The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-05-26
THE CALIFORNIA OF THE SOUTH


THE GoLD-FIELDs OF GEoRGIA-A SCIENTIFIC
OPINION OF THEIR EXTENT AND VALUE
WHAT NORTHERN CAPITALISTS ARE DOING.
The celebrated minerologist, DIR. NJ. F.
Stephenson, and formerly assayer to the
United States mint, has lately written the
following very interesting letter to the
Boston Advertiser in regard to the unde-
veloped gold region in the Appalachian
mountains of Georgia.: The Chestatee river
rises in the Appalachian mountains, of Geor-
gia, in Lumpkin county, and flows south
ward through one of the most picturesque
and charming countries OF America, and falls
into the Chattahoochee river, in Hall county:
then sweeps onward to the Gulf of Mexico
The Chattahoochee is so called, in the Chero.
kee language, from rubies being found in its
sands. It has become b storical as being the
western base of "De Soto's conouerinp
march, through the Seminole, Creek, and
Cherokee nations of Indians. All along this
route, from st. Augustine, in Florida, to
Nacoochee valley, are found numerous relics
of his notifications, his battles, and explora-
ton for gold, the last being his chief object.
The .Che statee," as well as the "Chattahoo
chez" traverse the gold belt Tor a distances
OF twenty or thirty miles, mostly at right
angles to the strata or trend of the gold veins:
which necessarily has produced rich ana ex-
tensive deposits in the creeks and river beds.
as we'll as places on the table lands and hill
sides. The "Chestatee" from its mouth to
the junction with the ''Tesnatee'' above Dah-
lonega is vastly rich but has not been
worked, excepting the shoals, which Yielded
large profits to the operator. Several COM
paDies have been organized heretofore to
turn the river by canals; and one by
wooden hune, for some ten or twenty miles,
but the war prevented a successful develop
ment of their plans.
TWO COMPANIES ARE NOW ENGAGED
in preparations to work the river bed, one
from Ohio under the control of Col. Price.
who scouting canal and tunneling through
a ridge so as to bare and make available
three miles of gold deposits. This canal is
near its mouth. The other is controlled by
]. r. Bartlett, of Boston, who has engrossed
nearly ten miles of the river. Both are
practical men, and have not only the capital,
but the skill and determination of purpose
to carry it out TO completion. All the work.
ings, in years gone by, in the shosl water,
yielded from 81 to $40 per square yard, which
if properly worked, with energy, as the
above parties indicate, will give millions
annually to the currency of the country.
The vast mineral wealth CT this region, here
tofore scarcely known, is beginning to be ap-
preciated. Capital and enterprise from the
North and West are coming in, people of the
state are excited. and already, on every
hand, evidence is increasing of the practical
bility of gold mining, which bids fair TO ex-
coed the most tiattering productions of CALI
fornia. Another company from Ohio, under
the supervision Of Col. Hand. of Cleveland,
is preparing to work the extensive placers
controlled by the charter of the old Yahoo-
la Mining company" around Dahlonega;
upon the canals and mills of which the for
mer company expended nearly halt mil
lion dollars. When the rich and extensive
gold field is put under the hydraulic
process, $685.
THE YIELD WILL BE ENORMOUS,
and the same process will expose hundreds
OF rich veins, which have now no outcrop.
OF their success, no practical miner here has
any doubt. The capital necessary to work
many of the most favorable sections of the
river will be comparatively small. and many
veins found without any expense. 1t was
thus with the celebrated "Bory FIelos yein,n
which is now being developed by Mr.. Bart
lett, of Boston. This vein is in hornblendc
gnesis, and when first opened yielded the
richest ore ever worked in the world. It's
most singular characteristics are that il is in
the oldest formation, and disproves the alb
surd theory of Lord Murchinson, Lyell,
Dana and other authors, viz, that gold was
brought to the surface only short period
before the appearance OF man on earth. We
one where the gold is diffused through the
oldest granite, in paying quantities. for
miles, and the other in felspar, over a
hundred miles from any OVERLAPPING rock
containing organic remains, proving this
moutains range to be millions of years older
than the Rocky mountain" chain, the Alps,
the Andes, or Himalays. where you find
vegetable and animal organisms from $1,000
TO $4,000 feet above the sea, in the overhung
rocks on the mountain sides, incontrovert-
ably proving that they were elevated above
the sea, in the tertiary period, whilst the APP
palacnian chain was upheaved in the Azoic
age. All we need here is capital and enter
prise to develop millions. at one half the ex-
pense of working the mines on the Pacific
coast, Central and South America, or Aus
tralia. Hundreds of rich veins have been
worked to the water level and abandoned
long since for want of capital
General Breckenridge is slowly recovering
from, his recent severe attack A