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84 THE SOUTHERN WORLD. DECEMBER 3,1882. HOLD PRODUCTION IN OEOBOIA. [See Illustrations on front pace.) Among the many branches of industry partially or entirely neglected during the depression of recent years, which are now claiming the attention of capitalists, is that of gold mining in the old mining regions of Northern Georgia. The central point of this interest is the little town of Dahlonega, in Lumpkin county, although the gold-producing terri tory is spread through several counties of the State, and a considerable population make a scant living by washing over the sur face dirt around Morganton in Western North Carolina, the receipts of the branch United States Mint at Charlotte from this source being considerable. The system pursued in Georgia at the present time is, however, upon a vastly more elaborate scale than that adopted by the cradle-shakers of Carolina. Costly ‘‘plant” for the reduction of the low-grade ore is lo cated at several points in the immediate vi cinity of Dahlonega, and an extensive sys tem of water supply has been perfected by a specially organized company. Gold exists in this region to such an ex igent that one may ‘‘pan out" the roadside dirt anywhere along his way and find ‘‘color.” "Pockets," however, are not fre quent, though it is stated that John C. Cal houn, who resided just across the Carolina line, not far away, once worked out a mod erate fortune within a week, through the labor of his slaves in one of the gulches. Dahlonega was a mining center before Sut ter’s discovery in California turned the tide of emigration and adventure toward the Golden Gate; and only two years since the old building, once a mint of the government, and later a military school, was destroyed by fire. Chance, not long since, threw the writer into the company of a gentleman upon a south-bound train of the Piedmont Air-Line Railroad, whose statements awakened a long expressed but half forgotten desire to see the workings at Dahlonega. This gentleman was Col. N. H. Hand, to whose untiring in dustry and faith in the results is chiefly due the activity to be seen there to-day. The pretty Southern town of Gainesville, Georgia, is the point at which parties des tined for Dablohega leave the cars. The project of a narrow-gauge railroad has been agitated for the past two years, and it is now not far from a reality. The regulation South ern means of travel, the saddle, is .found requisite, and to the equestrian the ride of twenty-five miles over the hilly wilds of Northern Georgia is an exhilerating and welcome experience. The horses are sure footed, long-winded and sportive, the moun tain air bracing, and the day all that is per fect in nature. Steep hills are climbed, and rivers forded where the swift waters all but carry our steeds off their feet. Long leafy vistas of smooth dirt road tempt us to full gallop, and broken ridges threaten to break our necks. It is nearly night when we look down the rich valley of the Chestatee River, with its sparse farms along its slopes, and see Dahlonega in the distance. And now for the mines. Early the next morning our well-groomed steeds are brought out into the grass-grown square, where a di lapidated temple of justice fills the center, and soon after breakfast our tour of the re gion begins, under the leadership of a super intendent of the leading corporation. At the distance of half a mile from town a mon ster inverted syphon is seen, conducting the water supply, brought twenty miles by the Hand Ditch, down and up the steep sides of a wide valley. The ruins of a costly wooden structure built by the predecessors of the present company for the same purpose, are to be seen, a monument of a notable lack of engineering skill. It Boon becomes evident to the new comer that the chief factor of suc cess in this region is water. Water tears out the rock and compost from the dlfls, drifts it down to the bins in front of the stamps, turns the wheels of the heavy milling ma chinery, and washes the pulverized rock over the plates where the amalgam catches each little particle of the precious ore. At one point the water accumulates all day in a res ervoir at the bead of a precipitous canon, and after the day’s work is done all of the loosened rock in the quarry, often fifty or ■I rty tons in weight, is flooded by a sudden, impetuous and irresistible freshet down through the troughs and into the jaws of the waiting mills. By such economic employ ment of the forces of nature, the reduction of the rock containing but a very small per centage of gold is made profitable. In the soft earth at the foot of the cascades the mountaineers stand knee-deep, pick or pan in hand, working among the boulders for the ore, which is thrown into troughs leading down a winding valley to the stamps. The writer wears proudly as a scarf- pin a bit of pure gold, worth perhaps three dollars, which turned up in bis first "pan” —a piece of exceptional luck, however, which must not be taken as a basis of calcu lation. Within the stamp-mill the monotonous pounding of the iron-shod pestles as they are lifted and dropped by the cams upon the shaft of the “battery" is almost deafening to unaccustomed ears. The rough masses of ore are thrown into the machine with shov els, and the unfailing water, trickling down through the pasty mass, carries it over the gently-sloping zinc-lined planes where the vigilant quicksilver is spread. At stated in tervals this is scraped dff and the quicksilver dissipated in a retort, leaving a button of pure gold as a result. Referring to notes made at the time, the following facts are given for the benefit of the reader, who is, however, strongly ad vised to look well before he leaps, should he be tempted *to invest in the hazardous but enchanting occupation of the gold-seeker. A twenty-stamp mill can crush about forty tons of ore per day, or say twelve thousand tons per annum. The ore has been found to average about $7 per ton, and as the running expenses, repairs, interest, etc., of a mill of this capacity are not greater than $1 per ton, the profits per annum are $72,000. Should these figures, however, prove fallacious, through unforeseen disasters, by which the mill is stopped a portion of the year, it Will still be seen that after the labor and cost of starting a mill where a supply of good aver age rock is convenient, the chances for band- some earnings are very fair. Aside from this, large quantities of “free gold" are col lected from the sluice-ways leading to the mill, in some instances the revenue from this source exceeding that of the stamps. The nature of the ore is a micaceous gold- bearing slate, greatly decomposed, and streaked with quartz veins. Several extensive companies, organized in New York and Philadelphia, control mostof the avalable lands, but there are a number of lesser enterprises, and a recent letter, re ceived from a gentlemaa at Dahlonega, re ports that all of the old concerns are doing well and the new are hopeful. It is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain any credible data as to the total amount of the Georgia gold production per annum. Some of the companies maintain strict reti cence as to the results of their labors, but it is beyond a doubt that ore reduction has been placed upon a good business basis, and while the industry may suffer reverses through the discredit of bogus companies, the writer knows from visual evidence that theie is gold in the Georgian hills, and that it can be made to “pan out,” under judicious manage ment, with adequate capital, so that ample returns will be realized from the investment. In the illustration on our front page, our artist has presented several characteristic features of the mining industry of Georgia. In No. 1 is shown the process of hydraulic mining; in No. 2, a.gold mill on the river Chestatee; in No. 3, the method of “flooding down” the'ore. Of the remaining sketches No. 4 represents one of the rude but pictur esque homes in which the miners live; No. S, the implements used in prospecting, and No. 6 a twenty-stamp mill of the kind re ferred to in the foregoing article. The Atlanta Oomtitutum says that fifteen minutes before Governor Stephens was in augurated, Governor Colquitt’s office was in vaded by Colonel A. H. Moore and an Eng lish mining expert. The object of the visit of the gentlemen on Georgia’s Chief Magis trate was to get him as Governor of the State to attest to the correctness of the signatures ot the county court officers of Forsyth county, whioh was attached to a deed for four hundred acres of land lying in Forsyth county. The deed which was thus certified to, by the court and county officers and the Governor of the State with great seal of the State affixed, was from Major A. H. Moore, of this State to a syndicate of capitalists in England, and the consideration was one mil lion pounds sterling. As the history ot the man bringing about this result is one of exceeding interest, we give it as published by the Gorutitution: Col. A. H. Moore was a Confederate soldier during the war, and had his attention then directed to the gold fields of North Goergia. After the war he became interested in the milling of ores in Jersey City and there be came an expert in the metalurgy of gold om. His first experiment in Georgia was in river mining in the Chattahochee river, and after losing $10,000 he became convinced that the big profits in Georgia mining was to go into the hills and find the virgin ore that had not been worked. He next made quite a number of discour aging experiments. His first purchase was the McClesky mine in Hall county. This was a segregated vein and although the ore was worth $20 per ton, be found that it would not pay to work it on account of its refractory character, in containing a large amount of sulphur and other base minerals that could not be successfully separated from the gold. After experimenting with other mines, be found that all or nearly all of the gold ore in Georgia was pregnant with sul phur, and as yet no processor invention had been found to separate the gold from the sulphur. He then temporarily abandoned mining, but having a firm conviction that the Georgia ores were richer than any he had ever seen or beard of he felt Bure that sooner or later some process would be discovered to sulphurise the gold the most and make Geor gia mines valuable in the world. Instead of sinking more money in working mines, he put what loose cash he had in buying op tions on lands containing gold, being par ticular to choose only such lands as he knew to be in the gold belt or where there were evidences of a continued rein of gofd. After buying options on the gold fields, he would sink shafts and cut tunnels sufficient to as certain definitely the length, breadth and depth of the veins intersecting the land he owned options upon. Having waited with out avail for years for some one to make an invention that would separate the two min erals, he determined to save the money he had put in options by finding a man to in vent some machine or process for separating the gold from the sulphur. He entered into a compact with 8. W. Bullock, the inventor of a cotton press, hay press and printing press, promising him a rich reward if they they could discover some method of desulphurizing the gold which he owned in such large quantities, and which was, comparatively speaking, valueless They united their interests and shared a common home; spending years and from $50,000 to $75,J00 in experiments and manu facturing different machines for separating the sulphur and other base metals from the gold. They come within a hair’s breadth of success a half a dozen times and did finally succeed in separating enough gold from sul phurated ore to put the mines on a paying basis—that is so that working them they could make a fair percent, on the money in vested in opening and working the mines, but not being content to work on where he lost more gold than he saved, they only worked the mines enough to test machinery they were experimenting with and to get money to carry on experiments. During this time Colonel Moore and his associates were broke half of the time. Often when necessary to have money he would have to sell some mine to make a raise. This money he would put into options of gold bearing land and in machinery to work other mines and to experiment with. While struggling in Georgia he had quite a number of very advantageous offers to go West and elsewhere and take charge of other mines. His faith in Georgia mines being the richest in the world never flagged for a moment, not even when ruin stared him boldly in the face, and adversity met him at every turn and drove him from his home and almost into bankruptcy. Just as they thought success was about to crown their ef forts Mr. Bullock died. Nothing daunted by this disaster, before he had ceased mourning for his dead friend and associate be commenced looking for a fit man to finish the work that Bullock had be gun. Speaking of Dr. Charles, Colonel Moore said: " Early in 1881 I met Dr. S. Frederick Charles in Forsyth county, a high ly educated German, who graduated as a mining engineer, in Bavaria, and had prac tical experience in mining in the Hartz mountains. I found bis case a very similar one to mine. He came to this country about 80 years ago and located in North Carolina where he became interested and made money outofa'North Carolina mine. During the war as a surgeon in the Con federate service, he found the ores of North Georgia much richer than those he was work ing in North Carolina. After the war he sold out in North Carolina and moved to Forsyth county. His first work in Georgia was to prepare a report on the character and value of a copper mine owned by Senator Joe Brown and situated near Canton in Cherokee county. He found, as I did, that Georgia ores, while they contained more gold than any ores be had worked with, were compara tively valueless unless some process could be found to desulphurize the gold, and in stead of working the ore as he intended when he moved to Georgia, he bought a farm and fitted up in his country home a laboratory containing every appurtenance known to science for analysis of gold ores, and had been for years devoting bis whole time and brain to the discovery of some process to sep arate the gold from the sulphur. I told him of the experiments made and results ob tained by Mr. Bullock and myself. He see ing that 1 was thoroughly interested in the subject we allied our interests. In a very short time after this his efforts culminated in the discovery of a process that settledYhe knotty problem, and we, by experiments found, saved double the gold we had by the old process, and at a very slight additional expense per ton in working the ore - through the agency of electricity and the use of silver cloths—he desulphurized the gold close to a fine assay. I at once took an option on the invention which we called the 'Charles pro cess,' and bad it patented. I also bought at the same time by option what is known as the ‘ Charles mine ’ near Frog Town on Eto wah river. I then made arrangements to use this process at the McDonough and Franking mines which I owned in conjunction with a syndicate of capitalists in Philadelphia. The process increased the value of these mines ten-fold. Before the invention of this pro cess these mines could not have been sold for a half a million, now they are stocked at ten million dollars and none of the stock is for sale. The ten stamp mill that we had been i experimenting with, is now earning from $3,000 to $5,000, but the company have al ready contracted for and are putting up a 300 stamp mill with all modern improve ments which will in the same ratio increase the earnings from $90,000 to $150,000 per month. As soon as practicable we will again inci^ase the number of stamps. There is absolutely no end to the ore in these mines. We have actually built a dam of gold. Every rock in the dam with which we have built across the Etowah river contains more gold than any California ore I ever saw except pocket ore. We built our dam of gold bear ing ore because it was the most available rock we could find and there was no possi bility of exhausting the supply. In March of this year I met in New York Don Carlos Butterfielcban Englishman, who was in this country r$jm!senting a syndicate of English capitalists, who wanted to invest - in American mines. Hearing that I was 1 from the South andacquainted with Georgia i mines, he told me his business. I told him I had a mine in Forsyth county, Georgia, that was noton the market, but I would sell if I could get my price. lie asked for a des cription of it and the price. I bad with me a detailed description of the mine, its loca tion, with maps giving profiles of different veins, their length, breadth and character, and at random named my price at five mil lion dollars. I came south thinking little of our convert sation, in a short time I received, through an English lawyer in New York, a proposi tion in substance: that English experts would be sent to examine my mine, known as the Charles mine in Forsyth county, Geor gia, and if the mine was not as represented I should forfeit six hundred sovereigns, if it was as represented and they did not buy at one million pounds sterling, they would fol felt five thousand sovereigns. These forfeit ure being made to cover the expenses of the experts coming here, and my expenses in opening the mines, so as to show, os I said I would, one million tons of ore in sight, av eraging os rich as specimens sent. I signed this agreement and returned it, receiving in a few days a telegram stating my proposition had been accepted. I then re-opened 3,000 feet of tunnels, cutting the veins and expos ing over four million tons of ore. The experts came and were satisfied and the trade was consummated. Two weeks ago my attorney received ten per cent, through Mr. Butterfield and the lawyer em ployed by the English company who de ducted commissions and expenses from that sum and asked that the deeds to property be sent on so that the trade could be consum mated according to agreement. The deeds were made out according to their specifica tions with the court of county officers signa ture and seal attested by the governor with the seal of the State of Georgia attachid. As soon as the deeds are delivered I get 33% per cent, of one million pounds and the balance Is to be paid in one year, and is properly se cured. Dahlonega Signal: The Fish-trap Mill is running on ore from the Moore cut. The foundation for a 60-stamp mill is being laid for the Keystone Company. The water ditch to supply^he mine is 15}$ miles long. 4