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Open Ground · Open ground

Sunstone Public Collection Area

Free BLM ground, Rabbit Basin, 23 mi N of Plush, OR
ACCESSIBLE
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

Sunstone Public Collection Area: still unexplained.

Oregon sunstones, copper-flash feldspar, the state gem

The law of this ground: BLM-managed, free collection for personal use; no commercial take. Fee mines (Spectrum) operate nearby.
The subject
developing the photograph…
The manifest
Oregon sunstones, copper-flash feldspar, the state gem
The account

Thirty miles of gravel road from a town that is barely a town, and then: a sagebrush basin where the ground glitters. Sunstones lie loose in the dirt, copper schiller catching the light. The federal government set this ground aside for anyone willing to drive that far and kneel. Most aren't. That is rather the point.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • What you can keep: Oregon sunstones, copper-flash feldspar, the state gem. Confirm the site's current rules and any day fee before you go.
  • Where: Rabbit Basin, 23 mi N of Plush, OR. BLM-managed, free collection for personal use; no commercial take. Fee mines (Spectrum) operate nearby.
  • Best practice: record anything notable, leave the ground as you found it, and check the latest access notices before you travel.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • What you can keep: Oregon sunstones, copper-flash feldspar, the state gem. Confirm the site's current rules and any day fee before you go.
  • Where: Rabbit Basin, 23 mi N of Plush, OR. BLM-managed, free collection for personal use; no commercial take. Fee mines (Spectrum) operate nearby.
  • Best practice: record anything notable, leave the ground as you found it, and check the latest access notices before you travel.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 42.720°, -119.870° (approx.) View on the Map