Jacksonville's Gold Rush: A Self-Guided Walking Tour

This self-guided walking tour explores Jacksonville, Oregon: a gold rush town that went broke and accidentally became one of the best-preserved pioneer settlements in the American West. You'll hear how a chaotic 1851 mining camp grew into Southern Oregon's wealthiest city, and how losing the railroad saved it from demolition. The tour starts at the Old City Hall, where fires in 1873 and 1874 led Jacksonville to mandate brick construction. You'll wander California Street, once called the Wall Street of the West, past iron-shuttered storefronts and saloons pouring drinks since the 1850s. You'll stop at the Historic Jackson County Courthouse, where a man awaiting execution filed noise complaints about his ghost roommate, and visit St. Andrew's Anglican Church, built with gambling winnings. The tour ends at the Britt Festival grounds, built on the estate of photographer Peter Britt. Along the way, spot a Levi Strauss ghost sign and hear how Chinese miners dug a tunnel under town