the east were the Gallice with similar customs but a different dialect.
All of these groups appear to have fought regularly with one another and with outsiders. Early European and American fur trappers that traveled into the area inhabited by the people that they referred to as "Rogue River Indians" considered them to be fierce warriors. European and American writers of the time considered them to be anything from rascals to outright thieves and speculated that the name of the river and the people was derived from the word "rogue" meaning a dishonest or unprincipled person. This lack of respect made it relatively easy for the early settlers to treat them as sub-human. A number of incidents on both sides of the racial divide involved horrible atrocities. Interestingly, the Aleut Indians that were at the heart of the Russian otter hunting enterprise along the coast of North America during the early nineteenth century and the Apache peoples of the turbulent American Southwest during the same period were also of Athabascan stock. It would appear that these various peoples had a personality that did not shy away from physical violence.
The first Europeans to appear in the Gold Beach area are thought to have been Russian fur hunters in the first half of the eighteenth century, however, other earlier Europeans probably visited briefly from passing sailing ships. Various Spanish, French, and English explorers cruised up and down the coast as early as the sixteenth century and the Spanish treasure galleons cruised the waters far offshore on a regular basis. George Vancouver anchored in the area in 1792 and is known to have been visited by Indians living in the area. In 1826 Alexander Roderick McLeod led a fur hunting expedition to the mouth of the Rogue for Hudson Bay Company. Jedediah Smith is believed to have been the first American to cross into Oregon by land from California in 1828. It is known that he had a serious disagreement with the local Indians when he tore down some of their homes to build rafts to cross the river. Conflict between the Native Americans and European immigrants continued throughout the history of the area until virtually all of the original inhabitants were eliminated through violence, relocation, and/or disease.
In 1846 Great Britain and the United States signed the Oregon Treaty which gave the United States sovereignty over the Oregon Territory. In 1848 the Oregon Territorial government was established. A European settlement was first seen in our general area in 1851 when Captain William Tichenor arrived with a small group of would-be settlers. A rather famous multi-day battle with the Qua-to-mah Indian tribe took place shortly thereafter at Battle Rock and the original settlers eventually escaped under cover of night. The potential for a coastal port, however, brought them back shortly thereafter and in 1856 the community formalized it's charter and took its name from that which Captain George Vancouver had given to the nearby point of land that is now known as Cape Blanco. Over the years to follow, the port became an important entry point for merchandise and supplies supporting settlers and miners in the region. Early on, one of the products that was shipped out of the port was a type of lumber which became known as "Port Orford cedar." The pier at Port Orford was a critical link in the regional transportation system of the time. Overland virtually all long distance transport was by pack horse and mule train. Some of the most violent years in the region's history were from 1855 to 1856 during the so-called Rogue River Wars. The grave of John Geisel and his three young sons is but one reminder of these difficult times. There are few memorials to the many Indians who were killed, but Massacre Rock just upriver from Winter Springs Ranch serves to remind us that the violence was perpetrated by both ethinic groups.
In 1852 gold was discovered in the sands at the mouth of the Rogue River and it's tributaries and hundreds of miners flocked to the immediate area establishing a rough shanty town complete with the same problems and challenges that faced all gold camps during the period. In 1854 the first of several Homestead Acts were passed by Congress and a flood of people followed the advice of Horace Greeley "Go West Young Man - Go West!" A significant number of these folks came to the Gold Beach area - not as miners, but rather as farmers and ranchers. Although travel inland was difficult, the Rogue offered a highway into the interior and a small number of hardy pioneers settled upriver. In 1855 Curry County was created from the southern part of Coos County and Port Orford was named county seat. Curry County was named in honor of the last of the territorial governors, George Law Curry. Later in the century, additional land was added to Curry County at the expense of Coos and Josephine Counties. In 1859 Oregon was admitted into the union as a state and the Curry County seat was moved to Ellensburg in part because Port Orford was unwilling or incapable of building a suitable courthouse. In 1891 Ellensburg, which was originally named after Ellen Tichenor, the wife of the founder of Port Orford, was renamed Gold Beach - an accurate description of what was then considered to be it's most important resource. That same year the first north-south wagon road reached the area.				The origin of Winter Springs Ranch Mary and Abraham Reid Miller were part of the wave of humanity that sought free agricultural land in the newly opened western part of the United States. Abraham had been born in Ohio and married Mary Coy, a native of Missouri, in 1852 after arriving in the Gold Beach area. In 1854, Abraham and Mary settled several hundred acres on the north bank of the Rogue River. They had thirteen children and numerous family descendants are still prominent in the local area. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the Miller family raised cattle and were prosperous ranchers. Eventually their land holdings increased to 3,000 acres. In 1989 Stephen and Lidia Donnelly purchased 840 acres of land overlooking the Rogue River from the Miller family. The property included three houses and an old barn. The Donnellys refurbished one of the existing houses and built two more which they now rent out as vacation homes. They named their property Winter Springs Ranch. It is located just west of the Lobster Creek Bridge over the Rogue River.
A community grew up around the gold miners. Salmon fishing, hide tanning, logging and small agricultural enterprises were established to support the miners. As the gold disappeared, logging and fishing replaced it as the principal economic endeavors of the people living in the region. Coastal shipping continued to evolve during the later half of the nineteenth century and a series of lighthouses were constructed along the coast. In 1870 the light went on in the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. In 1876 Robert D. Hume established a canning operation that dominated the local fishing industry. He also built the first steam powered ship to provide transport on a regular basis in the area. (You can still see the wreck of this ship, The Mary D. Hume, in the Rogue River estuary near the small marina where one of the jet boat operations is headquartered. Unfortunately efforts to rescue and preserve the vessel failed and it is left to waste away in its watery grave.) In 1895 the United States Post Office established mail boat service from Wedderburn on the south bank of the Rogue near its mouth upriver to Big Bend. Elijah H. Price was named postmaster and he in turn named his post office Illahe. In 1897 the United States Government established a post office at Agness near the confluence of the Rogue and Illinois Rivers.
In 1896, while fishing for trout, a gentleman named Frank caught a salmon on rod and reel in the Rogue River and sport fishing for salmon was born. Intensive commercial seine fishing on the Rogue had resulted in a severe depletion of fish stock and in 1935 commercial fishing on the river was ended, but sport fishing quickly took it's place in the regional economy. North-south highway 101 had been just been completed with the construction of the Issac Lee Patterson Bridge in 1932 and Gold Beach had entered the age of the automobile. In 1934 the lifeboat station was establsihed in Port Orford with the mission of protecting shipping that got into trouble in the turbuent waters along this portion of the coast. A gas station (Wilson's Union 76 Station) was built in Gold Beach by Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and a sprinkling of small hosteleries were established catering to the traveler. A stream of famous celebrities began including Gold Beach in their travel itineraries. The prolific writer, Zane Grey, was an ardent fisherman and kept a cabin on the Rogue at Winkle Bar not too far from Winter Springs Ranch. A number of his books were written there.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Wild and Scenic River Act which established the Rogue as one of the original rivers so designated. In 1991 the Northern Spotted Owl v. Lujan case held that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must designate critical habitat for the spotted owl. Subsequent timber regulations severely restricted the local lumber industry and a number of people were forced to leave the area in search of employment. About this same time, commercial fishing offshore was also impacted adversely by regulatory efforts aimed at protecting dwindling fish stock. Several important wilderness areas are located in our general area. In 1964 Congress established the Kalmiopsis Wilderness; in 1978, the Wild Rogue Wilderness; and in 1984, the Grassy Knob Wilderness. Another important natural preserve is the Samuel Boardman Scenic Corridor which stetches along the coast from Gold Beach to Brookings. There are also a number of private nature preserves in the area, including Winter Springs Ranch. All of these magnificent natural treasures are within easy reach of our vacation homes. Today tourism is a principal element of our local economy and a significant number of retired people have moved into the area. Gold Beach is also home to an active community of local artists working in a wide variety of materials.				Land Stewardship on Winter Springs Ranch After the Donnelleys acquired Winter Springs Ranch they recognized the importance of private reforestation projects and initiated one on their own property. They hired professional assistance and developed an extensive forestry plan for their land. To date, the Donnellys have planted over 300,000 new trees on their property and have been singled out as an example of wise land stewardship by the State of Oregon. Stephen Donnelly passed away in 2000, but Lidia Donnelly has continued following their dream. She is protective of the wildlife that shelter on her land and is happy to see that they have multiplied. Today it is estimated that about one hundred elk call Winter Springs Ranch home and the bird songs that greet guests in her vacation homes prove that they too have found a safe sanctuary high above the Rogue.