Exploring gold mine of memories

Retired geologist tracking history of Quartzville rush, seeks public input

November 10, 2021

Scott Swanson

Steve Munts checks out mining artifacts on display at East Linn Museum. Munts donated much of the collection and is now working on a book about the history of mining in the Quartzville region.

Though he's lived in Spokane, Wash., for 42 years, Steve Munts has never really left Sweet Home – or, more specifically, the gold fields of Quartzville.

Munts, 70, now retired as a mining industry and government geologist, was at the East Linn Museum recently, checking out the museum's mining exhibit, much of the contents of which he's donated himself.

Another reason for his visit, though, is a project he's been contemplating ever since he was a young geologist, fresh out of the University of Oregon: writing a comprehensive history of the gold rush in Quartzville, which began followin...

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