Gold was first discovered on this portion of Jackson Creek in 1851, and mining continued at the site around the Jacksonville Library for many years. During the 1930s, as the Great Depression brought hard times, Southern Oregon experienced a resurgence of gold mining. Veteran prospectors and novices burrowed a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the town, honeycombing the area with shafts and tunnels and fanning them out at bedrock level in search of gold-bearing earth. Old mining maps show that at least 17 tunnel mines were once active in the immediate area around the present-day library. Although mining within town limits was illegal, it was generally overlooked because of the severe economic problems of the period, and Jacksonville’s depression miners eventually removed an estimated one million dollars’ worth of gold.