Mbhs #: 0884
First Row: Stephan "Steve" Oëster
Source: SOU Hannon Library
Event/Activity: Britt portrait
Notes: Swiss immigrant. The SOU Hannon Library labels this Peter Britt portrait "Steve Orster (name unclear) with mining tools" with a curious note: "The man who searched for the lost cabin mine but did not find it." SOHS "As It Was" JPR episode, 25 Sept 2018: Pictures of Steve Oster show him with gold pan, pick and axe, a solitary prospector who mined in the Applegate area in the 1860s and 1870s. Little is known about Oster, but many landmarks bear his first name. There is Steve Fork Creek, a tributary of Carberry Creek near Applegate Lake, which other miners used as a guide to mining areas in the Applegate. And Steve Fork Road led to the mining era town of Steamboat. The Steve Peak Lookout was located on 5,866-foot-high Steve Peak in the Rogue River National Forest in Josephine County, about 26 miles from Medford. Present-day hikers are familiar with the mountain. In 1918, a retired physician from Jacksonville, Dr. Barker, managed the lookout station. One afternoon he spotted flames coming up the mountain. He only had time to grab a few things and run for his life for a mile or more to safety before the fire burned down the lookout station, which was rebuilt later. Steve Oster may have been a little-known, solitary miner, but place names have kept his moniker alive. https://www.ijpr.org/show/as-it-was/2018-09-26/as-it-was-place-names-honor-solitary-applegate-prospector#stream/0
