The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-31
GOLD MINES IN GEORGIA.
Have Been Worked for More Than One
Hundred Years.


H. C. Carter of Dahlonega, Ga. was in
the city yesterday on his return from
Leadvlle, whore he has been investigat-
ing the Loder pyritc furnace smelter now
in course of erection in that city, says
the Denver Republican.
Mr.. Carter says that If the smelter re-
Gently shipped to Atlanta works salts
facority three, and perhaps more. will
be erected within the next year for the
treatment of auriferous ores of the Dab
lonega district.
There seems to be a good deal of mis-
understanding in Colorado regarding our
Georgia gold fields said he I'm Lead
vile one man whom told that l was en-
gagged in gold mining in Georgia laughed
in my face and narrowly missed belns
offensive. The fact is that the gold mines
of Georgia are among the oldest in the
country and at one time they and one or
two small mines in Vermont were the
only ones worked in the United States.
My father and his father before him OPP
Grated gold mines in the mountains of
Georgia and in the slavery times made
them pay handsomely even with the crude
stamp mills and other machinery of that
day. OF course you know that the first
discovery of gold in Colorado was made
by Georgia miners who came out here
after seeing a small amount of gold
brought out of the country by a Georgia
in the Rocky mountains.
'As near as I have been able to ascer-
tain the existence OF gold in the Appa-
lachian range was known long before the
revolution, and the mines have been
worked more or less continuously for
more than 100 years. as the records of
the United States mint will show. Before
the civil war gold mining was toerably
well established industry in Georgia, but
when the war came there were other
things to do and the mines were aban-
doned. Several times during the war an
effort was made to induce the confederate
congress to adopt some measures for the
working of the mines, but all failed, and
when the war came to an end most of the
rude structures which served as mills in
those days had been destroyed. Several
attempts have been made since then to
mine at a profit, but it is only within the
past five or six years that these efforts
have met with success. Now the mining
industry of Georgia Is again coming to
the front. The output from the mines
has steadily INCREASED for the past three
years and with the improved machinery
and methods of reduction there is no
longer any doubt of the future of our
gold mining industry.
THE pyritic ores of our mountains are
found over a wide range Of territory.
Gold has been found in Virginia. and
there are several good mines in operation
In North Carolina. but the most extensive
deposits of pyritic ores are found in
Georgia. The ores of the Dahlonega dis
trct are ideal ones for pyritic smelling.
carrying large per cent of sulphpr and
at one time they were distilled for the
sulphur they contained. They carry from
50 to IS in gold and experiments have
shown that they can be treated at profit
if a method of handling them in large
quantities at a moderate expense can
be found. The Loder furnace seems to
be just what we want and if the smelter
bought by the Southern Smelling COM
pany of Atlanta proves successful Geor-
gia will produce a great deal of gold dur
ing the next few years. The margin OF
profit will not be large. but we have
plenty of cheap labor and fuel is mex
pensive. and the profits are sufficient to
insure the operators very fair percent
age on the investment"