Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1888-12-08
GEORGIA GOLD, MINES.
Interesting Review ofytha Industry
at Dahlonega.
A secret Mine-KnuckIcsville Past and
Present-A sheriff Who Concluded Not
to Exercise His Oficiai Authority
dispensing Justice.

the Georgia gold mining industry. Be-
lore the war there was branch mint
here. The building is now used as an
agricultural college. The town, like
Rome, is built on seven hills Its
people are kind hearted and hospitable,
and are content to enjoy life in very
quiet, hum-drum way. The old placer
helds have long since been exhausted,
and the mines that are operated now
have necessary Sdjunct of ore crush
ers and stamp mills Gold mining in
Georgia is justas profitable as it was
in the old days, and the mines all pav
handsome dividend, but the work it.
self has been robbed of all its romantic
picturesqueness. Occasionally, in
travelling through the gold belt, you
come across an individual miner at
work in some branch or creek bottom
with pickaxe, shovel, cradle and pan,
but these are the exception rather
than the rule. heard of one man, in
the neighboring county of Hall, who
for twenty-five years has successfully
kept secret the location of placer
mine that yields him an average in
come OF ten dollars per day. Hundreds,
envious of his good fortune, have en-
deavored to locate the pocket. His
footsteps have been dogged repeatedly
but he always manages to elude his
followers. The mine is probably in a
cave through which flows stream of
water" said one man who has piven
the matter some thought. "The en-
trance to the cave is small and Sc
curely hidden. Bill takes pains to
make as small trail as possible in
going to and from his treasure, and
that's how the boys have never been
able to come up on him. He always
gives the people who follow him the
slip near a big, rough ledge of rocks,
and I'm satisfied that the cave is in
this LEDGE
A few miles south OF here, on the
direct road to the thriving, go-ahead
City OF Gainesville, is all that is left
of rich placer mining settlement.
Two dwellings and an old store-house
are the only buildings that remain
and they are weather-beaten and
faded. Before the war this place.
which flourished under the name of
knucklesville, was the center around
which revolved great and richly
productive industry. Grerson's Fed
eral cavalry destroyed Knucklesville
when that dashing commander raided
through Northwest Georgia, The
place has never recovered from the
blow, and probably never will.
Unlike its more ambitious sister.
Dahlonega, Knucklcsvillc was built on
one hill, which, according to my late
eminent scientific friend, DIR. Stephen
son, is the cap of an extinct volcano.
The base of the volcano hill is washed
by the muddy waters of Cribbage
creek, and it was in the auriferous
sand composing the bed of the latter
stream that the dull yellow metal was
found in its greatest abundance. The
old volcano in its dying struggles
threw to the surface great piles of
disjointed scoria, and Knucklesville is
naturally rudely paved with igneous
powders of varying size. An old resi-
dent of the the town solemnly assured
me that there was not rock on the !
hill small enough for a man to lift
that had not knocked down some other
man, and as there are several millions
of these natural weapons of otfense
lying about, it is safe to presume that
Knucklesville in its palmy days must
have been very lively place.
"At one time" said my inform
ant, there were five thousand |
independent miners at work round |
about Knucklesville, which was their
supply town. They made money fast
and they squandered it recklessly. !
Every afternoon It was the custom to
knock of work at about three o'clock.
and with the days proceeds journey to
Knucklesville. The miners were all |
gamblers and have seen the ground
covered with little parties of four or
five tempting fortune and risking their
hard-carned dustat old sledge or draw
poker. Rows were Of frequent occur
renee and at times assumed the pro-
portions of riot He took me
through the weather-beaten storehouse
and drew n picture of its interior ar
rangement in the old days. In one
corner was the bar, where liquor Of
TIE vilest description was dealt out to
the thirsty patrons. The counter over
which the fiery stun was dispensed
was about five feet high, and was
further protected on its outer edge by
a stout iron railing. The bartender
stood on bench behind, and from this
vantage point could easily reach the
small arsenal OF firearms that were
ranged against the wall back of him.
He had frequent use for them, and one
OF Knucklesville's most prominent
landmarks is little colony OF rock
topped mounds under the edge Of the
hill, where the slain were laid Mt rest.
The bar was crescent-shaped with the
two horns of the crescent touching the
wall, but it was impossible to get be-
hind the heavy barrier without climb
ing over its tops.
A majority Of the placer miners
were broken-down adventurers from
other States, and fugitives from
Justice. No inquiry was made rs
In n mnn's untecedenis tfa could