Georgia Gold Rush - Citizendia

The Georgia Gold Rush was the first significant gold rush in the United States. A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of Gold. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the It started in 1829 in the present day Lumpkin County near county seat Dahlonega, and soon spread through the North Georgia mountains, following the Georgia Gold Belt. For the game see 1829 (board game. Year 1829 ( MDCCCXXIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display Lumpkin County is a County located in the US state of Georgia. Dahlonega is a city in Lumpkin County, Georgia, United States, and is its County seat. The Georgia Mountains Region or North Georgia mountains is an area that starts in the northeast corner of Georgia, United States, and spreads in a westerly The largest quantities of Gold found in the eastern United States were found in the Georgia Gold Belt, which extends from eastern Alabama to Rabun County In the early 1840s, gold became harder to find, and when gold was discovered in California in 1848 to start the California Gold Rush, many Georgia miners moved west. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Year 1848 ( MDCCCXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap The California Gold Rush (1848&ndash1855 began on January 24 1848 when Gold was discovered by James Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California

1 Discovery
- 1.1 Prior to 1828
- 1.2 1828 discovery
2 Rush
3 Aftermath
4 References
5 Sources
6 Further Reading

Discovery

Prior to 1828

Although the discovery of gold in Georgia in 1828 was the event that led to the Georgia Gold Rush, there appears to have been knowledge of gold in the North Georgia mountains much earlier. The year 1828 ( MDCCCXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap Since the 16th century, Indians in Georgia told European explorers that the small amounts of gold that they possessed came from mountains farther into the interior. There are some poorly documented accounts of Spanish or French mining gold in north Georgia between 1560 and 1690, but they are based on supposition and on rumors passed on by Indians. ^[1] In summing up known sources, Yeates observed: “Many of these accounts and traditions seem to be quite plausible. Nevertheless, it is hardly probable, that the Spaniards would have abandoned mines, which were afterwards found to be quite profitable, as those in North Georgia. ”^[2] In 1799, gold was discovered in North Carolina, which led to speculation that there was probably gold in Georgia. Year 1799 ( MDCCXCIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States

1828 discovery

Two factors connected with the Georgia gold discovery created the conditions that led to the Georgia Gold Rush in 1829. First, the placer deposits found in Georgia almost literally meant that gold was just lying on the ground, waiting to be collected. In Geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by deposition of dense mineral phases in a trap site Second, word of Georgia’s gold deposits spread rapidly with stories that captured the imagination. No one really knows which of the several anecdotes is true:

Other anecdotes have either Frank Logan or his slave making the find in White County, Georgia in Dukes Creek. White County is a County located in the northeast corner of the U Dukes Creek is the creek in White County Georgia on which gold was found in 1828.
Another version of the White County find has John Witheroods finding a three-ounce nugget along Dukes Creek.
Still another version of the 1828 discovery is that a North Carolina prospector named Jesse Hogan found gold near Dahlonega, Georgia at Ward's Creek . Dahlonega is a city in Lumpkin County, Georgia, United States, and is its County seat.

These stories and others spread rapidly and “gold fever” soon took hold.

Rush

Gold veinlets (they appear white) in a sample of gneiss from the Battle Branch Mine in Lumpkin County

No matter who made the gold discovery in 1828, the gold rush started in 1829 in Lumpkin County and began spreading rapidly. Gneiss (ˈnaɪs is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from preexisting formations that were originally The Battle Branch Mine, sometime referred to as the Battle Creek Mine, was located near the town of Auraria in Lumpkin County, Georgia. One of the first public records of the find and the resulting gold rush occurred in August 1, 1829, when the Georgia Journal (a Milledgeville newspaper), ran the following notice. Events 30 BC - Octavian (later known as Augustus enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman For the game see 1829 (board game. Year 1829 ( MDCCCXXIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display Milledgeville is a town in and the County seat of Baldwin County in the U

GOLD. —A gentleman of the first respectability in Habersham county, writes us thus under date of 22d July: "Two gold mines have just been discovered in this county, and preparations are making to bring these hidden treasures of the earth to use. " So it appears that what we long anticipated has come to pass at last, namely, that the gold region of North and South Carolina, would be found to extend into Georgia. ^[3]

This notice shows both that the gold rush had spread to Habersham County and that the people of Georgia were certainly aware of the other gold finds in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Habersham County is a County located in the US state of Georgia. The Appalachian Mountains ( often called the Appalachians, are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America.

Although much of the land on which the gold was found was under the control of the Cherokee Indians, mining operations quickly sprang up in Lumpkin, White, Union and Cherokee counties. The Cherokee (ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ a-ni-yv-wi-ya, in the Cherokee language) are a people native to North America, who at the time of European contact White County is a County located in the northeast corner of the U Union County is a County located in the US state of Georgia. As of 2000 the population is 17289 Cherokee County is a County located in the US state of Georgia. In the early stages of the gold rush, the majority of the mining was placer mining. Placer mining (pronounced "plass-er" refers to the mining of alluvial deposits for Minerals This may be done by open-pit (also called open-cast By 1830, it is estimated that there were 4,000 miners working on just the Yahoola Creek in Lumpkin County and over 300 ounces (8. For the game see 1830 (board game. Year 1830 ( MDCCCXXX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display 5 kg) of gold per day was being produced in an area from north of Blairsville to the southeast corner of Cherokee County. Blairsville is a city in Union County, Georgia, United States. Other estimates were that there were 6,000 to 10,000 miners between the Chestatee River and the Etowah River in 1831. The Etowah River rises northwest of Dahlonega, Georgia, north of Atlanta. Year 1831 ( MDCCCXXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Boom towns like Auraria and Dahlonega began to appear and Dahlonega was said to have supported 15,000 miners at the height of the gold rush. Auraria is a Ghost town in Lumpkin County, Georgia, United States, southwest of Dahlonega. During this rapid influx of prospectors and settlers, tensions with the Cherokee began to rise. Before long, gold mines appeared in most counties in the North Georgia mountains, including Georgia's northeastern-most county, Rabun. Rabun County is a County located in the US state of Georgia. As of the 2000 Census, the Population is 15050

In 1832, Georgia held the Gold Lottery of 1832, which awarded land that had been owned by the Cherokee to the winners of the lottery in 40 acre (16 ha) tracts. Year 1832 ( MDCCCXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian The Gold Lottery of 1832 was the seventh lottery in the Georgia Land Lottery, a lottery system utilized by the State of Georgia between the years 1805 and 1832 to In 1838, the Dahlonega Mint was established in Dahlonega by the United States Congress as a branch mint of the United States Mint, which is a testimony to the amount of gold being produced in the Georgia Gold Rush. Year 1838 ( MDCCCXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common The Dahlonega Mint was chartered by the United States Congress and erected in 1837 in the mining town of Dahlonega Georgia, during the first North American The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses A branch mint is a satellite operation of (usually a national mint. The United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its Trade and Commerce. The establishment of the Dahlonega Mint also seemed to validate the actions that Georgia had taken in the early part of the century to seize Cherokee lands. The culmination of tensions between the Cherokee and various states, including Georgia, led to the forced migration later known as the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears was the forced relocation of Native Americans from their homelands to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma in the Western United States

Aftermath

By the early 1840’s, most of the “easy” gold had been found, and efforts began to shift to working the known deposits. Thus, when news of the California Gold Rush found its way to Georgia, many miners moved west in search of more gold, despite an effort by the assayer of the Dahlonega Mint to convince them to stay. However, even with the departure of many miners, the mines in the Georgia Gold Belt continued to produce gold for years. Ultimately, there were some 500 mines spread through 37 different counties. It is estimated that Georgia produced about 870,000 troy ounces (24,000 kg) of gold between 1828 and the mid-20th Century, when commercial gold production ceased. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on ^[4]

Before they were expelled, the Cherokees gained enough gold-mining experience to participate in later gold rushes in California in 1849 and Colorado in 1859. Cherokee gold miners gave the name to the town of Cherokee, California, as well as to a number of other geographic features in the California gold-mining region. Cherokee is an unincorporated community in Butte County California that was founded by Maidu Indians

Experienced gold miners from Georgia played key roles in the beginning of gold mining in Colorado. Georgia gold miners Lewis and Samuel Ralston, along with some displaced Georgia Cherokees, noticed some placer gold near the present site of Denver on their way to the new California gold fields in 1850. The City and County of Denver (pronounced /ˈdɛnvɚ/ is the Capital and the most populous city of Colorado, in the United States They returned east in 1857 having failed to strike it rich, but they remembered the gold just east of the Rocky Mountains. Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a Mountain range in western North America. William Greeneberry Russell led a party of Cherokees and Georgia gold miners back to Colorado in 1858, and began placer mining along the South Platte River in present-day Denver. William Greeneberry "Green" Russell (1818-1887 was an American prospector and miner Other Georgians founded Auraria, Colorado, named after the gold-mining town in Georgia; Auraria merged with Denver soon after, but the neighborhood is still known as Auraria. Auraria was a small mining settlement in the Kansas Territory in the United States. The town of Golden, Colorado is named after Georgia miner Thomas L. Golden. The historic City of Golden is a Home Rule Municipality that is the County seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Thomas L Golden, nicknamed Tom was a gold miner from Georgia who was one of the earliest gold rushers who came to today's Jefferson County Colorado Another Georgia gold miner, John H. Gregory, discovered the first lode gold in Colorado in 1859. ^[5]

In 1864, four prospectors known as "the Georgians" found one of the early gold placers in Montana, at Last Chance Gulch. Montana ( is a state in the Western United States. One-third of the state in the western part contains numerous mountain ranges (approximately 77 named of the northern The site of the gold placer became the state capital of Helena, Montana. Helena (ˈhɛlɨnə is the Capital city of the US state of Montana and the County seat of Lewis and Clark County ^[6]

References

^ Duane K. Hale (1981) ‘’Mineral exploration in the Spanish borderlands 1513-1846‘’, Jour. of the West, v. 20 n. 2, p. 5-20.
^ W. S. Yeates and others (1896) ‘’A Preliminary Report on a Part of the Gold Deposits of Georgia‘’, Geological Survey of Georgia, Bulletin No. 4-A, p. 28.
^ The New Georgia Encyclopedia
^ A. H. Koschmann and M. H. Bergendahl (1968) ‘’Principal Gold-Producing Districts of the United States’‘, US Geological Survey, Professional Paper 610, p. 119.
^ Robert L. Brown (1984) The Great Pikes Peak Gold Rush, Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton, p. 12-32.
^ Don Spritzer (1999) Roadside History of Montana, Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press, ISBN 0-87842-395-8, p. 248.

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