The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-06

bama is to walk through field white with cotton and find between the rows, in the soil. small particles of gold This is quite a common occurrence in Cleburne county. And mark you, this soil produces from three quarters to a bale per acre. Some years ago a preacn- CT who tended small crop had gone over his ground with shovel blow and a rain came up soon after; the children picked up several dollars worth of gold between the cotton rows as the result of tile rain washing the dirt from the golden flakes
 One of the most interesting char acters in this section who now dwells upon the gold bearing hills of the Ar bacoochee field is Mrs. Jane Wheeler. Mrs. Wheeler frequently picks up gold after a hard rain. About two years ago she found nugget at the 100, of the hill whereon she dwells tha. was as large as wren's egg.
 Indian Legends
 The legends of this section of Ala bama, which, by the way as far as he precious metal is concerned, em- braces the counties of Cleburne, Clay, Randolph, Talladega Snd Tallapoosa. When the Indians inhabited Alabama they hunted for the precious metal in the streams and in the dried up wa ter courses; that they found many large nuggets and mucn gold, there is no doubt In Tallapoosa county there is said to be larg> treasure con cealed somewhere by the Indians and year after year it is sought for. It is a fact that so much of the legend as relates to the guns buried by the Indians in the locality designated as containing both the guns and the treasure was true, as the guns have been dug up.
 But it is not remote legends and clouded traditions that I have to do with now. There are those living who have seen some of the very remark able finds of gold made at Arbacoo- chee.
 | In 1S42 this field first came into mo- | tice and in the "forties' there grew up here on the hills of this remark ! able section mining camp of some l 5000 seekers, with pick and pan, for l the precious metal. The discovery of gold in California and the tales of fabulous finds there drew upon this field. Notwithstanding this there were some 1900 miners digging and washing In pans the rich dirt of these hills when the tocsin of war was sound ed. All the able bodied men went to the front, and many never came back. After the war some struggled in, and there was again more or less search ing for the golden grains, with always the hope and prospect of finding q rich pocket or very large nugget. Tn those days this was an open field and the squatter and the hole dig gers did pretty much as they pleased and the matter of royalties paid was one entirely optional with the miner. After the war it was no longer free miners country for the land had been taken over by individuals.
 Rich Finds
 The Reeves boys, who made many test pits and mined more or less with the pan on what is now known as the
 
 over 1000 pennyweights; this according to the federal governments record.
 In 1898 Marshall Vass found a mug get for which he received SIS.
 The Hilton boys were working un- der a royalty lease in 1895 on part of the Denson land and they found a pocket which yielded $12,000 in a space of 10x12 feet. Henry Price, who still re- sides in Cleburne county, remembers helping them to carry a blue water bucket filled with nuggets across the hills in the night time; it required four men in relays of two to transport it. Of course it must be understood that all rich finds of gold are concealed by the discoverers, especially under q lease.
 In regard to this particular ground quote from the geological survey of Alabama, Eugene Allen Smith, Ph. D., state geologist:
 During the summer of 1895 the Hil- ton brothers and R. F. Merrill obtained an option on 200 acres of section and the first named lease on 20 acres of the Denson property on the west half
 
 ing section ' oil tine north side. This action was based on a tradition of a very rich find made by man named Marable In the "forties' in the placer ground drained by Clear Creek The father of the Hiltons' had marked tue location of this find and bequeathed the knowledge to his family before his death. The understanding was that at any time the brothers could ob tain an option or lease on the property he designated that they should work it for the benefit of the family. Ira dition said that Marabie had taken 11% pounds of gold from this pit in a half day, celebrated his discovery by a carousal, during which he died. The pit in the meantime had filled with water and had not been disturbed since that day in the forties until the summer of 1895.
 After prospecting Ter some weeKs the ore was encountered, together with a large quantity of gold dust and nuggets. The most important fea- ture of this discovery was the aurif- erous quartz in place. A dispute arose between the owners of the properties relative to the land line as soon as