Palmer Creek Road is the course of the original county road. You wouldn’t have crossed back to the east side of the Applegate River until reaching Nicholas Wright’s ford, where you could buy some basic supplies and pick up mail. Ramey and Edna (McKee) Phillips owned the next ranch up the valley, at the mouth of Kinney Creek. Here is a scene from their ranch circa 1916.
More recently the Phillips place was Haddo Half Moon Llama Ranch, owned by Lord and Lady Ferguson. Yes, seriously – Scottish royalty. He was “The Right Honourable Viscount Barclay Ferguson of Lamond.”
The Gin Lin National Recreation Trail provides a “you are there” explanation of the extensive hydraulic mining that scoured pretty much every accessible reach of the Applegate River in the 1870-80s. You can find more information here including a downloadable brochure describing each marked point on the trail.