The Newtown bee., 1879-09-17
The Georgia Gold Belt.

productive portion lies at this point,
consists of :. strip of land running some
what irregularly nearly due northeast
and southwest across the northern end
of the State. 1t averages about ten
miles in width, aad has been traced 200
miles in length, parallel with the Blue
Ridge. White, Lumpkin and Haber-
sham counties embrace the richest de-
posits. so far as now known, but the
limits Of mining are gradually widening.
The presence of gold here has been
known from the earliest times. Chero-
kee indians were the occupants or 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 for
t,rnate tribes. EVIDENCES of their mining
still remain. but are insignlficant. The
methods adopted by the first white set
tiers, and in vogue until recent years,
We're very rude, consisting merely of
washing out the gravel of the beds of
the streams by running it through sluice-
boxes and splint baskets into n . 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
constant motion, and the heavy gold,
D6r01UGGu 10 SILK W biiC botGo4Ii uillouS5h
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 I'D in 1899 by Conrad Reed, a boy
who lived in Cabarras county, North
Carolina. 1t was as large as a smooth
ine-iron. but was sold to a silversmlth
for So so. Afterward much larger Jumps
were found: one weighed twenty-eight
| pounds, according to tradition. This
excited SO much attention that explora-
| ton was begun, and the gold traced
southwark, until the borders of the
Cherokee territory in Northern Georgia
were reached, and prospectors began to
encroach upon the reservation. Pro-
tests from the Indians naturally followed,
and Georgia sent large police force to
keep back the invaders. but it was OF
little avail. The rush to the mines was
much like the stampede to the Pacific
coast in 1949. and reckless. dissipated
men from all quarters of the country
hocked in, prow1ed 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 I'M
able to defend them Even United States
troops were powerless to keep the law
less hordes west of the Chestatee, and
here as elsewhere the discovery of gold
was the end of Indian possession and alb
original simplicity and charm.
These days are known as the period OF
1.-The intrusion "-one or two dates from
which the mountain men reckon all
events; the other being 1.-The late war "
Finding that no protection of the 1ndi-
ans by. police measures was feasible, the
State in 1880 adopted the Indians, terri
tory 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 dl-
vided up into forty-acre lots, and put up
at lottery by the State. One OF these
lots, on the Yahoola river-No. 1862
now a part of the Hand Company's
rcperty, had already become celebrated.
It 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 twenty to
forty dollars the next day. The instant
| it was ascertained that an old farmer
down in the central part of the State
had drawn this prize, shrewd specula-
/ tors set off posthaste to buy it from
/ him.
1t soon came to be found here, as else
/ where, that gold was not to be picked up
! in twenty Ell ght-pound Jumps every day,
nor did every bushel of soil pan out a
double eagle. The worthless, lazy and
F., dissolute majority Of the early horde OF
nvad ers gradually drifted away, while
only the small minority of new corners,
whose accession was of real value to the
community, stayed. The population, like
the dirt, 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
who are not residents of the district
Only two of the companies, however
are represented in the New York Mining
Board, if l am rightly informed. 1t was
found that as the gold occurred neither
in extensive placers, like those of Cal1tor-
MIA, nor in indestructible quartz lodes
the methods ofmining in vogue elsewhere
would not answer here if the best results
were to be obtained. The inventive
i genius and practical knowledge of those
interested were therefore set to work tC
devise the best means of meeting the
case, and it was speedily found that the
talisman which alone would open the
riches of the hills to human use was
water. So far as this mere fact is con
cerned, it could hardly be called . dis
covery;" but the utilization of the idea
and the practical methods by which The
enormous power of this natural agen
has been put under the miners control
are the work of Colonel Hand, to whom
more than to any one else, no doubt, be
longs the credit of the splendid develop
ment of this industry during late years
and the glowing prospects it now hold'
out.-Eawest hagersoU, IN Hnrpe1''s maya
zinae.
8s. s>s - w.