In Golden we have standing structures that can be entered, at least some of the structures as of this writing (October 2025). There are five main structures to Golden and these were vital to the community when it had residents roughly from 1890 to the mid twentieth century.  

The structures include a one room schoolhouse. These were common in rural areas and in this case the grades included 1^st thru 8^th. The school was overseen by the Josephine County School Superintendent. His name was Lincoln Savage and he took a train from Grants Pass and then hopped on a bike to get to Golden.  

The standing structures in Golden have been gone through some renovations. For example, the church has a GFCI outlet; they didn’t have those when the church was built in 1892. Because an episode of Gunsmoke was filmed onsite in 1972, almost everything including the graveyard has been rumored to be altered. I found the graveyard to be authentic with real headstones, dates, and coins tossed. Today’s Golden is not a sound stage or Paramount backlot.  

Other key buildings include the mercantile which doubled as a post office, not uncommon. What is uncommon is that we know that exact date of the opening of the post office and the year it closed. Golden is a fun place to gather the history. It’s not overly complex and there are plenty of contraditions from the various sources on the internet. Key is the sign at the Golden site that gives the date of 1890 for when the town was established. But it says the church was built in 1852. The date is more like 1892. It’s fun to figure out the facts and where the reliable information resides.  

We have the church standing and its graveyard. We have the mercantile and next to it the all-important granary where food is stored. There is also a barn. Sadly, we are missing a hotel and blacksmith shop. There were also lots of resident houses. These are gone and more and more the town will deteriorate. I’ve notice a slow degradation in pictures. Some structures I’ve seen in older tourist pictures have vanished. The town is slowly disappearing. There have been references to residential structures still standing; but they are gone now. The outhouse is proudly standing in relatively recent pictures yet during my tour the thing was being held up by 2x4s.  

Golden is a ghost town slowly giving up the ghost. Compare this site to other ghost town where all you get is a foundation for your troubles.  Golden is easily accessible off Interstate 5 between Eugene and Grants Pass, Oregon.

The address is 3502 Coyote Creek Rd, Wolf Creek, OR 97497