Gold in North Georgia

aN a cc au NT oF Ta E D1 s c av ER vI M1 m 1 N G I aND 1 1NT 1N G aF Department of Natural Resources Georgia Geologic Survey Environmental Protection Division 1889 - 1989 MADELEINE F. KELLAM Contents G8J.D DISC8YIBID I GIG Bill Story Page -----~ Gold Discovered in Georgia . 1 Gold Rush Life and Times . 1 RZUN ,,) U.S. Mint at Dahlonega 1 Gold Mining Methods . 1 .,_ ~-/ TBE GOLD DEPOSITS Gold Mining Declines . 1 Future of Mining . 1 CCB1 OF (3)) Gold: Value and Uses 2 Occurrence of Gold . 2 ROITB G£01114 Prospecting for Gold 2 References . 2 . Gold Mining Ill Georgia Declines Gold Mining Methods and Equipment Life and Times in Georgia's Gold Rush Days Early prospectors in the gold region used logically, be derived from sources upstream. simple tools in their search. The swift By following the traces of gold up the The Cherokee Nation mountain streams of the Georgia hills length of a stream, that source could be The discovery of gold in Indian territory yielded the first gold to prospectors located. These new gold finds were not as The Trail of Tears altered the lives of the Cherokee people equipped with little more than a gold pan easily worked as the placer deposits, The forever. Before 1828, settlers had shown and common sense. gold might be found in weathered rock, Auraria and Dahlonega little interest in the mountainous portions Gold is a heavy mineral. The power of called saprolite, but it would not have been of Georgia, which were too steep for cotton rushing water can move it downstream, but washed out by streams. Instead, the gold Coining and Counterfeiting farming. The discovery of gold, however, wherever the flow of water slows, such as particles in the saprolite, because of their made these lands desirable. In 1831, the at the bends of streams, gold and other relatively greater density, would have Cherokee Country was surveyed and divided heavy minerals settle to the bottom. The worked their way downward towards into 160-acre lots, 40-acre lots in the gold gravel in the bed of a stream can be tested bedrock. This, too, caused the gold to It is unlikely that the Cherokee knew of region. In 1832 a lottery was held to for the presence of gold using a gold pan. become concentrated, but tons of waste the rich deposits of gold on their land prior distribute the lands to white settlers. A miner or prospector scoops up a panful material had to be moved in order to to its discovery in 1828. Legends persist The Cherokee residents were given two of gravel and water and swirls it around, extract the gold. of ancient Indian gold mines and lost years to vacate their lands. Some of the allowing the lighter and coarser materials New methods were needed to mine gold hordes, but the Cherokee themselves were Indians left, but there were many holdouts. to be splashed out of the pan. The dark from saprolite deposits. Again, water power relative newcomers to the area. Thus, the The last Cherokees in Georgia were heavy minerals and bright specks of gold, was the answer. Streams were dammed high Indians of north Georgia probably learned rounded up by Federal troops in 1838. The called "colors" by prospectors, are left above the gold deposit, and the trapped along with the rest of America that their forced migration to new lands in Oklahoma behind in the pan. water built up tremendous pressure. The lands would yield a fortune in gold. became known as the Trail of Tears. Four Deposits of gold which have been water could then be aimed at the saprolite Prior to the discovery of gold in their thousand people died en route. transported and concentrated by streams are through large hoses, called giants, or could territory, the Cherokee lived in harmony With the influx of settlers and miners, called placer deposits. Some placers are be released all at once in a flood, a method with neighboring Geor!,>ians. They farmed towns like Auraria and Dahlonega sprang remarkably rich, because they have been called "booming." The rushing water ate and herded, attended their own schools and up and flourished. Auraria, on the Etowah concentrated and reconcentrated. Many of away the weathered rock very quickly, churches, and governed themselves. The River, was settled first. The name Auraria the gold deposits mined in the early days freeing the gold. Water and earth were then capital of the Cherokee Nation was located was derived from the Latin word for gold. of the Dahlonega gold rush were of this directed through a sluice, trapping the gold. at New Echota, and it was there that their Dahlonega, located near the headwaters of Is There a Future for type. These deposits could be worked using Entire hillsides could be washed away using bilingual newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, the Chestatee River, takes its name from a little more than gold pans. One miner these methods. The techniques of hydraulic was published. The paper was printed in Cherokee word, taulauneka, meaning yellow Gold Mining in Georgia? working steadily could move a ton of gravel mining, developed in the gold region of English and Cherokee, using an alphabet money. These \Vere frontier towns, their a day in this manner. Georgia, became known as the Dahlonega devised by a Cherokee scholar named populations composed of miners and their Is this the end of the story of Miners hoping for even bigger profits method. Efficient at removing gold from Sequoyah. families as well as owners of mining-related Dahlonega's gold rush? Perhaps not. Two often added another piece of technology to weathered rock, this method was also highly enterprises. Merchants and smiths, tavern major factors may eventually combine to placer mining, the sluice. A sluice, or sluice destructive of the countryside, and in 1927, keepers and ministers swelled the ranks of alter the end of the tale. box, used the power of the stream to it was banned in Georgia. the gold seekers. For a brief time, Auraria From the time of the coinage act of separate the gold from the worthless gravel. Gradually, even the saprolite deposits even boasted its own newspaper, the 1792, until March of 1933, the price of gold Of simple construction, a sluice was a long became depleted. Rich gold veins still Western Herald. was established by Congress. This changed wooden trough, open at each end and on remained to be mined, but they were One profession that was not represented in 1933, when the price of gold was first top. The bottom of the sluice was covered enclosed in solid, unweathered rock. in the early mining days was banking. The allowed to float. The price rose to $29.62 with burlap or another rough fabric, or it Underground mining methods, rather than first bank was not established in the gold per ounce, from its previous statutory price was fitted with slats of wood, called riffies. open pit methods, had to be employed to district until 1834. Merchants in the rough of $20.67 per ounce. By 1934, the price had The sluice was either placed in the stream reach these veins. The veins were followed and-tumble frontier towns sold goods for risen again, to $35 per ounce. Gold prices channel, or water from the stream was by digging tunnels, either vertically (shafts) cash or gold only; no credit was extended. were rising while production of gold in directed across it. The rough materials of or horizontally (adits). The digging of In a region with many merchants but no Georgia was reaching new lows. the sluice's bottom slowed the flow of water tunnels and removal of ore were done using bankers, transactions were often carried out Gold prices eventually levelled off, and across them, trapping the heavy minerals hand tools and explosives. in unminted gold. Gold dust and bars were they remained constant until the 1970's, available but inconvenient. Currency was so when they suddenly went through the roof. scarce that Spanish coins were circulated Unprecedentedly high prices were set on the legally until 1857. world market for gold, as high as $800 per The lack of banks and currency in the ounce. gold region prior to 1834 inhibited In the years since gold production ceased commerce, but it opened the door for in Georgia, gold-mining technology has individual enterprise. During this time, made enormous strides. Soaring prices have private citizens were not prohibited from led to the development of new methods for coining their own money. Such coinage was processing even the lowest grades of ore. not considered counterfeiting. One private Mining companies today can extract coiner was Templeton Reid of Gainesville, amounts of gold so small that they cannot who began minting coins in 1830. These even be seen with the naked eye, and the coins were stamped with Reid's name and cost of producing that gold is dropping. An with their value. Oddly enough, because ounce of gold that cost $236 to produce in these coins were worth more than their face 1984, could be produced for $200 an ounce Sequoyah, Cherokee Indian leader and scholar. He devised the Cherokee alphabet and published a bilingual newspaper, the value, Reid's private coins were frequently in 1988. Very large mining operations can Cherokee Phoenix. (Library of Congress.) counterfeited. bring their production costs even lower by processing huge quantities of ore at one time. So the end of the tale may not have been Placer mining at the White Path Gold Mine, Gilmer County, Georgia.

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