# Gold in georgia



## birdman1

There is no more gold in georgia ,Some fellow Gon members informed me of that yesturday so there will not be any more post on this subject from me, All i was trying to do was post a few history facts and some old treasure cache storys, But you always have people that step over the line so if any one has any questions about georgia"s history , Buried treasure, and Caches Just PM me It is not worth posting the info publically..


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## Cornelia_Hiker

Uh........yeah. Have a friend...a darn lucky friend who lives on and owns about 2,000 feet frontage on Dukes Creek outside of Cleveland in the Dalhonega gold belt. He has a big pump setup and can suck out the creek bottom anytime he wants. He has several nuggets come out of there in the $5,000 range. That's not gold-weight value, but jewelery class value. Folks make nugget necklaces out of them. And he has vials and vials of flakes. Darn lucky guy....and a GOOD friend !


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## contender*

birdman1 said:


> There is no more gold in georgia ,Some fellow Gon members informed me of that yesturday so there will not be any more post on this subject from me..





Now get you a shovel and go find it....


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## contender*

Cornelia_Hiker said:


> Uh........yeah. Have a friend...a darn lucky friend who lives on and owns about 2,000 feet frontage on Dukes Creek outside of Cleveland in the Dalhonega gold belt. He has a big pump setup and can suck out the creek bottom anytime he wants. He has several nuggets come out of there in the $5,000 range. That's not gold-weight value, but jewelery class value. Folks make nugget necklaces out of them. And he has vials and vials of flakes. Darn lucky guy....and a GOOD friend !



I know several folks that were, and still are, into dredging creek bottoms. That is one of the main problems is finding landowners that will let them "suck out" the bottom of their creek.  It's pretty easy to get permission to pan but a dredge will sure get the job done quicker and usually more thoroughly.


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## feathersnantlers

*Smith House sits on biggest vein*

I guess its true than that the Smith House sits on the biggest vein in Ga. It's just that the city won't let them mine it.


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## ccbiggz

*What and where is the Smith house?*

Don't people who look for it find gold in Georgia all the time? I don't mean strike it rich, but flakes and small nuggets like an earlier poster said? I think it would be cool to try.


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## birdman1

contender* said:


> Now get you a shovel and go find it....



Just PM me feller"s if you have any intrest in georgia"s history on the civil war and buried treasure, cache"s , And old folk lore stories i have a ton"s of books and a lot of years of research in these subjects we could learn alot together about our history by just sharing stories, And yes there is enough gold left in georgia to fill fort knox 1000 time over, I would bet there is only a small % of gold and gems have been found in georgia (Find the black sand in those creeks). Good day to everyone.


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## Slayer

here's an idea......how about continuing to share these facts/stories with us....thats what this forum is for....as with any open forum , you have to let the idiots that are here have their say also....but dont let that stop you from sharing this type of stuff with us.....and if the peanut gallery bothers ya, just shrug your shoulders, and tell them to pack sand......

I want to hear these stories.....


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## Nicodemus

Feel free to go ahead and post your stories. I like to hear about history too. And if anybody else gives you a hard time, send me a PM about it.


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## irocz2u

widest  gold belt  in ga  runs  threw paulding   ....  gold  still  in ga


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## Lomcavak Duck

So... if you find black sand- say near a creek or even in a place several hundred yards from a creek, where black sand runs every time it rains, what do you do next?


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## Ed in North Ga.

Lomcavak Duck said:


> So... if you find black sand- say near a creek or even in a place several hundred yards from a creek, where black sand runs every time it rains, what do you do next?



Black sand, is considered heavy- when you have black sand- the fine/small/powdery black, your in the neighborhood of the "level" you would find gold dust and flake - possibly small nuggets, but mostly "flour gold".

 Gold is heavy, and will go deep- black sand is heavier than most of your other substrates and will go deep as well- so, black sand and flour gold are brothers.

 When panning, you junk out all the rest of the substrates- the rocks, the pebbles, the sand...and if your in the right, all you`ll have left is black sand and hopefully....gold.


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## Ed in North Ga.

irocz2u said:


> widest  gold belt  in ga  runs  threw paulding   ....  gold  still  in ga



They used to say it went through Helen- behind the "A" club, under the bridge, up under Pauls, and through that back valley onto Nacoochee- Theres flour gold anywhere you look through there-

I laughed......until I saw the belt-map, those old miners knew exactly where it was. Theres a mine on the north end, one on the side, and more than 3 on the end...yet history "says" each mine was not profitable after a time...
funny how the owners of those mines decendants are some of the richest in the county.


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## birdman1

Nicodemus said:


> Feel free to go ahead and post your stories. I like to hear about history too. And if anybody else gives you a hard time, send me a PM about it.



Thanks nicodemus i have a few interesting storys i will post tomorrow.


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## birdman1

Slayer said:


> here's an idea......how about continuing to share these facts/stories with us....thats what this forum is for....as with any open forum , you have to let the idiots that are here have their say also....but dont let that stop you from sharing this type of stuff with us.....and if the peanut gallery bothers ya, just shrug your shoulders, and tell them to pack sand......
> 
> I want to hear these stories.....



Thanks i will post a few tomorrow.


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## MR.BIGBUCK

Now you hit a vain with me. Ga has some of the finest gold in america There is a lot of gold in ga. I live two miles from the worlds finest gold ever found. and there is still gold in there.
  I pan in a lot of creeks in paulding county and upper douglas county and i will tell you im not going broke  looking for gold. There is more gold in the ground today in ga than all the miners took. so i will give anybody that ask to get a gold pan find a creek and look. If you take a line from villa rica ga to dalonaga follow the line and you will find gold. If you can get some creeks and a pan look for the clay layer dig right above  the clay layer. there is gold every where go get it.


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## birdman1

MR.BIGBUCK said:


> Now you hit a vain with me. Ga has some of the finest gold in america There is a lot of gold in ga. I live two miles from the worlds finest gold ever found. and there is still gold in there.
> I pan in a lot of creeks in paulding county and upper douglas county and i will tell you im not going broke  looking for gold. There is more gold in the ground today in ga than all the miners took. so i will give anybody that ask to get a gold pan find a creek and look. If you take a line from villa rica ga to dalonaga follow the line and you will find gold. If you can get some creeks and a pan look for the clay layer dig right above  the clay layer. there is gold every where go get it.


 That is some interesting reading there, This is what we need to do keep posting facts,


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## CAL

Nicodemus said:


> Feel free to go ahead and post your stories. I like to hear about history too. And if anybody else gives you a hard time, send me a PM about it.



X2,A few things we Moderators will not put up with and this is one of them!Like Nick,I like stories and history too.Fact some years ago I got into the gold panning pretty good.Bought a dredge and worked some creeks up around and in the gold belt.Had some of the best fun in my life with the family.Kids were small and just the correct age to enjoy the creeks and rivers.Weather is cool and the water is cool also.Found some gold,nothing to write home about but enough to make it interesting too.Like the signs up there say..."there's gold in them thar hills"!


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## hikingthehills

I started panning for gold about 4 months ago and let me tell you that gold fever is real! My friend showed me a nugget that weighs about an ounce and a half that he found around lake allatoona and I got hooked! I have only found one small nugget so far but have found alot of dust and flakes. It is something that is good to do when it is not hunting season.


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## Fletch_W

Do yall think there is Gold around Allatoona Creek around Stilesboro/Hadaway/Mars Hill roads?


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## MR.BIGBUCK

fletch if it where i think you are talking about yes yes yes all around the lake area you can find good gold if you can get on the right place most will not let you on the land up there or they turned me down.but try and good luck.


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## birdman1

Look for the black sand. Check to see if there is some public land around there and see about obtaining a permit thru the U.S forestery services There is a site where you can get permits i will see if i can find it and post it later.


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## Fletch_W

Family has property on the creek in that general area. My uncle used to have one of those conveyor belt gold panning thingy's out there, never found much that I know of.


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## earl

Fletch_W said:


> Do yall think there is Gold around Allatoona Creek around Stilesboro/Hadaway/Mars Hill roads?



There is an old goldmine around Sixes Road that is under water now.


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## MR.BIGBUCK

fletch I would love to get with you some time and if we could go play up there and see what is there. and if any is found you can have it all. But i love to see people start in this hobbies great fun just it is some times a lot of work lol.


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## MR.BIGBUCK

Let me ask this on here does anybody on here have any land that some of us members could get together and play in your creek to see if we could find gold. In at least gold country. Paulding to Dahlonega ga.in a line some what.????????


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## olcowman

Anyone know where to find some history on the old gold dredge that is still visible (it's huge) in the etowah river in Dawson county? I've seen it stuck in the rocks and then floated through the tunnel that was somehow used in the gold dredging process. A friend of mine who lives just downstream is an avid (and successful) dredger with several thousands of dollars invested in his equipment. He can relate a little of the story on how the dredge ended up there, but most of what he knows is local oral history and he is not sure how valid it is.


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## Al White

My grandfather told me when i was a kid that a well on his land has some confederate gold at the bottom.  He also said that a man was lowered into the well when he was a kid and that the man told everyone that the well opened up into a huge cavern down in there, but water prevented him from actually seeing what was in there.  This place is near Allentown, Ga too


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## cetaws6

i live in dahlonega, my parents have a cabin in ellijay and i had a really good friend up there that passed away several years ago that told me some good stories about gold around that area anyone ever heard of gold around springer mountain?


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## Ed in North Ga.

Al White said:


> My grandfather told me when i was a kid that a well on his land has some confederate gold at the bottom.  He also said that a man was lowered into the well when he was a kid and that the man told everyone that the well opened up into a huge cavern down in there, but water prevented him from actually seeing what was in there.  This place is near Allentown, Ga too



 That could be one of the old artisian wells- an aquafier- theres one in Helen- the well diggers went down, and hit "empty-ness"- from what my father told me(he did yard work for him) his yard was always wet, even in the dry season- the owner said the well drillers went down, and the water came right up-
 There was one that was talked about over towards Dahlonega, but i believe it was part of the coppermine they hit.


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## Ed in North Ga.

cetaws6 said:


> i live in dahlonega, my parents have a cabin in ellijay and i had a really good friend up there that passed away several years ago that told me some good stories about gold around that area anyone ever heard of gold around springer mountain?


 Could be a reference to the ever present "cave of gold" that is in every county up in North Georgia-according to the old timers.   Theres always a "cave of cherokee gold", that no ones ever found.

 I personally believe the cave was actually on Yonah Mountain, and the families who found it are some of the biggest land owners, and most prominant in White County- History "suggests" that quite a few families came into money over a short period of time, just no way to prove it-
said cave is  
not to be confused with the cave of nuggets over in Toccoa- 
If that one exists, I cant imagine why no ones stumbled across it yet. Seems like it would stick out like a sore thumb from reading the stories-

 I actually found, using googlemaps of all things through a website, thats theres 4 "goldmines" within hiking distance of my house- yet, not one old timer around here knows any of them.

heres the link for the minedata- I assume you can figure out how to substitute your county for this one->
http://www.mindat.org/loc-23847.html


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## Rock Hopper

If you are looking for a place to do some "recreational gold prospecting", there is a club in North GA that leases several properties on the Yahoola & Etowah Rivers near Dahlonega and Tesnatee Creek in Cleveland.  The dues are $20 a month and you can pan and dredge.  I have been a member for years and there is still plenty of gold to be found.  They even have "common operations" several times a year where everyone works together and splits the gold.  They also have coin shoots for the metal detectorists in the group.  Here is the link to the club's website.

www.weekendgoldminers.com


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## slightly grayling

You may also want to obtain GGS bulletins 100 and 96.


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## beginnersluck

Birdman...what do you know about the old Indian Silver mines (or tunnels for that matter) on the backside of Currahee mountain?  I've always heard tales, but never been to look for myself.


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## LJay

Birdman1 I think you have all the moderators behind you. I love to hear stories about stuff like that and would like to hear more. I also like to go out medal detecting. So you post all you want.


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## Keebs

Alright, the coast is clear, you can't get much more backing from mods like this, so come on with the story's & history stuff, you've gotten my attention, that's for sure!


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## Fletch_W

Ed in North Ga. said:


> Could be a reference to the ever present "cave of gold" that is in every county up in North Georgia-according to the old timers.   Theres always a "cave of cherokee gold", that no ones ever found.
> 
> I personally believe the cave was actually on Yonah Mountain, and the families who found it are some of the biggest land owners, and most prominant in White County- History "suggests" that quite a few families came into money over a short period of time, just no way to prove it-
> said cave is
> not to be confused with the cave of nuggets over in Toccoa-
> If that one exists, I cant imagine why no ones stumbled across it yet. Seems like it would stick out like a sore thumb from reading the stories-
> 
> I actually found, using googlemaps of all things through a website, thats theres 4 "goldmines" within hiking distance of my house- yet, not one old timer around here knows any of them.
> 
> heres the link for the minedata- I assume you can figure out how to substitute your county for this one->
> http://www.mindat.org/loc-23847.html



that is very interesting, thanks for the link!


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## NotSoFastEddie

Slayer said:


> here's an idea......how about continuing to share these facts/stories with us....thats what this forum is for....as with any open forum , you have to let the idiots that are here have their say also....but dont let that stop you from sharing this type of stuff with us.....and if the peanut gallery bothers ya, just shrug your shoulders, and tell them to pack sand......
> 
> I want to hear these stories.....



*ditto that.  I enjoy the stories...*


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## Gary Mercer

When I moved to Peachtree City, 30+ years ago, my neighbor was an avid prospector.
He flew for Eastern Airlines, and arranged his schedule so he could be home during the week.
He used to take his old Chevy truck, with it's camper shell and go for days to North GA.
He never told me where, but I know when Eastern went belly up, he said "the gold he had taken from the mountains" was enough to get him through.  He kept on prospecting, until his wife, a school teacher, retired.  He told me they had bought a piece of land in "the mountains," and were going to move up there and retire.
I saw some of his nuggets one time, and it was pretty fantastic.  He said he tried not to keep too much on hand at any one time.  He showed me a couple of days take one time, and it was impressive.  He said it was a "couple of thousand dollars worth."  In the 70s that was a lot of gold.
I guess I should have gotten a couple of days off and gone with him.  Or tried to follow him. lol)  But I was trying to keep a family together and a kid in college.  We talked about it a couple of times, but it never happened.
I can't tell you how much he made, but I know he didn't get anything from Eastern Airlines, and they lived good.


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## irocz2u

draging  is  good  for  the creek  cleans  the selkn slage  out


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## redneck_billcollector

I read some historic geological surveys done right after the creek land was freed up, they found gold in alot of places through out the peidmont and around macon in particular.  I was in grad school in Macon at the time, I found a couple of creeks with a good bit of quartz out croppings and did a little sluice boxing and panning and found some, nothing to really write home about, but it was real fun.  The reason, from what I understand, as to why no one ever followed up was that right after publishing the survey, it was overshadowed by finds up in Cherokee country.


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## jigman29

If you guys want to dredge and the like join the g.p.a.a. they have leases all over the country,including delhonaga(spelling)The dues are around 80 bucks a year and you get all kinds of stuff with your membership.I haven't been a member for severall years but I got my moneys worth when I was.
http://www.goldprospectors.org/  heres the link enjoy.


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## Woodscrew

I use to go years ago. Wish I had a place I could go pan this summer. I just don't know anyone that would let me come on there property to pan.


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## KDarsey

I for one would love to hear all you can tell about this.
Don't pay any attention to the 'geniuses'... there are some great people here but there are a few here that know everything about everything and love to show it.......


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## Harbuck

*gold*

They have opened up a gold museum in Villla Rica Ga. It is at an old mine that the city is restoring it is in the Mirror lake area on Stockmar Rd. There are old mines all over that area of Carroll county. The name Villa Rica even means city of gold or something like that. It was originally a mineing town. Had a friend when i was in high school that panned a small creek in his front yard and found small amounts of gold every time he panned it.


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## Gary Mercer

I have heard that gold has been found in small amounts in the Troup/Heard/Harris County areas.  I guess that is where they say the gold bearing hills begin to taper off.  
Saw a map once that showed the "gold band" in Georgia to start up above Dahlonaga, and go down across the Atlanta area to the Alabama line.  Kinda like the Hooch does.  Also know there was gold being panned in some of the creeks in Northwestern SC, right across the river from Toccoa.
We had a big deer lease in Heard County, near the New River, and I was able to pan small amounts from sand bars on the river, when we had low water.  I even found a very small amount in some real small creeks on the property.
Nobody seemed interested in getting involved, except the snakes, so I gave it up.


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## striper commander

Harbuck said:


> They have opened up a gold museum in Villla Rica Ga. It is at an old mine that the city is restoring it is in the Mirror lake area on Stockmar Rd. There are old mines all over that area of Carroll county. The name Villa Rica even means city of gold or something like that. It was originally a mineing town. Had a friend when i was in high school that panned a small creek in his front yard and found small amounts of gold every time he panned it.


The park backs up to our farm, We have tailing piles all over the farm from my ancestors. I sure wish I had a dredge.


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## Lowjack

How do I find out if there is gold In Jefferson County ??


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## Gary Mercer

Ed, that is a great site.  You can look at every county in GA for historical mining info for gold.  
Looks like there wasn't much activity south of I-20.  (Except for Carrol County)
Be interesting to look at some of the rivers and streams that went through the recent floods.  Floods will scour a stream or river, and possibly expose new substrate that could contain gold.
Wish I could find someone that would help and old guy learn how to do this.
Hope Ya'll find a bunch.  Be sure and report you success to the Fed so Mr Obama can get his share.


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## hunter_58

what about the broad river in Elbert county. a book from gold prospectors said there was gold in that area ??????


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## Gary Mercer

I'll bet there is gold in most of North GA.  the website I was quoting was a list of commercial mining operations.  Years ago, I used to canoe the Savannah River between Lake Hartwell and Clarks Hill.  That was some real wild country, and I'll bet there was gold in that area.  Not too far from Elberton, and North of I-20.
When I was in college, there were a couple of locals that were said to mine or pan gold in the Rivers that are now under lake Hartwell.


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## gin house

*gold*

was lookin thru this section and ran across this post of gold huntin, i think it was ed n ga that talked about the gold dens at yonah.  Theres an old timer that lives above me over here in south carolina that owns some property over around yonah, panther creek is what they call it but he told me that he and his cousin found it years ago and it was a hole in the ground, said it had a wooden ladder in it and that the reason they didnt go down was because the ladder was rotten, said they meant to  go back and check it out but never did, that was probably 60 years ago. we went to where he said it was probably about a year ago to look for it but didnt see it, brush everywhere and trees down but it was off the gravel road at the foot of the mountain rught beside a creek, im interested in history, love to hear about it, if anybody doesnt want to hear about it then theres tons of other threads on here you can whine and look at.  tons of history slip away daily because people dont want to hear about it. it a shame but i love it,  let us hear it.....  off topic but here in north georgia and south carolina, this is one of the oldest places in the country and have tons of history, the west doesnt have near the history we have here in our back yard.  i have a leader from the revolutionary war buried a half mile from my house, he is Ben Cleveland, most know for the battle of Kings Mountain, google it and check him out. Or Manse Jolly, of civil war fame, they said Jesse James didnt have nothing on him, he was cruel to the yankees, but war is war, theres three known pictures of him know to exist, one is in my town.....i love to hear all i can.


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## Sugar Plum

> You may also want to obtain GGS bulletins 100 and 96.



+1 

I worked in the EPD office in Atlanta and sold these along with the maps...I used to look through all the bulletins while it was slow. They're pretty handy.


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## Sweetwater

Harbuck said:


> They have opened up a gold museum in Villla Rica Ga. It is at an old mine that the city is restoring it is in the Mirror lake area on Stockmar Rd. There are old mines all over that area of Carroll county. The name Villa Rica even means city of gold or something like that. It was originally a mineing town. Had a friend when i was in high school that panned a small creek in his front yard and found small amounts of gold every time he panned it.



I used to play in those growing up.


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## sidekicks409

i lived beside those growing up


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## gadeerwoman

There is an old gold mine on Redlands WMA in Greene County.  I used to have a bunch of quartz ore from there with chisel holes in them from it's old mining days. We got a couple of backpacks full of ore out of it once when the land was privately owned and had it assayed. We were told that 'yes, there was gold in the rock but that it would cost more to get it out that it was worth'. Cool place to 'visit' if you know where it is located.


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## KDarsey

There was a mention on this thread of 'permits'.
Do you need a permit to pan say on Dick's Creek on WMA land for example. I know you need permissin from a landowner but what about state or government land?


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## redneck_billcollector

I think you need a permit to use anything but a pan on federal land.  You can get dredge permits for Tenn and NC dang near easier than Ga for some reason.  Private land I don't think you need one, I have the regs somewhere, I will look them up if I find them today or tomorrow.


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## Fletch_W

MR.BIGBUCK said:


> Let me ask this on here does anybody on here have any land that some of us members could get together and play in your creek to see if we could find gold. In at least gold country. Paulding to Dahlonega ga.in a line some what.????????



I just got on google maps and drew a straight line from villa rica to dahlanedaga. The lines passes, _literally_, right over my parents' and uncle's houses on Allatoona Creek off Hadaway road.


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## Fletch_W

MR.BIGBUCK said:


> fletch if it where i think you are talking about yes yes yes all around the lake area you can find good gold if you can get on the right place most will not let you on the land up there or they turned me down.but try and good luck.



If you are talking about where I think you are talking about, the word "Dewberry" comes to mind, you just need a john boat and you can get all up in there without any problems. Well, except for the occassional jet skis that like to go 40 mph around corners because they don't think anyone is up there, and also "haints" up in that area. You don't want to be there when the sun starts to fall over the horizon.


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## bbf

Ed in N Ga do you think there is any gold in or around Lake Chatuge? Reason I ask is a friend and I were up there fishing a couple yrs ago when the lake was I believe 16 ft below full pool. Anyhow we were fishing along and my friend said check out that bank over there! Well the bank was black sand for about 100 yd stretch. Then it was clay then it turn back to the black sand. We got to talking about gold because of the sand. We were up one of the creek arms a good way where we seen it. It was tough to navigate because the water was so low. If I would have had a pan and even remotely thought I knew how to pan I would have tried(well if the weather would have been warmer it was late November and bout 40 degrees was the high). Anyhow just curious what your thoughts are.


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## bbf

Fletch W how do you know about them haints? Like to hear some stories.


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## sjbl62

Ed in North Ga. said:


> Could be a reference to the ever present "cave of gold" that is in every county up in North Georgia-according to the old timers.   Theres always a "cave of cherokee gold", that no ones ever found.
> 
> I personally believe the cave was actually on Yonah Mountain, and the families who found it are some of the biggest land owners, and most prominant in White County- History "suggests" that quite a few families came into money over a short period of time, just no way to prove it-
> said cave is
> not to be confused with the cave of nuggets over in Toccoa-
> If that one exists, I cant imagine why no ones stumbled across it yet. Seems like it would stick out like a sore thumb from reading the stories-
> 
> I actually found, using googlemaps of all things through a website, thats theres 4 "goldmines" within hiking distance of my house- yet, not one old timer around here knows any of them.
> 
> heres the link for the minedata- I assume you can figure out how to substitute your county for this one->
> http://www.mindat.org/loc-23847.html



On the link above, could you tell me something about the gold mine at the bottom of the map, it is marked "Parks Gold Mine" in Rabun, Co. It is obviously in McDuffie county. Besides the fact that its miss marked on the map, what else can you, or anyone, tell me about the mine.

Thanks!


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## Fred_Duce

Haints? Well then this is getting interesting. Gold and the supernatural, please continue. I looked at this place you say has gold and other stuff not sure what you mean by john boat and jet skis tho.


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## Just BB

birdman1 said:


> Just PM me feller"s if you have any intrest in georgia"s history on the civil war and buried treasure, cache"s , And old folk lore stories i have a ton"s of books and a lot of years of research in these subjects we could learn alot together about our history by just sharing stories, And yes there is enough gold left in georgia to fill fort knox 1000 time over, I would bet there is only a small % of gold and gems have been found in georgia (Find the black sand in those creeks). Good day to everyone.




I live out in Douglas COunty. i believe the same vein that runs through Dalonaga also ran down through Paulding/Villa Rica didn't it. I've always wanted to find a few places to try my hand at panning.


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## Gary Mercer

Got a pan, and did some panning on the deer club in Heard county.  Minimal results, but that might be because I didn't know what I was doing.  I was working some sand bars in the New River, when we had the drought.  
Sure would like to try it again, if someone wants some company.
Have pan, will travel.
gary


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## Ed in North Ga.

Gary Mercer said:


> Got a pan, and did some panning on the deer club in Heard county.  Minimal results, but that might be because I didn't know what I was doing.  I was working some sand bars in the New River, when we had the drought.
> Sure would like to try it again, if someone wants some company.
> Have pan, will travel.
> gary



 Gary- working the upper parts of a sandbar wont produce-and if it does, it`ll (should be) be minimal- golds too heavy to sit up high in the sand- it works its way down like a bad hot dog- fast and deep.
 ya gotta get deep, and down in there to get the good stuff.
But...its where ya find it.  

 Were planning a trip here soon- gonna hit 3 good spots that I remember- and hopefully refill the bank account some.


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## newgolddigger

@ Ed and Gary, I live near Cherokee county and would love to go panning some time, have a pan and working on a sluice....my only issue is finding the spot. If interested, im looking at monday and tuesday 10th and 11th to go hunting somewhere between Canton, and Dehlonega.


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## Capt Quirk

MR.BIGBUCK said:


> Let me ask this on here does anybody on here have any land that some of us members could get together and play in your creek to see if we could find gold. In at least gold country. Paulding to Dahlonega ga.in a line some what.????????



As a matter of fact, you could come dig for gold on my land. I know the hidden Confederate gold is there... right where my root cellar is going...


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## Gary Mercer

Hmmmm.   I think Quirk is quirky.  You any relation to ol Tom Sawyer?
Good luck with that root cellar.  I already know where the Confederate gold is buried, and it aint in your root cellar.


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## Fletch_W

Fred_Duce said:


> Haints? Well then this is getting interesting. Gold and the supernatural, please continue. I looked at this place you say has gold and other stuff not sure what you mean by john boat and jet skis tho.



I didn't say it had gold, I just said it falls under the line from Villa Rica to Dalonega. The jonboats and jektskis get up there from Lake Allatoona. I don't know how the haints got up there.


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## Burl E.

*Gold Dredging*

Yes, "there is gold in them thar hills boys, millions in it," according to Benjamin Parks. He is the one that said those famous words to try and persuade the miners not to leave on the California Gold Rush.

The US Geological Department "Bulletin  19A" is a great source of information on Georgia's gold mines during the peak of the gold mining activity here. 

I dredge for gold around the Dahlonega area. It is a common misconception that dredging  harms or destroys the creeks or rivers. Actually, it is a benefit. When I dredge, I remove mercury, lead and other hazards from the creeks and rivers. 

The old timers used mercury to amalgamate the fine (flour) gold from the black sands. Then they would use acid to burn off the mercury.   What little bit of  mercury that didn't get burnt off, would get dumped off in the water. It is very common when I am going through my concentrated material, to see little blobs of mercury in my pan.

Lead in the form of bullets, shot and fishing weights are removed also. Some I give to a buddy that melts it down to make round and minnie balls with. The rest I give to another buddy and he makes diving weights with it.

Dredging doesn't remove any natural material from the creek or river. When you dredge for gold, you are moving sand, clay, rocks,... from in front and below you to behind you. It is like digging a ditch and throwing the dirt over your head, back in the ditch you just dug.

The fish love it. While you are moving material, you are kicking up all kinds of free food for the fish. They tend to stay right with you and the nozzle gulping up tiny organisms you stir up. A bunch of little fish attract bigger fish and bigger fish attract even bigger fish and so on. Every once in a while one gets too close to the nozzle and gets the "E" ticket ride up the hose and out the back of the dredge.

Last time I looked (yesterday around 2:00) gold was at $1,222.00 oz.. 



The silver looking material is gold coated with mercury.


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## Full Pull

We got some nice gold nuggets out of Dalonega this past Feb.
We paned it our self.
It was the mine past the reservior on right.
Thats about all I can tell ya Kids had fun ,


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## crokseti

I'm makin me a hand held suction pump out of pvc pipe 
and gonna try a couple places near Helen that I know of that has exposed bedrock in the creek . The creek was mined at some point in time as the stream bed was diverted.
 Would this handheld device be legal to use on public land?
You find cracks and crevasses in the bedrock where the water has flowed over and suction the material out to a bucket which you later pan out.


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## Gary Mercer

Hey Birdman 1, when are you going to start posting those stories, etc.  I am waiting with a lot of anticipation to hear some of the lore of our state.
Thanks


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## Skylar25

ttt


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## Artfuldodger

Gary Mercer said:


> Hmmmm.   I think Quirk is quirky.  You any relation to ol Tom Sawyer?
> Good luck with that root cellar.  I already know where the Confederate gold is buried, and it aint in your root cellar.



It's in Washington County I think. Was it buried or did it just fall off the wagon? It might be under Clarks Hill Lake.


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## GunnSmokeer

*closed mines*

I took a tour of a closed gold mine up in north Georgia some 20 years ago. 
At that time, gold was about $300 an ounce.
I asked why the mine closed. 
They said it wasn't worth the cost of operating the mine to get the gold, if gold was only worth $300 an ounce.

But they said if gold would sell for $600 an ounce, it would be worth it.

Of course by the time gold did exceed $600/ oz, the cost of doing business in the USA had more than doubled, too.  Labor costs. Taxes.  Tons of governmental regulation by OSHA, the EPA, all sorts of other parasites on trade and enterprise set upon our people by the feds in Washington, D.C.  And no tort reform, so the lawsuits keep coming....


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## 7Mag Hunter

Harbuck said:


> They have opened up a gold museum in Villla Rica Ga. It is at an old mine that the city is restoring it is in the Mirror lake area on Stockmar Rd. There are old mines all over that area of Carroll county. The name Villa Rica even means city of gold or something like that. It was originally a mineing town. Had a friend when i was in high school that panned a small creek in his front yard and found small amounts of gold every time he panned it.



MY BIL is retired but volunteers at the museum and 
you can pan for gold they dig out of the mine....They also
have a working steam hammer that they crush rock with
to remove gold.....Shakes the ground when they fire that
thing up......I don't think the city of Villa Rica has anything to do with restoring or running the museum.....It is a piece of private land and being run by the owners...


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## TheGuyWithTheGun

Glad to see this one is back at the top. I have found some interesting places in my search for gold. Anyone know of some places to kayak and pan? Maybe a three day float trip and some panning? To cold for my blood right now but spring is coming.


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## feathersnantlers

Is there anywhere in N.Ga you can rent a sluice box?


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## redneck_billcollector

feathersnantlers said:


> Is there anywhere in N.Ga you can rent a sluice box?



A sluice box is not that expensive, I have a few.  As for where gold is in GA, it is anywhere there is quartz....basically any area with metamorphic or ignious rocks (most of the peidmont and mountains) in GA.  You find quartz, especially "rotten" quartz, you will find gold in the streams or high banking some old dried stream beds.  Be careful where you use a sluice box, if you are on state or federal lands you will get in trouble. Ga did not opt in to the mining acts of the late 1800s so you can't file a claim in GA on federal lands like you can out west.  There are a couple of organizations that lease land for dredging, sluicing and highbanking in GA, they have been listed in this thread and you might wanna check them out.  If you have permission to prospect someone's land you might want to get it in writting and come to a written understanding about who the gold belongs to if you find some, it belongs to the land owner without prior agreement so be careful there too.  You might also want to check out whether the owner even owns the mineral rights (rare in GA for them not to, but around Macon it theoretically could be a legal issue where kaolin is mined or other areas in GA where there is substantial mining).  

Another trick is to use "natural" sluices where you can't legally sluice but can pan (N.F.s in GA) it is called "mossing".  You basically pan the moss in areas where during high water the moss will be under water, it acts as a natural sluice with fine gold.  Think about where you look for gold in placer prospecting, remember, gold is going to be the heaviest material in the stream, if you have a hard time doing this, get the lightest fishing line you can, the smallest lead wieght and see where is stops in the current, that is where the gold will be, snipe it from the bedrock and then pan it out.....(not that simple) but if there is a bench out of the water on the outside bend dig down to the bedrock and pan that material....think 100 year floods and where stuff accumulates...pan that material.


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## klfutrelle

I found a nice spot at the bottom of a waterfall. Always has flakes.


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## Bitteroot

Ok I gotta ask... is there the possiblity of gold in NW Ga.. or is it just in those map areas that I've been looking at?  I can't find anything that relates to this area, as everything always talks about.. you guessed it... Dalhonega...


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## greg_n_clayton

redneck_billcollector said:


> A sluice box is not that expensive, I have a few.  As for where gold is in GA, it is anywhere there is quartz....basically any area with metamorphic or ignious rocks (most of the peidmont and mountains) in GA.  You find quartz, especially "rotten" quartz, you will find gold in the streams or high banking some old dried stream beds.  Be careful where you use a sluice box, if you are on state or federal lands you will get in trouble. Ga did not opt in to the mining acts of the late 1800s so you can't file a claim in GA on federal lands like you can out west.  There are a couple of organizations that lease land for dredging, sluicing and highbanking in GA, they have been listed in this thread and you might wanna check them out.  If you have permission to prospect someone's land you might want to get it in writting and come to a written understanding about who the gold belongs to if you find some, it belongs to the land owner without prior agreement so be careful there too.  You might also want to check out whether the owner even owns the mineral rights (rare in GA for them not to, but around Macon it theoretically could be a legal issue where kaolin is mined or other areas in GA where there is substantial mining).
> 
> Another trick is to use "natural" sluices where you can't legally sluice but can pan (N.F.s in GA) it is called "mossing".  You basically pan the moss in areas where during high water the moss will be under water, it acts as a natural sluice with fine gold.  Think about where you look for gold in placer prospecting, remember, gold is going to be the heaviest material in the stream, if you have a hard time doing this, get the lightest fishing line you can, the smallest lead wieght and see where is stops in the current, that is where the gold will be, snipe it from the bedrock and then pan it out.....(not that simple) but if there is a bench out of the water on the outside bend dig down to the bedrock and pan that material....think 100 year floods and where stuff accumulates...pan that material.



The local USFS guys told me I could use my hand held (portable) sluice that came from Keene Eng.. Just nothing mechanical such as high bankers and dredges.


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## TheGuyWithTheGun

I'd be careful with that. LEOs are notorious for not knowing the law....


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## muddsmoker

Hey all,
Im interested in doing some pannin im in alpharetta and will travel north any body else interested in doin some gold searchin


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## David Parker

Enjoying the  stories and info.  Quality thread


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## TheGuyWithTheGun

If you are in alpharetta Lake Altoona is reasonably close. I have panned sixes creek and found flakes/flour gold. Not nearly enough to pay for lunch but it is cool to see color. Heading north won't net you much but a large gas bill and disappointment. Well that's all it ever did for me. Also I use a Garret gravity trap and I love it! Just a little info.


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## TheGuyWithTheGun

Come on y'all, I know someone else has some good stories. Anyone ever found it I'n a place you wouldn't expect? South Ga? VillaRica? Any place???


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## lagrangedave

When I was a boy scout we toured the rose quartz mine close to Lagrange. At that time (many years ago) the largest ever nugget found in Georgia was on display there.


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## 7MAGMIKE

irocz2u said:


> widest  gold belt  in ga  runs  threw paulding   ....  gold  still  in ga



This vein runs from Dahlonega to Villa Rica.  From what I hear it is not economical to mine.  I would like to try panning.  I've heard of a man who lives off his find.


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## Gary Mercer

When we moved to Peachtree City in the 70s, there was an Eastern Pilot that used to go off for a couple of days every time he got a chance.  Lived out of the back of an old Ford truck with a camper shell.  He would come home tired and happy every time.  He had a place he was prospecting or mining, that gave him a lot of gold.  
When Eastern went under, he sorta retired, and moved to somewhere in N. GA.  Said he would make a good living mining.
Never would share much more than that, but he showed me a lot of gold one time.


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## louieb57

I have some land that backs up to clear creek near Ellijay. Do yall thank it could be any gold in that area


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## redneck_billcollector

greg_n_clayton said:


> The local USFS guys told me I could use my hand held (portable) sluice that came from Keene Eng.. Just nothing mechanical such as high bankers and dredges.



I got a warning ticket for using a keene sluice box....he said next time it wouldn't be a warning,,,,the publications also say sluices are not legal on fed lands in GA. Only pans.


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## shakey gizzard

louieb57 said:


> I have some land that backs up to clear creek near Ellijay. Do yall thank it could be any gold in that area



Gotta be a speck or two!


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## River Rambler

Rock Hopper said:


> If you are looking for a place to do some "recreational gold prospecting", there is a club in North GA that leases several properties on the Yahoola & Etowah Rivers near Dahlonega and Tesnatee Creek in Cleveland.  The dues are $20 a month and you can pan and dredge.  I have been a member for years and there is still plenty of gold to be found.  They even have "common operations" several times a year where everyone works together and splits the gold.  They also have coin shoots for the metal detectorists in the group.  Here is the link to the club's website.
> 
> www.weekendgoldminers.com



Interesting to read this. They don't have a monthly due now. It's well over a 1000 to be a lifetime member if I remember correctly....very interesting


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## MTMiller

Here is a google earth file that has many of the known gold mine locations.  Unzip the file and you'll see a .kmz google earth file.  Click on the mine you are interested in and it will give you some details.


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## REDBONE

*Gold*

Can anyone tell me what gold ore looks like ? Pics ?


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## hobbs27

MTMiller said:


> Here is a google earth file that has many of the known gold mine locations.  Unzip the file and you'll see a .kmz google earth file.  Click on the mine you are interested in and it will give you some details.



That is a neat file, thanks for sharing. I've stomped all over Dawson, Lumpkin counties. I see where man has been no matter how far back in the woods you go, either moon shining or digging for Gold. One thing I'm really interested in is the ditches that were dug out all along the sides of these ridges up here..I even have some on my property... What exactly were they used for in the mining process?


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## jbfitz

what happened to birdman 1?  I wanted to hear some stories!!!


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## Slingblade

REDBONE said:


> Can anyone tell me what gold ore looks like ? Pics ?



When panning, sluicing or dredging you will find placer gold.  The placer gold you are going to find in Georgia looks like gold.  It will maintain the same buttery color whether it is in the sun or shade, whereas fools gold will have a much shinier almost brassy appearance in the sun but not in the shade.  
Hard rock mining is the process where tunnels are dug or rock is blasted out then sent to a crusher where the rocks are pretty much crushed into a powder and the gold is extracted from the crushed medium.  
This is where the assayers came into the whole mining process; they would be brought a rock from the "prospect area" and would determine the amount of gold per ton of rock and the miner would decide if he wanted to work it or not.

Below is an example of some North Georgia gold


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## Sweetwater

Sorry for the blurry pic..was trying to get  a close up with the camera phone.


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## donald-f

That is a nice pan of gold!


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## Dr. Strangelove

I need to get my old pan out again, I used to keep it in my trout vest and use it when the fish weren't biting.  

I found enough flakes to keep in a jar just messing around N GA back 20 years ago or so, a house guest relived me of that jar once upon a time.  This thread might just get me back in the game...


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## dotties cutter

For a year and a half I lived at Araria outside Dahlonega and down the hill from the old hotel just off  Hurricane creek near the river and not far from Cane creek. The oldtimer that got me into panning always said "gold is where you find it" and it was. I spent almost all my spare time enjoying the creek, the wildlife, the fishing and mostly the panning for gold. The first couple times I went panning I found nothing but after I got the hang of it I would get a little color in every pan. Those are days I will remember always.


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## Fred_Duce

Any more good stories?


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## Gary Mercer

Birdman, you keep the gold stories coming.  Wish I had started before I got so old, but I enjoy them none- the-less.
Gary


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## birddog52

Yes still gold in ga old gold mines scattered evreywher in the gold one i know about in mcduffie county on some private land next clark hill wma


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## Walker44

Plaque at the Town Square in Dahlonega says " there's still gold in them hills "    Rumor claims that 90 % of the deposits are still untapped


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## Cullen Bohannon

I pan fairly often, but have yet to really get any nuggets or placer.  What I find extremely irritating, is all the mica around here.  It glimmers just enough to get one squinting and wondering.  Talk about getting your hopes up!

I've found a little way south of here, embedded in quartz.  I crushed the quartz down until it was fine, but I couldn't find a way to extract the tiny bit of gold out of the powdery "sand".  Not gonna resort to using mercury or arsenic (?), and I didn't think there was enough in there to spend any more effort on it.


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## Cullen Bohannon

I found this today, in my neck of the woods:


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## Dr. Strangelove

Cullen Bohannon said:


> I found this today, in my neck of the woods:
> 
> View attachment 776981



Now that's cool.


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## The mtn man

Cullen Bohannon said:


> I found this today, in my neck of the woods:
> 
> View attachment 776981



Where is that, I'm just a few miles from you.


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## dotties cutter

At Araria I lived on a cliff and at the bottom of the cliff was a old gold mine and for a few weeks each year you can get some of the biggest bull frogs from that mine. What do they have to do with gold? Why, you fry them up golden brown and sit at the table and ENJOY.


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## Cullen Bohannon

cklem said:


> Where is that, I'm just a few miles from you.



About 5 miles from downtown Blairsville.


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## Wander

Ok this thread hits on several topics that I have a lot of interest in.  Unfortunately some CRS (can't remember stuff)
has crept in on some of these and I cant remember some but I will stumble through I those that I don't.
1. The gold band actually two of them run parallel through north Georgia from Alabama to NC one basically on top of the other.  
2. Lake Lanier actually covers up some of what was very good gold mining/placers areas.
3. Here is where my CRS kicks in.  The story of the Confederate Seal.  Upon Jefferson Davis fleeing Virginia at the fall of the Confederacy one of the items that was with his party was a huge solid gold seal of the Confederacy.  He crossed the river at the town of  (I believe Danville)  supposedly the Union was chasing them and the seal was thrown down a well and never recovered.  That town  no longer exists due to the - I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -ing of the Tugalo to create lake Hartwell.
4.  Another story of loose Confederate Gold coins exists in the book "White Columns of Georgia".  Although this book is very dubious as I am very aware of the history of Traveler's Rest and their is a really shall we say bogus story in the book about this house being attacked by indians.


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## Jranger

I use to visit Coopers Creek a good bit as a young man. We would always run into a guy up there in a beat up van. We never saw where he was panning, but he showed me a 35mm film canister slap full of gold. I'm sure it wasn't the only one he had either. I asked the DNR guy about it and he knew the old fella and said it was legal and legit... I never did make it up there to mess around, but I've had a pan for years and a yearning to put it to work here around Paulding...


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## shakey gizzard

Fred_Duce said:


> Any more good stories?



"I snagged a dredger(the diver) with a roostertail," accidentally "of course!


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