Source: Memorial Record of Alabama: A Concise Account of the State’s …, Volume 1

As has been already stated, gold was probably discovered in Alabama about the year 1830, for soon after that date considerable quantities of the precious metals were secured in half a dozen counties of north Alabama. Professor Toumey’s report, published in 1858, has allusions to the gold deposits, but until recently no thorough explorations of the gold fields have been made or even attempted. Under the enlarged powers given to the survey by the general assembly of 1888–90, Dr. Smith determined to make a thorough examination of the metamorphic region of north and east Alabama, having an area of 4,426 square miles. This work was specially intrusted to Dr. W. B. Phillips, and he seems to have entered . upon it with enthusiasm and prosecuted it with intelligence, zeal and ability. His “Preliminary Report,” detailing his explorations in the counties of Chilton, Coosa and Tallapoosa, has been printed, and an early copy furnished the writer through the courtesy of the state geologist, Dr. Eugene A. Smith. This document and the earlier reports of Dr. Smith furnish much of the information contained in this department of the industries of Alabama.

For convenience of reference, Dr. Phillips divides the gold fields into an upper and lower field, separating them by a line running due east and west along the northern boundary of Chilton, Coosa, Tallapoosa and Chambers counties. That part of the field south of this line, he calls the “Lower Alabama Gold Belt,” which contains about 1,700 square miles. The “Upper Gold Belt” comprises the counties of Cleburne, Clay, Randolph and a part of Talladega, containing about 1,800 square miles. The productive portion of this field is comprised in an area which Dr. Phillips describes as an equilateral triangle, the sides being about ninety miles in extent, the term “productive” being used to indicate that gold mining has at some time been carried on successfully within the described area. The gold bearing rocks of Alabama are believed to be coeval with the gold-bearing rocks of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Near Honeycutt’s mill in Chilton county, along Mulberry creek, placer mining has been carried on, in a small way, says Dr. Phillips, for the last fifty years. The mining commenced about ten miles below the mill, and extended about eight miles up the creek. Dr. Phillips, himself, out of thirty pans which he took out along the little branches leading into the creek, found gold in twenty-five of them. The thickness of the gold stratum he estimates at from one to two feet. Although gold is found in nearly all the branches running into Mulberry creek, in the vicinity of Honeycutt’s mill, Dr. Phillips does not consider that it occurs in sufficient quantities to justify further investigation. Several years ago some prospecting for gold was made near Verbena, on the Louisville & Nashville railroad. Although traces of gold were found, they were not sufficient to encourage an attempt at working them. A sample of quartz taken from a vein eight inches thick, near the gate at William Howard’s residence, gave $6.20 in gold. On Rocky creek, two miles east of Verbena, extensive washings for gold have been carried on in the gravel which underlies the soil at depths varying from three to six feet, and extends on both sides of the creek about 100 yards. Mr. William Howard states that in about ten weeks he personally realized $200 in gold from the washings along Rocky creek, securing one day as much as $19. His only implements were the pick and pan. Another gold seeker, less fortunate, worked there two months and secured only $60. This was about twenty years ago. Most of the work was done before 1860, when much interest was taken in gold mines. Dr. Phillips does not think that Rocky creek will now afford pay gravel of sufficient quantity and richness to pay for renewing work in it—the best of the gold having already been removed. ; The “Rippatoe Mine,” situated in section 17, township 21, range 16 east, Chilton county, was famous in the early days of gold mining in Alabama. Work on it was commenced as early as 1835, and continued with little interruption until 1860. For a mile up Blue creek, from James Mims’, on both sides there are great numbers of old pits, trenches and ditches, but these were so fallen in that Dr. Phillips had to sink two new pits to enable him to examine the gravel. A vertical section to the gravel of the Rippatoe mine shows soil and sandy clay two feet; soft reddish, inclining to bluish green, three feet; stiff bluish clay three feet—gold gravel, one foot—the latter being found eight feet below the surface. The depth varies from six to nine feet, the vein becoming thinner and at a greater depth, as the adjacent hills are approached. Much of the gold obtained was found in the run of the creek caught against upturned edges of slate. Several pieces of gold, worth from $1 to $5, were taken out. One piece, valued at $20, another, at $70, were also found here. No reliable estimate can be made of the amount of gold taken from this mine, but, judging from the character and extent of the old workings, it must have yielded a large return for the labor of the different gangs of men from time to time engaged in working the gravel. When the California gold fever broke out, most of these miners started forthwith for that land of promise, and there has been little, if any, gold washing in this vicinity since 1855. The average width of the valley, along which the gold bearing gravel is found, is less than 200 yards, and its length is about three-quarters of a mile. On the land of James Mims, in section 16 of the same township, the same kind of gravel is found; has been worked over, and a considerable quantity of gold was obtained from it prior to 1860, but little has been accomplished since that date. At a place called “Alum Bluff,” in Coosa county, there appears a heavy seam of bluish crystalline quartz, carrying decomposed pyrite. A sample on analysis gave gold 0.60 ounce per ton, with a trace of silver, showing the quartz was worth $15.40 per ton. A sample from the walling next the quartz gave in gold 0.35 ounce and silver 0.10 ounce, and was therefore worth $7.33 per ton.” Dr. Phillips considers this a “true vein” and worthy of thorough examination. He thinks it could be easily mined. At a place in sections 1 and 2, township 21, range 16 east, in Coosa county, called “Gold Ridge, “prospecting for copper and gold was made in 1885 and for graphite and gold in 1872 and 1873. A sample secured by Dr. Phillips in 1891 was assayed and found to contain, gold 0.15 ounce and silver 0.25 ounce, making the value $3.35 per ton—not rich enough to pay the cost of working. Four samples were taken from Flint Hill in section 17, same township, Coosa county, only one of which showed more than a trace of gold, and this sample was worth $4.13 per ton. Tradition affirms the existence of a silver mine in this locality which was worked by the Indians, but was so well concealed by them that, although diligent search has been made, no one has yet been able to find it. According to this tradition the mine is of exceeding richness and furnished the Indians with an abundance of silver. Before leaving the country, it is affirmed that the “redskins” sealed up the entrance to the mine with heavy rocks and obliterated all traces of the approach to it. Dr. Phillips does not credit this tradition, as he failed to discover any traces of the existence of such a mine. Professor Toumey’s report of 1858 gives an account of the Stewart gold mine, located in Coosa county, in section 4, township 23, range 17. The auriferous portion of the ridge, he says, “is about 200 feet wide and was at first worked in open cut, but the ridge is perforated with shafts, at intervals, for a distance of half a mile.” This mine was long since abandoned. Near Rockford he found an auriferous deposit of gravel and clay, a portion of which was once worked. Professor Toumey quotes Mr. Lieber’s description of the old mine in section 4, township 23, range 27 east, which produced well at one time, having an “engine mounted on the spot,” but, for lack of skill and good management, failed of success. Of the auriferous gravel deposits of Alabama, Mr. Lieber said “they present some very peculiar and interesting features.” “Gold is found,” he says, “in greater or less quantity, in almost all the gravels and sands of the creeks and branches of the metamorphic region, extending as far south as the Tallapoosa, twenty miles east of Wetumpka, where traces of gold exist. The deposits on the Weogufka and Hatchet creeks, in Coosa. county, demand, perhaps, the greatest atention.” “The ‘ packed gravel,’ as it is locally termed, immediately underlies the soil and debris of the surrounding rock, and is usually about a foot or eighteen inches in depth. The quartz of the gravel is throughout of an orange color, of a kind I have not seen in any other auriferous region. It belongs to the compact granular quartz commonly called ‘Sugar quartz,” and is probably identical with that which, in Australia, has received improperly the name of ‘cairngorn.’ * * * The quartz, when broken, resembles lumps of goodbrown sugar. The color is pale lemon within and orange without. Occasionally pieces are seen which pass from a blood red to a deep claret color, and on the fresh break exhibit correspondingly redder tints than the other.” The largest quartz bowlder found in the gravel deposits of the Weogufka contained about four cubic feet. “The gravel,” Mr. Lieber says, “pans from four to twenty particles of savable gold of a fine color,” and he has no doubt that if suitable locations were selected and proper contrivances chosen for extracting the gold, very profitable operations would be the result. The Hatchet creek includes what was called the “Miller” gold mine, in section 1, township 24, range 20 east, and another close to it in section 11, same township and range. The former mine usually paid $1.75 per hand, the latter only $1.00 per hand. The Miller mine was last worked in 1847 by T. Phillips, of Nixburg, with a force of six to eight hands. In the summer of 1843 as many as fifty hands were regularly worked here. The gold was of a very superior quality, and if properly managed, this mine, it is thought, might yet be made very productive. In the summer of 1854, a man worked in it by himself without any conveniences and made, while at work, $1 per day in gold, but ill health compelled him to stop work. The whole valley seems to be auriferous, for we are told that many pits were sunk in various places and gold was found in all but one of them. Near the town of Rockford, Coosa county, Dr. Phillips found an old pit, sunk forty or more years ago for gold, and worked several years ago by Mr. Lewis Parsons, but without much success. The assay of a sample from the “old dump” showed a value of $12.40 per ton. On the land of Mr. E. M. Thomas, in section 11, township 22, range 19, is a ledge of graphitic schist, some of which, he says, he worked and smelted in a blacksmith’s forge, and obtained from the rock 35 cents worth of silver. An assay from a sample taken by Dr. Phillips, however, showed a mere trace of gold and no silver. Tallapoosa and Cleburne counties were famous “among placer mines and quartz creeks fifty years ago,” and “yielded a large part of the gold credited to the southern states between 1830 and 1850.” It is stated that the town of Arbacoo, chee, in Cleburne county, which now has only about 300 inhabitants, had, in the times of the gold excitement, a population of 5,000. What was called the “Goldville” belt extended from Hillabee bridge, six miles east of Alexander city, to and beyond Goldville, a distance of fourteen miles. The entire distance presents a view of trenches, pits and shafts, indicating an active industry in the way of gold mining. Among the pits formerly worked, as given by Dr. Phillips, were the Ulrich, Croft, Mahan, Stone, Ealy, Log, Houston, Goldville, Germany, Jones and Birdsong. Of these the Ulrich pits were southwesterly and the Birdsong northeasterly. According to Professor Toumey, the Goldville mine was discovered in 1842, and was worked with much success. The gold was worth 90 cents to the pennyweight. About $30,000 in gold was extracted from this pit, and, in addition, about $80,000 in silver. The want of sound and systematic business methods caused the failure of operations at this valuable mine, but Mr. Lieber reports that it was subsequently reopened. He says further that “a vein has been discovered which, from its curious contortion, is called the snake vein.” On the south side of the shaft he says it was poor, but on the northern side the average yield was $1 per bushel. Besides gold, magnetic iron sand, native sulphur, garnets and mica are found in the vicinity. The Ulrich pits were opened, says Dr. Phillips, by a German named Ulrich some forty years ago. He opened the gold pit and crushed, in a rude way, a good deal of ore, and is reputed to have made considerable money. He seems to have struck the ore while excavating a wine cellar for his vineyard. While a good deal of ore has been taken from the pit. Dr. Phillips thinks that the main body has hardly been touched, and that a large amount of free milling quartz still remains within 1,000 feet of the creek. Samples received by him from several old dumps, gave, by fire assay, from $2.06 to $8.46 per ton. Over a distance of twelve miles the quartz seams are reputed “bold and strong, preserving the same general characteristics and showing a remarkable continuity of walling, strike and dip.” Referring to the operations in Tallapoosa county (and the same remarks apply to the entire gold district), Dr. Phillips says: No organized capital was employed and there were no mills worthy of the name. But little was known of the art of mining, and still less of the art of milling, the most important consideration in the successful management of gold ores, and there must have been a large loss of gold. Yet the work went on for years—some of it costly work. The only explosive they had was black powder; all the drilling was done by hand, and a great deal of the crushing also. But they kept at it, and the engineer who examines the district to-day, can see for himself that an astonishing amount of ore was raised and treated. * * * * At Goldville itself, between 1840 and 1850, there are said to have been fourteen large stores, with a contributory population of at least 3,000 souls. Now one looks in vain for the tenth part of this population, and the stores have been converted into dwellings and barns. It must, however, be distinctly stated that the mining operations conducted forty or fifty years ago along this belt merely scratched the great deposits of free milling quartz that characterize it.