New Orleans daily crescent., 1861-10-14

Inc clergyman 10 the United States District Attor-
ney.ssfgF 5at.E,ra s
Discovery of Gold In Georgia.
The discovery, in 1928, of q lump Of gold in Ma
,oochee, worth $500, caused the greatest excite
nent throughout the country People from all
sections were to be seen ffocking to this new Ell
Dorado. Those who possessed q few hundred
we're never realized. Even the great Calhoun did
not escape the prevailing gold fever" and not
the warnings given him by my father,
he was cheated by the .'speeulators ont of
large sum of money. " Testing and q saitingo
was then the order of the day. Those who had
lots of land they wished to sell, would dig pits at
various points, and then pan ont" If, nnfertu-
nate1y, they did not succeed in finding gold, some
were so unscrupulous as to veiteoncealed about
their person, which, by the slight of hand, was
transferred into the pan of the man who was test
ing. This was what they called "salting," and
there were not few victims to this mode of
swindling. was then small boy and knew
every by. path through the mountains, and TO me
was assigned the homer of pilotiug the great Caro-
lima statesman to the mines, Yonah, and other
places of amusement. 1t was the year after the
celebrated tariff bill was passed. l1 ~#
shall never forget how much Mr. Calhoun was
excited on account OF some political news he re-
eeiged while at Nacoochee. He would walk the
floor for hours in the deepest installations almost
constantly pressing his hand upon his head as if in
severe PAIN This wonderful man was then fully
realizing the troubles through which we are now
years in advance of the majority of his cotempo-
raries If our country had needed his counsel and
warnings we should not be engaged in bloody
and destructive civil war the slave States could
have dictated their own terms of separation, But
the immense revenue and profits derived from the
South in period of thirty years has made the
North rich powerful and ipsolent. Unfortunately
for they know well that the loss of the trade
of the South would be their run and they will
ing to hazard bloody war and immanse treasures
to win us back. Fools they are! The people Of
the Confederate States will never again submit to
the rule of the hated Abolitionists Never! never!
If they have to perish, they will, like the perse-
cuted Samson, in the deatb-struggle, pull down
the house on the heads Of their enemies. Bat, you
see, am wandering from "geld diggngsn into the
prolific subject of politics. l have heard Of no es-
innate of the gold found in the Nacooehee settle
ment it would, however, amount to mary mil.
lions of dollars. | doubt whether the country has
been greatly benefited by the discovery If this
precious me1al-while a few have amassed large
fortunes, many have grown poorer in search Of
golden treasures.
The mines are being worked here to much better
advantage and profit than they were before the
discovery of gold in California An the late i'm
proVements in machinery have been introduced
4 few days ago I visited the Nacoachee Hydraulic
Mining Company, and was surprised to see the vast
preparations they have made for procuring gold.
A canal nine miles long, capable of conveying
water enough to wash Yonah Mountain level with
the valley, has been recently completed at q cost
Of $50 coo. The Georgia Commissioners willloubt-
less learn this capital was furnished by Boston
stockholders in this company. The canal has its
source in the Blue Ridge, and is conveyed on the
side of the mountain With the branch canals
which they are now making, millions Of acres Of
land can be irrigated and washed Deposites and
veins Of gold extend the entire length of the canal
The Nacooochee Company own and have d lease
OF nearly the whole section Of country through
which the canal passes There is more gold in ten
miles square here than in all the banks of South
Carolina, and it is about as hard to 80 draw"
How much it will cost to remove it, from its long
depositeS renal ins to be seen,
1t is estimated that the expense of mining with
the use of the canal is greatly reduced. 1t il said
that one man can do the work Of ten men under
the old system Of mining if this be true, see no
reason why an immsense fortune cannot be re-
allied, by this company, as they have secured the
richest mining region in, Georgia. II had not
seen it with my own eyes, | could not have be-
leved that small stream three feet deep and four
wide, if allowed to flow down the lotest noun
tain in Georgia, if unobstructed by rocks, would
level it with the valley. A friend Of mine who had
charge OF one of the aqueducts in The side of the
mountain, came very near losing his life by an un-
expected mountain slide. An old tunnel which had
been dug many years ago by the miners, was
penetrated by the water from the canal, which had
been undermining the mountain tor several days;
my friend heard an unusual roaring, and saw the
forest trees him begin to shake, then followed
q loud crash, and the trees and ground went down
into an immense chasm. Ny friend had just left
the spot which had disappeared forever.
| have very little doubt that the subteIrauean
village which was discovered by the miners here
in 1884, was buried by mountain slide. It must,
however, have been at an early date, as this SUBJ
terranean village was covered when the whites
first settled the country, with heavy growth of
timber denoting the great antiquity of the
buildings.
number OF curious specimes of workmanship
have BEEN found there, iu situations which pre-
clude the possibility of their having been removed
for more than thousand years. 1t is thought by
some that the daring Spanards visited this country
early as the tenth century, in search of gold,
and made considerable progress in civilization,
but were finally destroyed by the Indians. The
remains of strong Notifications, which extend
across Naeoochee Valley from mountain to noun
tain, are to be seen vet. at one time Nacoochee
was the largest town in the Cherokee Nation.
Tradition tells us that Nacoochee, the Evening
Star, was the daughter of d noted chief. This
lovely maid of the valley was wooed by brave
young warrior of race hated by her father One
evening Naeoochee disappeared from her vine
clad cottage. The old chieftain summoned his
warriors to so in pursuit of her. She and her lover
were captured on the banks Of the Chattahooche.
An arrow was aimed at the foe who had dared to
rob the chief of his favorite daughter. Nacouchee
spraag before her lover and received the fatal az
row in her own pure heart. In a moment the
young chieftain'a blood mingled with hers. They
were buried IN one grave, and q mound was raised
to mark the spot.
Your correspondent has peculiar attachment
for this mound, sit was there that he made the
first bushel of Indian corn that he could claim as
MS own. The mound is now the property of the
eldest son of the late Major Williams. 1t has been
planted in vines, fruit trees and blue grass. The
solitary pine on its summit that marks the grave
OF NacOoGhe, still stands; from its lofty top the
secession flag was thrown to the breeze before the
State of Georgia seeded. Long maY it wave eer
the grave of Nacoochee and the hume of the free.
Fohsrle,ton conrier
RAILROAD CoILls1oN.-The MeInphis Appeal of