The Bureau of Land Management’s Vale District is seeking public comments on a draft environmental assessment for a proposed gold mining operation on public land near the former site of Auburn, the first town in Baker County.

If approved, the Kast Hidden Nugget and Sundog claims could mine in two areas totaling 75 acres. Total planned disturbance is up to 3.25 acres across 13 sites over 26 years. Mining has happened on these sites since at least the 1860s, according to the BLM.

After mining is finished at each site, the operator would close the site and restore the environment to its original state as mining begins at the next site. The applicant is Dave Kast of Baker City.

The draft environmental assessment is available at https://tinyurl.com/y5h8s4kp

The public comment period closes May 15. Comments are most helpful if they are specific to the project and questioning the accuracy of information, methodologies, assumptions or alternatives in the draft assessment. They can be submitted via email to BLM_OR_BK_Mail@blm.gov, or to BLM Baker Field Office, Attn. Kast Gold EA, 3100 H St., Baker City, OR 97814.

More information is available from planning and environmental specialist Jeremy Vargas at jvargas@blm.gov or 541-473-3144.

The Kast Sundog site is along Poker Gulch, just south of Old Auburn Road near the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s elk-feeding station, which is part of the Elkhorn Wildlife Area. The Hidden Nugget claim is just north of Old Auburn Lane, at the junction of Blue Canyon and French Gulch.

A group of miners including Henry Griffin found gold on Oct. 23, 1861, in a gulch a few miles southwest of what would become Baker City. The gulch was later named for Griffin.

Starting in 1862, miners began to arrive in large numbers, and they set up the town of Auburn on Blue Canyon, a stream several miles southwest of Griffin Gulch.

Auburn at its peak had a population of about 5,000 and was the second-largest town in Oregon. It was the first county seat of Baker County, which the Oregon Legislature created on Sept. 22, 1862.

The town’s population dropped rapidly after a few years, and the county seat was moved to Baker City in 1868 (the city was officially incorporated six years later, in 1874).