Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1907-09-28
COLD MINING
IN THE SOUTH

Nor me lt9 4
nv Of our national life the gold
saniy Of the United States came
the mines in North and South
corolina and Georgia. Since the
,,.oovery of gold in California, in
,o47 these southern mines have not
,t,raeted much notice, although they
sdlI produce as much gold every
IAN as the whole country did in the
days OF the first American money
ronic in the thirties. AS an instance
u the way things nov in these stir
.i,o times. It may be stated that the
IA PRODUCTION of the world since
,oo7 the year Mckinley became
resident. has been more than the
,o,al gold production of the entire
world from 1892, when Columbus
,iscovered America. down to 1850,
when California gold first began to
zach the minis in large quantities.
There are two gold mines within
the city limits OF the municipality of
charlotte. N. G., one OF which is now
being operated proftably. A few
miles south Of Charlotte, in South
Carolina. the Halo mine is produe-
inc gold every day, and has been
,roftably operated for over twenty
years. 1t was at this mine that the
~cb,orination process Of reducing re-
fractory gold ore was first employed
an a large scale by A. Tries, a hale
old man Of so years. now living in
Charlotte.
An excellent prospect was found a
few years ago just north of Char
lotte. The land was bought by a
northern syndicate. and a local min
or was put in charge. Much gold
vent into the hill; very little came
out of Il. Then the capitalists
thought TO employ an expert miner,
They imported one from Colorado, a
man who knew how TO operate a
gold mine. He had an unlimited ex.
pense account. He hired a large
gang of workmen and began digging
Two kegs OF whisky were sent out
every Saturday. The boss minel
rode around the country behind {
spanking span. Still there ne
results an going in, and nothin>
coming out. Finally he reported
that the mine was a failure. and i
was abandoned. About a year afte.
that a little girl was playing arounC
the dump where the supposed.
worthless rock and dirt had beer
piled. She picked up a little nugge
and ran home to tell her father,
veteran miner. The old man cam
back with her, and that afternool
they picked up a tin bucket full
which assayed $500.
Although the presence OF gold i
the southern A~ppalachians wa
! known TO the Spaniards before tn
settlement at jamestown, the Eng
fish eolouists paid but little attentio
"a. searching for the glorious meta
The discovery Of the Carolina feel
was made in 1893, when a little so
Of Conrad Reed of Carrus count
found a very heavy rock, He too
it to the house and il was used Us
weight to prop the door open, On
day a visitor noticed what II was
a chunk Of almost pure gold, weigh
ing twenty-five pounds, One otht
nugget of about the same size ha
been found in that county. Roa
makers dug up a nugget weighin
over FIVE pounds while grading
road near Concord a few years ag'
Negroes digging for the foundatio
Of a cotton mill in Charlotte "
years ago found three nuggets wort
from IS to $24 each
Gold mining was begun on q eor
siderable scale In this section aboI
1915, and within five or six years
bad become the leading industr
and there was a large class OF pr
i~essional gold hunters aud miner
The production became so large th
congress, in 1895, established ~
minis in the south. one here at Cha
lotte aud the other at Dahloneg
Georgia, Both were operated I'M
the civil war; neither was reopen
after the end Of the war. The Cha
lotte mint was burned in 1874, b
was Immediately rebuilt The bull
ing is still standing; is still know
as the Mint and is occupied
the United States assay Off
Through this Office comes each y1
The production of precious metz
from the southern Appalachi
mines, except that portion which
shipped TO the northern refneries
crude ore. The mines in the city
charlotte, for instance, ship the {
10 New Jersey to be refined, a
hence the production does not
through the local assay Office.
The annual production Of gold