Oregon Goes Mining for More Boom Towns

Most of the more than 10,000 mining claims filed in Oregon during the last year have been on federal lands in Malheur County in the state’s southeast corner, where officials say they welcome a boom town.

Malheur County, at 9,926 square miles, is larger than the states of New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii or Vermont. It is 94% rangeland, two-thirds of it controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Its largest industry is agriculture.

Its population of about 23,500 is clustered in small communities at the northern end, leaving plenty of room to accommodate the impact of a large mining facility, said county economic development coordinator ZaDean Auyer.

“We would definitely welcome mining,” Auyer said. “We’re realistic that mining is probably to some degree boom and bust, but there’s nothing stable, not really. You have to keep trying to find things.”

About 500 to 600 seats are available at local schools, and at least 290 houses are for sale because of the flight of people who couldn’t find jobs, she said. Most county residents are so eager to improve the local economy, they are lobbying to build a new Oregon prison there, she said.

One mining company that has found a promising ore deposit in Malheur County has indicated that it may start a mine operation with more than 100 people; another projects a smaller operation of about 30 employees.

“Our per capita income is the second-lowest in the state--$10,260 in 1986,” Auyer said. “If we have a few jobs at $20,000 to $25,000, it’s going to make a difference, and that’s what you get with mining jobs. They figure 2 1/2 times turnover on a paycheck, so that $25,000 is going to be worth $75,000.”

In neighboring Nevada, for instance, mining is the highest-paying industry in the state, averaging about $33,000 per employee.

“I think the impact on the local community would be good because it will fill homes and help our businesses in town,” said Ed Jabs, president of the Vale Chamber of Commerce. “You always have that small group of people who declare themselves environmentalists, but that’s been very, very minimal. We feel good about that (mining) activity being here.”

Conservationists believe images of prosperity are blinding distressed communities, such as Vale, Ontario and Nyssa, to the environmental threats posed by big-time gold mining.

However, Gary Brown, a lifelong Ontario resident who has formed a small activist group called Concerned Citizens for Responsible Mining, believes the towns are threatened by something else.

“Greed,” Brown said. “The people that are going to benefit from this are your business people. You’re going to have businesses pop up here and there. I would love to see some industry come in that’s going to stay here, but the mining won’t last. What’s going to happen when the miners are gone in six to 10 years is you’re going to have empty buildings.”

“When the economic boom is anticipated, no one considers the bust and its effects,” said Stuart Garrett, president of the Native Plant Society of Oregon.

Across the border in Idaho, the communities of Wallace and Challis stand as testimony to what can happen when towns fail to prepare for the shutdown of local mines. These two cities were hit hard by the bust that came when nearby mines curtailed or closed. Property values plummeted, and costly school buildings and newly built houses were left empty.

In Humboldt County, Nev., government officials and merchants have been riding the boom for three years. Seven gold mines employing from 150 to 200 people each have been established in Humboldt County, and the county has been scrambling to provide housing and classroom space for new residents.

However, county officials say they have tried not to overbuild, hoping to avoid a crash when the surrounding gold mines reach the end of their projected lives in 10 to 15 years.

“We walk very carefully so that we won’t have a ghost town left,” said Humboldt County Commissioner Darrell Taylor. “We don’t want to build an infrastructure that the people who lived here before are going to pay for after.

“If you ask me, mining has been very economically beneficial for the community.”