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Public Lands Belong To You!

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is a federal government agency that takes 

care of more than 245 million acres of land. Most of these lands are in the western 

part of the United States. These lands are America’s public lands, and they belong to 

all Americans. These public lands are almost equal in area to all the land in the states 

of Texas and California put together.

The BLM manages public lands for many uses. The lands supply natural resources, 

such as coal, oil, natural gas, and other minerals. The lands provide habitats for 

plants and animals. People enjoy the big open spaces on the lands. The lands also 

contain evidence of our country’s past, ranging from fossils to Indian artifacts to 

ghost towns.

Junior Explorers

BLM’s Junior Explorer program helps introduce young explorers like you to the lands 

and resources that the BLM manages. This Jr. Prospector Activity Book focuses on 

historic gold mining in the surrounding area. There is much to be learned from the 

people who came back on the old Oregon Trail to strike it rich in the 1860’s. 

You can work through the activities in this booklet on your own or invite a sibling, 

parent, or an adult you know to join you. When you complete the activities, check 

with a Park Ranger to have your Certificate signed, and you’re on your way to 

exploring and protecting America’s public lands. 
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Going back in time...

The year is 1861, and gold has just been discovered in the Blue Mountains of Eastern 

Oregon. Pack the wagons and head back on the old Emigrant Road, it’s the Blues or 

bust; a new gold rush has started. Use this booklet to help you travel back in time to 

the golden days of eastern Oregon. Come along and let’s discover what it was like to 

be a gold miner in this untamed land!

During the days of the Oregon Trail the area you see around you was much different 

than it is today. Flagstaff Hill, where you are now, did not even have a name, and 

the big valley that you see out the windows was a vast empty plain. The only sign of 

civilization might be a dusty wagon train passing through on their way westward. It 

wasn’t until gold was discovered here that emigrants began to settle permanently in 

the Baker Valley and surrounding mountains.

How to Become A Junior Prospector

Tools you will need include: 

• a keen sense of adventure

• a good imagination

• something to write with

Once you have completed this 

booklet, take it to one of the 

interpretive center employees or 

mail it to the address on the back. 

We love to hear a good story.

Are you ready 

to strike it rich? 

Good luck!
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Glossary

Basalt – a hard, black, sometime glassy, igneous rock

Batholith – A large mass of igneous rock, composed of granite

Boom Town – prosperous town: a town that significantly increases in size and 

wealth, often as the result of new and profitable industry

Claim Jumper – a person who seizes another’s claim of land

Gold – a soft, heavy, corrosion-resistant, yellow metallic element that is highly valued

Igneous rock – describes rock formed under conditions of intense heat or produced 

by the solidification of volcanic magma on or below the Earth’s surface

Limestone – a sedimentary rock made from ocean organisms

Lode – a deposit or vein of ore

Marble – a dense crystallized metamorphic rock formed from limestone

Metamorphic rock – a rock that has changed its form and character through heat 

and pressure

Ore – mineral from which metal is extracted

Placer – a deposit of river sand or gravel containing particles of gold or another 

valuable mineral

Prospect – an excavation undertaken in search of ore

Sandstone – a sedimentary rock made of sand

Sedimentary rock – describes rocks formed from material deposited as sediment by 

water, wind, or ice and then consolidated by pressure

Slate – a fine-grained, layered metamorphic rock

Sluice box – an artificial channel for conducting water, often fitted with a gate

Stamp Mill – mill or machine in which ore is crushed to powder by 

means of heavy stamps or pestles
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Where is the gold?

If you are going to mine for gold you’ve got to know where to find it.

If you take a walk outside the interpretive center you will see the beautiful Elkhorn 

Mountains, which are part of the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are what is 

called a batholith which is made mostly of granite. Granite is an igneous rock that 

was first a huge dome of molten rock or magma below the earth’s surface that was 

pushed to the surface and cooled down forming the rocks we see today. The surface 

of the Flagstaff Hill where we are standing is covered by another type of igneous 

rock called basalt which is formed from lava flowing on the surface and cooling.

Imagine a time before the mountains were there, and even before the time of 

dinosaurs. There would have been a vast sea to our west. The floor of that sea was 

covered with a bed of solid rocks called limestone and sandstone. They are called 

sedimentary rocks.
“There’s gold in those hills...”

When the Blue Mountains began to rise, some of those sedimentary rocks were 

heated up and smashed between the layers of magma. They were heated up, melted, 

and then cooled; now they are new type rock called metamorphic rock. Some 

examples of this type of rock are slate and marble. 

Gold is formed deep within the earth. When the sedimentary rocks 

are cooling, long cracks form that are filled in by quartz and other 

minerals. Gold, silver, copper and other metals seep in with the 

forming minerals as well. 

That’s where gold can be found.

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Flagstaff Hill

Baker City

Auburn 

Ghost Town

Elkhorn Peak

Powder 

River

basalt metamorphic rock

granite quartz vein

sandy river deposits
Find your way to the gold...

Now you know where to find your gold, but who found it here first?

You might overhear a story being told around the campfires in the mining camps of 

the Lost Blue Bucket Mine. Well, the story goes something like this: Back in 1845 a 

group of pioneers left the Oregon Trail in search of a shortcut. They got lost for days. 

Then, one day some folks were looking for water in a nearby dry streambed. We’re 

not sure if they found water but they brought back some shiny yellow pebbles. The 

people on the wagon train thought it was copper and asked how much they found. 

They answered “enough to fill one of those blue buckets.” 

Some years later, after the big California gold rush, one of the emigrants found those 

shiny pebbles she had brought with her and had them identified as gold! The search 

for that spot where the gold was first discovered in Oregon led to the gold rush that 

brought your miner out here. It is known as the Lost Blue Bucket Mine, and the best 

part is, it’s still out there. No one has ever found the rest of that gold...

What do you say? Are you ready 

to find that gold yourself?

Let’s see if you are 

clever enough to 

strike it rich!

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Old Auburn

The settlement of Eastern Oregon really came about because of gold mining. Towns 

sprang into existence overnight, and were called boomtowns. Some can still be seen 

today such as Baker City and Sumpter. Others are only dots on a map now where 

the towns used to be such as Auburn. While a few of those towns still exist but very 

few people still live there, we call those places ghost towns. Ask an employee or 

volunteer at the interpretive center to show you where these ghost towns are on a 

map. 

See if you can navigate the streets of old Auburn to get to where you can begin your 

mining adventure. t:Star

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Now that you have made it to the mercantile store you are 

ready to get the proper equipment.

You gear is all mixed up from the long trip out here. You’ll 

have to unscramble the words and to get organized. 

KPCI XEA

HOLVES

RETLANN

ANBOC

LOFRU

STLA

HADN WORTEL

MATEGN

Something is still missing!

Unscramble the circled words and you’ll find the most 

important piece of your equipment.

Now you’re talking. 

With that item, 

you can really get 

somewhere.

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At the Mercantile
Map Reading

Perhaps one of the most important skills a miner can have is the ability to read a 

map. Can you follow the directions given to get to your claim? 

Directions Start at Auburn and head south until you reach Lucky Creek. Cross the 

creek and follow the base of the hill northeast to the fork in Cracker 

Creek and strike your claim.

Using your pencil, draw your route on the map and then mark where 

your mining claim will be located with this symbol:

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N

E

S

W

Auburn

Cracker Creek

Lucky Creek

This kind of map is called a topographic map, 

because it shows how steep or flat the ground is. 

The contour lines represent changes in elevation. 

The closer the contour lines are together, the 

steeper the hillside is.
Placer or Lode?

Which type of mine will work best for you? 

A placer mine is a type of mine that is above the ground. Gold 

panning is the simplest way of placer mining. Since gold is very heavy it sinks to the 

bottom of a pan when it is in the water while the rest of the gravel washes away. 

However, a large placer mine can wash away entire hillsides with huge high pressure 

sprayers. 

A rock containing metal is called ore, and a large deposit of ore is called a lode. 

A lode or hard rock mine digs deep into the earth and can be hundreds of feet 

deep with passageways branching out in all directions. Lode mining is dangerous 

underground work. The remnants of that type of mine can be seen here on Flagstaff 

Hill.

Which of these methods of mining would work best for your site?

placer or lode

(circle your choice)

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 built to service gold 

n 

Test your prospecting knowledge

Across

2. city which was

mining in eastern Oregon

4. a deposit of river sand or gravel 

containing particles of gold or 

another valuable mineral

8. yellow metallic 

element that is 

highly valued

10. a person who

seizes another’s

claim of land

11. an excavatio

undertaken in a 

search for ore

12. mineral from

which metal is 

extracted

Down

1. fine-grained, layered metamorphic rock

3. a large mass of igneous rock, composed of granite

5. a deposit or vein of ore

6. mill or machine in which ore is crushed to powder by means of heavy stamps or 

pestles

7. an artificial channel for conducting water

9. a person who works in a mine

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1

6 7 8

5

4

3

2

9

11

10

12
Eureka! 

Your gold pan comes up with shiny yellow flecks! You have struck gold!

What are you going to name your mine? Come up with a name that all will 

remember and how you struck it rich at the_____________________________mine.

Now that your mine is in operation you will be making regular trips into town to 

make deposits at the bank. A few miles from your mine is the newly formed town of 

Auburn. This community is made up mostly of miners and the businesses that serve 

the needs of those out in the mines. These cities were sometimes called boomtowns 

because they seemed to spring up overnight after gold was discovered. Sometimes 

boomtowns can be rough places. Using at least 5 of the words below, write your 

own story about your miner’s trip into Auburn.

hotel railroad blacksmith stables

bank dusty stagecoach saloon

sheriff horse music Main Street

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draw a picture of where you might find gold

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Get Outside!

What about the rocks on Flagstaff Hill? Do you think they have gold in them? 

Take a walk outside; look and feel the rocks around the interpretive center. Use the 

blank below to sketch or write about a rock you found. Describe the way it looked 

and felt. What color was it? Do you think it could be a gold bearing rock? 

Why or why not? 

Can you think of the rocks found around your home? Do you think any of them 

contain gold?
Conclusion

Mining is dangerous work, if you are out exploring on your own, remember to stay 

away from open mines. Also, mining takes a toll on the environment. If something 

is removed from an area such as soil from a stream it can cause significant damage. 

If your parents drive a few miles to Sumpter, Oregon you can see the impact of the 

gold dredging operations clearly from the road. 

We want to take care of the world around us so be a safe and good caretaker of 

the land. The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center is a special place. It 

was created in 1992 to provide an educational and interpretive examination of the 

Oregon Trail Experience. Historians come to this site every year to study both the 

Oreon Trail as well as local and natural history. 

As a Junior Explorer at the Interpretive Center 

you can help by exploring our nation’s rich 

natural history, learning to read the signs 

of nature, and sharing your discoveries with 

family and friends!

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Z T R A U Q H J J S L

L C V Z Y S J E J H M

D A X E F S M J U O F

I R S G N I N I M V S

Y H A N L L B I Y E L

P A N N I N G B F L Q

J R O T C E P S O R P

T L A S A B F P J Q G

X O G R A N I T E X O

J R N V J P F R T L L

G E U C H Y X U H Z D

Word Search

axe 

ore

basalt 

panning

gold 

prospector

granite 

quartz

mining 

shovel
Congratulations! 

You have really shown what it means to be a true Junior Prospector. 

Now all that is left is filling in your Junior Prospector certificate. Take this up to an 

employee at the interpretive center and have them sign it to make it official. 

This is to certify that 

(name)

has explored Oregon Gold Country 

on this day

(date)

and is now a Junior Prospector.

As a Bureau of Land Management Junior Explorer, I promise to:

• do all I can to help preserve and protect the natural and cultural 

resources on our public lands, 

• be aware of how my actions can affect other living things and the 

evidence of our past, 

• keep learning about the importance of nature and our heritage, and

• share what I have learned with others!

Explorer Signature Official Signature

22267 Oregon Highway 86 | PO Box 987

Baker City, OR 97814

(541) 523-1843 | oregontrail.blm.gov

BLM/OR/AE-13/062+1792