The name was inspired by a rock as smooth and round as a cannonball, which reminded a local resident of the American Civil War and Fort Sumter.

[6] Sumpter, first settled by Euro-Americans during this war, was named after Fort Sumter in the U.S. state of South Carolina.

[7] An account in the Baker Democrat–Herald many decades later reported that a round rock found in the area in the early 1860s had looked to residents like a cannonball and, reinforced by the war news, had reminded them of Fort Sumter.

[7] In 1883, Joseph D. Young became the first postmaster of Sumpter, and, according to his grandson, was not allowed by the U.S. Post Office to use the old name, Sumter.

[10] Shortly after the SVRy arrived, the city expanded near a set of deep-shaft gold mines with a combined total of 12 miles (19 km) of tunnels.

[11] Sumpter had electric lights, churches, saloons, a brewery, sidewalks, three newspapers, and an opera house.

[12] A 6-mile (10 km) stretch of the original SVRy has been restored and operates on summer weekends and major holidays from Memorial Day through the end of September.

[16] The plot involves a team of people looking for gold and ghosts in the "Crescent Mine" near Sumpter.

[17] According to a Baker City Herald story picked up by the Associated Press and Portland television station KATU, most of the filming was done at the Buckeye Mine group near Bourne, about 6 miles (10 km) north of Sumpter along Cracker Creek.

The show features rookie miner Fred Lewis,[19] a veteran, in his attempts to mine gold with his former military friends.

[21] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.18 square miles (5.65 km2), all land.