Susanville, Oregon is a mining ghost town located in Grant County along Elk Creek about fourteen miles northwest of Austin. Gold was discovered in the vicinity in 1864 and a typical rush of miners to the area resulted. Many of the early arrivals had come from Susanville, California and when a post office was established on September 12, 1888 it was named after the California town. The first postmaster was Carl Lane. It was not a big mining operation and the town never grew as big as some surrounding mining communities.

Susanville was a busy place during its best years. It only had one street. This was because the Elk Creek canyon was too narrow for more roads. The town had a store where people could buy supplies. It also had a ten-stamp mill. This machine was used to crush rocks and get the gold out. Most of the population consisted of miners working in established mines.

The bulk of production happened before 1900 and since the town did not get a post office until 1888 it was not as active as other nearby mining districts. An unusual event happened in 1901 when a group of miners decided to move the post office two miles up Elk Creek and the former site of Susanville became Galena.

Some excitement occurred at Susanville after 1901. The Sumpter Miner newspaper reported in 1902 that “The camp now has about 200 people who are drawing their supplies from it. While Susanville is not a city, or one of those boom mining camps which grow up in one day and perish almost as quickly, it is growing very rapidly and is as lively as could be expected. The Badger Mine is one of the best properties in that territory or it may not be the best, either, but it is being developed beyond any other and is showing what is in it. Many other properties are showing up fine and it only requires a few more mills in there to prove to the world that Susanville is a mining country not to be sneezed at.”

After a few years of successful operation, the Badger Mine was closed in 1905, reopened briefly in 1922, and closed again. In 1913, a very special discovery was made near Susanville. Miners found the Armstrong Nugget. This was a huge piece of gold weighing 80 ounces. It is on display in Baker City at the U.S. Bank. Later production from the district was from dredging operations. From 1932 through 1959 the district produced 937 ounces of lode gold and 17,809 ounces of placer gold. The Susanville post office was closed on December 31, 1952. Some mining activity on a small scale continued for few years but the community became another mining ghost town.

Contributed by Steve Lent, Historian