Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1907-09-22
Items of Interest to People in the Mining World

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results-all going in, and nothing
coming out. Finally he reported
that the mine was failure, and it
was abandoned. About a year after
that little girl was playing around
the dump where the supposedly
worthless rock and dirt had been
piled. She picked up a little nugget,
and ran home to tell. her father, a
veteran miner. The old man came
back with her, and that afternoon
they picked up tin bucket full
which assayed $1700.
Although the presence OF gold in
the southern Appalachians was
known to the Spaniards before the
settlement at jamestown, the Eng
lish colonists paid but little attention
to searching for the glorious metal.
The discovery of the Carolina field
was made in 1899, when a little son
of Conrad Reed of Carrus county
found a very heavy rock He took
it to the house and it was used as
weight to prop the door open. One
day visitor noticed what 1t was
a chunk Of almost pure gold, weigh
ing twenty-five pounds. One other
nugget Of about the same size has
been found in that county. Road
makers dug up a nugget weighing
over five pounds while grading
road near Concord few years ago.
Negroes digging for the foundation
of cotton mill in Charlotte two
years ago found three nuggets worth
from So to $24 each.
Gold mining was begun on con-
siderable scale in this section about.
1915. and within five or six years it
had become the leading industry,
and there was a large class of pro-
fessional gold hunters and miners.
The production became so large that
congress, in 1895, established two
minis in the south, one here at Char
lotte and the other at Dahlonega,
Georgia. Both were operated until
the civil war; neither was reopened
after the end of the war. The Char
lotte mint was burned in 1874, but
was Immediately rebuilt. The build
ing is still standing; is still known
as 'the Mint" and Is occupied by
the United States assay office.
Through this Office comes each year
the production Of precious metals
from the southern Appalachian
mines, except that portion which is
shipped to the northern refineries as
crude ore. The mines in the city of
Charlotte, for instance, ship the ore
to New Jersey to be refined, and
hence the production does not go
through the local assay Office
The annual production of gold in
the southern states is now $500, 600,
! and shows slight increase from
year to year. This is small amount
when compared to the production of
the western states, of course, but as
the mines have already been worked
| properly or Systematically, the i'm
portance of the southern field can
| not be estimated by it's production.
The application of improved methods
of mining has made the gold mines
Of western states yield much metal
that was entirely lost under the old
systems, and there are biologists
and miners who believe that the in
PRODUCTION of modern scientific meth
DDS in the southern states would
greatly increase, the yield of gold,
and would return good profit on
I the investment
Placer mining has not been carried
on here to any extent, although the
| gelogocial survey experts, think it
could be done at profit. The sands
from the bottom of the Catawba
river are now being raised by
dredges and washed for gold. While
some metal is being recovered, it is
doubtful if the experiment will pay,
on account of the heavy expense. The
bottom of the river is very rough
and rocky, and it is exceedingly diff
4 ficult to get at the sands.
i Z When the great gold discoveries
i were made in California in 1S47
there was q large gold mining popu.
lation in this section. The new Ell
Dorado tempted them, and the en-
odus. was well nigh complete. For a
4 time the local mines were paralyzed
but the news of the discoveries in
the west eventually aided the mines
hero and work was begun with re.
newed yigor, not to stopped until
the war came on and interfered with
everything in the south. Among the
|, -forty-hiners" who left this country
was a miner named Smith. He per.
suaded his sweetheart, Miss Bell
, to go with him to the golden west