Chinese miners first settled Buncom in 1851 when gold was discovered in Sterling Creek. The outpost (now a ghost town) is located twenty miles southwest of Medford along a very scenic, very twisty road. We often hike the nearby Sterling Mine Ditch Trail. Built (with hand tools!) in 1877 to carry water from the Little Applegate River through some rugged mountains to a mine over twenty-six miles away, it’s a marvel of nineteenth-century engineering. The whole area is rich in history.
The Buncom Post Office seemed like a fine subject to draw. It’s hard to work on a larger scale so I bought a small sketchbook (5.5″x8.5″ — the same size as my novels). Also, using a ballpoint pen helps. There’s less resistance so, once I get a stroke going, it’s easier to follow through. Unfortunately, it means that I can’t erase anything. The archival quality isn’t great, either. Unlike Buncom, my sketches won’t last 171 years.
Colin Turner's Work 