Birmingham state herald., 1896-03-01
THE CLINT OF YELLOW COLD
The Precious Metal AboundS in
 Alabama.
TESTIMONY OF BIOLOGISTS
Indsputaby Establishes the Fact-Crude Methods of Working Have Prevented
 Rich Yields

LII lllt Sdily SGlllcllGIl Ol lIlS COuHlly it was discovered that gold existed in this state in the counties of Cleburne, Randolph, Chambers, Clay, Talladega, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Fillmore, Chiffon, Au- tauga and Bibb. Many places were worked, more or less, in all the counties mentioned, few of which I shall notice, as indicating what the future may de- yelop in the production of gold
 So far as I now remember gold was first found in paying quantities at Arba- coochee, Cleburne county, and Blue Creek Chiffon county. At each of these places many thousand penny weights of gold dust were taken, including great many nuggets varying in weight from five to ten, fifteen, twenty and 100 penny weights, and two larger nuggets were found at Arbacooehee, one weighing 362 penny weights and the other weighing 495 penny weights. Professor Toumey, former state geologist of Alabama, and whose opinions are doubtless worth as much or more than any geologist the state has ever had, says, in speaking of the Arbacoochee mine:
 This is by far the most extraordinary deposit in the state. It extends over an area of 600 or 800 acres on the top and sides of an elevated point, and at one time gave employment to 500 men. It IS situated in sections and 6, township II and range Il. Nearly three years have elapsed since any work of consequence was done here. One or two persons had recently resumed their labor, not in the gravel beds, but in the soil or the hlll top After the soil was worked over 5 feet of the sub-soil was found to be au- riferous It is the red loam derived rom the decomposition of the underlying slate, and is not at all disturbed as is seen by the quartz veins by which 1t IS lntersect- ed. About 40 cubic feet of this yields about $25 The mode of working IS most original. On the surface shallow trencnes are dug 12 feet apart and 90 feet in length Into these trenches water is admitted from a small canal few ounces or quicksilver are thrown into the trenches, the loose, auriferous earth IS thrown III, and the gold, as it is carried over the quicksilver by the water, IS taken up. After a while the miners shut off the wa ter. and, beginning some distance down the stream pour out the amalgam Ruue as this method is, it is in much repute among the miners who prefer 1t to more expensive methods. The slate Of this mine belongs to the auriferous band in which Pinetucky is found" See pages 70 and n. second biennial report Of Pro- lessor Tourney. published in 1858;
 On sections and 4, same township ana range. of>the Arbacoochee mines tne gold is now found as described by Pro- lessor Tourney and worked in similar manner The quartz veins alluded to by Professor Tourney have been recently opened and are very rich. Ihey carry from S1O to $75 per ton, but are hlgnly sul- phurated and will require, in addition to the free milling process, chlorlnation, III order to save the gold as it should be- On section last summer remarkaple fleposit of rich gold-bearing quartz was found in well defined quartz vein m 4he creek bottom, from which o0o0 10 oooo penny weights of gold were taken rom one pit about feet deep. For some req son not known to the writer the opera tion for gold suspended in that pit though the quartz when the water IS taken out is in plain view and apparently as rich as ever. This property IS now owned by Chattanooga company, Wno are putting up large hydraulic plant to wash the gravel bed of the stream and are also preparing to put up a large stamp mill, together with all necessary improved machinery, to work the quartz on this section of land.
 Living south of Arbacoochee about a mile and a half is a large vein of low grade ore assaying from $4 to $5 per ion The ore has been shown to be In great abundance at what is known as the Wise mine and at the Price mine.
 At Pinetucky, nine miles south Of Ar bacoochee, there is a firSt-claSS stamp mill erected on the property owned by Chicago company, who say that they are very much encouraged to believe that in a short time they will place Pinetucky on the roll of the dividend paying mines.
 In Clay county there is a ten stamp mill erected on what is known as the Hobbs mine, near Ashland, the county seat This mine is the same character of low grade ore as the Wise and Price mines and assays about the same quan- tity of gold to the ton. At the Mitchell mine, near the line of Clay and Randolph counties, and about three miles from Wesobulga, Clay county, an Ohio com pany is now erecting a large gold plant with the modern saving appliances. In the neighborhood. of this mine the branches have been worked for fifty years or more in the old crude way The abilities are that a hydraulic plant there would do well.
 Hog mountain, in Tallapoosa county, has attracted a great deal of attention for many years and contains perhaps larger deposits of low grade ore than any other place in the state, and with the Thes process of chlorination might be made to yield as much or more gold than the Hail mine, now being successfully operated in South Carolina. In fact, the Thies process is what is needed in every gold mine in Alabama.
 Of Goldville, in Tallapoosa county, Pro- lessor Tourney says: "The gold mine of this place was discovered in 1842 and was worked to water level. The most noted portion of the mine was known as Log Pit: the richest part of the vein of this
 
 was quartz in talcose slate and yielded two and a half pennyweights to the bushel of ore. The gold was worth go cents pennyweight. Almost $30,000 of gold was extracted from this pit, and from this the proprietors received in ad- dition $50 in silver The history of this mine is like that of all southern gold mines-the total want of any practical system of operations. This mine, Mir. Lieber reports, has been recently reopen ,I ho haan diSCnVarad which from its curious conformations, is called the snake vein. In the southside of the shaft it is poor, but on the northern side it yields an average of $1 per bushel. The ore is a friable, porous, fornuginous quartz The country is talcose slate de- composed as far as yet reached. Numer- ous other veins appear on the same prop erty, and, properly managed. success may be anticipated" This property IS said to be owned by people of Columbus, Ga, and is now idle.
 Of Siiverhill gold mine, in Tallapoosa county. Professor Tourney says: About