Legend of the Blue Bucket
The captain of the company told all of the young people who had saddle
horses to take buckets and go hunt for water. My father, who was then
23 years old and his sister... took their old blue wooden buckets and
started out to find water. They finally found a dry creek bed which they
followed until they found a place where a little water was seeping
through the gravel, and while my father was digging for water his sister
saw something bright and picked it up.
W.H. Herren, son of W.J. Herren, emigrant of 1845
Stephen Meek, pilot of an ill-fater 1845 emigration, successfully
persuaded 200 families to attempt a shortcut around the
Blue Mountains. Although the endeavor proved disastrous, legend
holds that in their desperate search for water the lost emigrants
discovered a small amount of gold!
The search for the Blue Bucket gold led to other discoveres,
and prospectors soon descended upon the countryside with their
gold pans and pack mules. Although many deposits of precious
metals have been found in the region, and mining lured many
settlers back to the banks of the Malheur River, the Blue Bucket
gold has eluded all seekers.
