The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1897-09-15
TIE R0BESGNIAH
WEDNESDAY,, SEPTEMBER 10, 1897.


liar North Carolina citizen::
~ worked in the placer gold
degil gs If Moth Carolina, more
or lea, fro.i - to 1885. Farm
ing AID scl.s dircir g went hand III
hand for ycara. Shnn The crops
were harvested Tie slaves were
moved into the' crnk bottoms.
On some farms tl:e' gold yield III
hc interim LrtwCrn harvesting
aud the next planting was worth
more than all the crops OF the
vca-. 4 farmer near Iadkln,
tanned Mackenzie, ploughed up
~ ono, field ESQ pcnnywcights of
gpltJ and At one Zine the village
I'd Concord, tho county scat OF Ca
p.iirr;@:- cunt, might have been
ca.lal s!.c place of golden streets,
f.. af,ur every rain gold i'll fine
grain could he picked up in the
+ reefs ana cutters, where it had
bc,n wa.hcd from the neighborlng
fields. In one of those fields B.
pound nugget was found by a ne
gro bog who was digging fishworms.
This field was more than 100 feet
higher than the 'Yadkin river, and
although it had been under cult
walton many years, one day the
plough turned up a dozen Jumps
of gold, whore they were lying
hhddled together Aike potatoes i'll
n hill. This pocket of little mug
gets contained 120 pennyweights
of absolutely pure gold. This was
on the Parker farm, which yielded
ia this way at various times, more
than $50, GOO.
''Slave labor was used largely
in the diggings. Every other Sat
urday the masters gave the slaves
half of ,the dav during which time
they could hunt for gold them
selves. Many IL negro washed out
enough gold to buy his freedom,
and did SO, and a great many more
washed out enough during the
continuance of the placer dlgglns
to- brvdheir freedom many times
over, but did not buy at once.
At every camp whiskey shanties
were plentiful, and most of the
negroes thought more of what
those shanties contained than OF
their freedom, and the moment
they found gold they would quit
work and invest it in drink.
Hydraulic mining for gold
originated in that rcgion more
.hsn forty years ago, the applica,
ton of the principle being first
tried by DR.. NJ, II. VanDyke, OF
New York, who was one of the
first capitalists to invest i'll goit
mining in North Carolina. Thu
experiment was such success tina
DIR. VanDyke made large fortune
from his Mcdowell county mines
"One day, at the diggings abou
Pilot mountain, in which curiou
elevation, by the way, there ar
thirteen separate and distinc
veins of gold, q terrible thunde
storm came up, and a tree stand
ing near the edge of the bank o
one of tho streams was struck b
lghtning and shattered to til
roots, the bolt entering the GROUND
Subsequently a miner known Q
Sandy Bodies, in the course of h
diggings, excavated at tho roots {
the shattered tree. In the di
about them he found handful
rough Jumps of gold, in weigl
from n few grains to penn,
weight or more. Some of the In
ger Jumps were in dirt that cful
to the roots of the tree. Sane
Immediately declared his bell
that the reason the gold.was the
in such form WAS. Because t,
lightning had fused it from t
DIRT. Many of the miners acce
ted this theory as true, and at on
wild prospecting for trees that HI
been struck by lightning in tn
region was began and ever aft
that, when a thunder storm can
diggers would hope and pray TIL
some tree might be struck by ligl
ming.
TT happened on more than @
occasion subsequent to Sand
discovery that gold was found
he roots of trees that had be
struck by lightning at some tin
" lich convinced the miners II
the theory of lightning's smelti
OF gold was true, and its will o. 1
wisp fascination led. marry av
from good diggings to chase
vain hope of sudden wealth.
find that Sandy Bodies made
the root of that lightning-shatt
cit tree brought him $3.50 q
turned his head. He roam
about the region seeking for II
of that kind. When the news