Hickory daily record., 1922-12-14
FINDS SONEGg!ssI 8
On CAThlfGA
FARM

,...oo Dec. IA bit of native
Newt N,.o,tt S95 was today sent to the
sGjHt "t @ Philadelphia by John } Ratch,
GI,Sti GSaS merchant, farmer and sawmiil
toru' ~ Nv Newton Route 2, Mountain
MAJ, tawrship. Mr.. Ratchford picked
GreeH on w his farm. it being only one
ii p,crnus up "" such finds, totaling in
Of IT," m1'"C some $500 during the recent
past past All other bits of gold found
LiNt sertion. it had the appearance
N !, having i"%i been melted and thrown oa
o. 9, "rrorud, having an Irregular
Inc ,ottNred shape. Mr.. Ratchford
Ip"''o ,'or;o,Is persons in that section
ss' 81 the county for many years nave
" S,,nd these nuggets in every case
lS0 lSo'" shattered" characteristic being
ss,"S'rtalned. WV There is a statement tnat
nl","' l',n versions who at one time panned
sonny D,an stream which runs through
: a. spa PSatehford and other farms ir
Ihe ue n,ciCbborhood. harvested as much
W WV 80 70 600 of gold first and last.
'' qbc finds have been followed up
,.,,n NV tbc Shuford gold mine on down
.hropcb this county. Lincoln county
INV .5 ;Tto Castor. and it is the opinion
"s "sI pcrsons familiar with the country
,Sat somewhere beneath the surface
;| !, ~ rich bed of'gold ore. Mr.. Ratch-
;orJ and others have so often picked
,v,T "m r,any pennyweights of gold after
Sord rains during the summer season
% Iat they regard it as commonplace.
TSo % latest piece found and sent ts
,tc M mint weigher about 40 penny
"cights. gross, but after having been
ci,oned Of small pieces of adhering
ortt the net weight was So penny
maoichts, worth practically one dolla:
,bo nennyweight. Mr.. Ratchford re-
calls that the beginning OF the old
Stafford mine development, which first
and last has yeielded many thousands
Of dollars. was in the finding of .
nugget of virgin gold on the SUI.
faTe about the size of hens egg.
This property is not a great distance
from the lands where the gold has
been picked up
olf you were to pick up a piece
of the stuff" Mr.. Ratchfcrd told
yoyor Smyrc, on exhibiting his find
today." you'd get the fever" but inc
mayor denied that he would Oh,
YES YOU wogld," insisted Mr.. Ratch-
ford. who then told what effect II
lad on -Ain, whau-first- he found. any
gold. =,
"That night" said he, 81 dreamed
Of finding let Of loose gold on the
ground. whereu0on | began to dig and
first thing knew had uncovered
solid sheet of gold, many feet wide
and several inches thick. The fur
thor | e%cavated the more gold
found. Very plainly | saw my store
filled with people. with nobody u
wait on them, and they were helping
themselves. cot packir." case ana ;
hammer, broke up tre sheet Of goi'
and filled the box. Then ] called out
to the people in the store to nell
themselves that | was going 2
Charlotte 10 have me some none
coined. did some of the heaviest ,ift
inc ever did and when | tried u
rel IN, hov or NV sho,-''do~ to -
It to Charlotte strained 80 har
woke up, That's the way the fever
takes YOU
"Whv don't you really dig for tina
eold?' he was asked.
well" he said, with grin. "yo
can spend on awful lot of none
hunting gold maybe vou'd hit ei
vein and maybe not. But you sur
can find these stray pieces after
hard rain