Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-08-28
GEORGIA GOLD BELT,
"reminiscences of Gold Mining in the
Empire State of the South.

lhe gold belt, OF which the most
productive portion lies at this point,
consists Of strip of land running
somewhat irregularly nearly due north
east and southwest across the north
ern end of the State. 1t averages
about ten miles in width, and has
been traced 200 miles in length, par
allel with the Blue Ridge. White,
Lumpkin and Habersham counties
embrace the richest deposits, so far as
now known, but the limits Of mining
are gradually widening The pres
ence of gold here has been known
from the earliest times. Cherokee
Indians were the occupants of the
territory when white settlement first
began, and they were accustomed to
seek the gold for ornamental purposes,
and to dispose of it in barter to less
fortunate tribes. Evidences of their
mining still remain, but are insignif
cant. The methods adopted by the
first white settlers, and in vogue until
recent years, were very rude, consist
ing merely of washing out the gravel
of the beds of the streams by running
it through sluice boxes and splint
baskets into gum rocker" which
was nothing but a split and followed
out log dozen or so feet in length.
While the water from the sluice box
passed through this trough from end
to end, the rocker was kept in CON
slant motion, and the heavy gold.
permitted to sink to the bottom
through the constantly agitated silt
was caught by transverse cleats. with
or without the aid of mercury. 1t is
said that the first piece of gold ever
taken in the United States belonged
to this deposit, and was picked up in
1890 by Conrad Reed, boy who lived
in Cabarrus county, N. C. 1t was as
large as a smoothing iron, but was
sold to a silversmith for $3.50. After
ward much larger Jumps were found
one weighed twenty eight pounds,
according to tradition. This excited
so much attention that exploration
was begun, and the gold traced south
ward, until the borders Of the Cher
okee territory in Northern Georgia
were reached, and prospectors began
to encroach upon the reservation.
Protests from the Indians naturally
| followed, and Georgia sent a large
psliUe force to keep back the invaders.
but it was of little avail. The rush
to the mines was much like the STAN
| pede to the Pacific coast in 1849, and
reckless, dissipated men from all
quarters of the country focked in.
prowled about the woods, set up log
huts and shanty groceries on all the
streams, and paid no respect to the
rights of the Indian or any one else
unable to defend them. Even United
States troops were powerless to keen
the lawless hordes west of the Ches-
tatee, and here as elsewhere the dis
covery of gold was the end of Indian
possession and aboriginal simplicity
and charm.
These days are known as the period
of the intrusion "-one or the two
dates from which the mountain men
reckon all events; the other being
the late war. Finding that no
protection Of the Indians by police
measures was feasible, the State in
1880 adopted the Indians, territory
and all, and constituted the region a
county called Cherokee, out of which
several small counties have since been
made. Then the mineral lands were
divided up into forty acre lots, and
put up at lottery by the State. One
of these lots on the Yahoola river
No. lO52-now a part of the Hand
campanys property, had already be-
come celebrated. 1t was within the
reservation, but men used to creep
across to it at night and carry home a
meal bag full of dirt, out of which
they would pan from $50 to $40 next
day. The instant it was ascertained
that an old farmer down in the central
part of the State had drawn this prize
shrewd spectators set off post.haste
to buy it from him,
1t soon came TO be found here. as
elsewhere, that gold was not to be
picked up in twenty-eight pound
Jumps every day, nor did every bushel
Of soil pan out a double eagle. The
worthless, lazy and dissolute majority
of the early horde of invaders gradu
ally drifted away, while only the small
minority of new oomers, whose ac-
cessiOn was of real value to the com
munity, stayed The population, like
the drift, was slowly panned out, and
the current of events carried the dross
away AT present the mines are
largely owned by corporations, or by
private capitalists, Eh6 are not resi-
dents of the district. Only two of
the companies, however, are repre-
sented in the New York MINING
Board, if am rightly informed Il
was found that as the gold occurred
neither in extensive placers, like those
OF California, nor in indestructible
quartz hdes, the methods of mining
in vogue elsewhere would not answer r
here it the best results we're to be
obtained. The inventive genius and
practical knowledge Of those inter.
ested were therefore set to work to
devise the best means Of meeting the
case, and it was speedily found that
the talIsman which alone would open
the riches of th.5 mills to human use
Was water. So far as this mere het Is
concerned it could hardly be called a
discovery" but tho utilization of
the idea, and the practical methods by
which the enormous power of this
natural agent has been put under the
miners control, are the work of Col
Hand, to whom, more than to any oUe
else, no doubt, belongs the credit Of
the spleR9id development Of this
industry during late years, and the
glowing prospects it now holds out.