The issue of the gold rush in Georgia is highlighted in a number of scientific articles, mainly because of its importance in general understanding of the reasons why people, having neglected everything, put much effort in order to succeed in this field, how it started and what the consequences of such rush were.
Among the most known books devoted to Georgia’s history, in particular to the Gold Rush in this region, we need to mention Sawyer’s work ‘Northeast Georgia: A History’, which was aimed at comprehensive analysis of different historical events, happened in Georgia. Also, the author per se claims that his book differs from the similar ones, which do not fully explore the history of Georgia or there are only focus on a plantation culture, the Civil War, and an agrarian economy, but there aren’t such necessary elements as the Cherokee Indians, traders buying buckskins, the Trail of Tears, the gold rush etc. (Sawyer p.6)
Perhaps, such contribution makes his work important and necessary to be analyzed in context of Georgia Gold Rush, since it is not built on certain stereotypes about the region as well as the attention is put on different processes taking place in the region, which help to understand the history of Georgia from the neutral and unbiased point of view.
As in many other similar works, the author starts the analysis of the Gold Rush from the beginning, namely from the gold discovery. The author writes: ‘In 1828, several discoveries of gold took place in North Georgia, almost simultaneously. Probably the most widely reported was when Benjamin Parks went deer hunting and kicked a rock. When he picked it up, it was solid yellow’ (Sawyer p.34). Simultaneously the other exploration of gold took place and that happened in White County, near Loudsville (p.34).
Even though the ‘official discovery’ of gold occurred in 1828, the gold rush started a year ago thanks to the activity of newspapers and merely by the word-of-mouth. However, the ‘rushers’ met such problem as the possession of the lands by the Indians, who did not want to both leave the lands and cooperate. Before the conflict occurred the U.S. army was trying to prevent it, having moved to the territory of Georgia. Though, it did not give any positive results.
In order to resolve such conflict the Georgia’s government took necessary actions aimed at legalization of new owners’ proprietary rights, namely by providing so-called Landing Lottery of 1832., which led to establishment of new order on ‘golden’ territories. Also, the author demonstrates the negative consequences of such action, namely the necessity for all the Indians, who used to be the owners of the lands previously, to leave them. ‘The Trail of Tears began and 13,000 Indians were removed from their homelands, having been paid for this $ 5 million’ (p.37).
The Indians’ removal was the basis for new gold rush, for which there were no limits anymore, which had been flourishing till 1940s. Among the most successful projects in Georgia in the field of extracting of the gold was Dahlonega, a branch mint, approved by U.S. government, which only during the first year of functioning benefited the owners for $ 100, 000, and by the time it was closed 1,500,000 gold coins have been produced (p.37).
Later, the traditional type of gold mining decline, and the possibility to extract gold was given to different companies, ‘including Cherokee Mining Company, Chestatee Mining Company, Lumpkin County Mining’ (p.38), which made it possible for the gold industry to exist in the region.
Sawyer’s book demonstrate the impartial estimation of the Gold Rush events in Georgia with demonstration of the negative consequences of such process, namely the mandatory act obliging the Indians to leave their native lands, the perspective decline of such industry etc.
The classical book in the field of Georgia Gold Rush is Yeates’ ‘Gold Deposits of Georgia’. In this work, in contrast to the previously analyzed, the accent is put more on the statistics and regions, in which the gold extraction was more popular and typical. The description of the gold mining processes is started with the quotation of that time Governor Gilmer, who stated: ‘"l am in doubt, as to what ought to be done with the gold-diggers. They, with their various attendants, foragers and suppliers, make up between six and ten thousand persons. They occupy the country between the Chestatee and Etowah rivers, near the mountains, gold being found in the greatest quantity, deposited in the small streams, which flow into those rivers’ (Yetes p.30).
The work is necessary to be analyzed, since it, in contrast to many other books, is built on many statistical data, documents and other materials, the validity of which is obvious. Also, the author explains the detailed way how the gold was extracted, the landowners, the role of whom was the most significant during Gold Rush and so on.
Additionally, the writer had more possibilities to communicate with the people, who were somehow engaged in the late stages of gold rush in Georgia, since his work was published at the end of the 19th century.
The discovery of gold on the Georgia’s territory is shown from more concrete analysis of the circumstance, under which it happened, namely ‘the first discovery of gold in the State was made on Duke's creek, Habersham county, in I829, even though It is currently reported, and generally believed, in Lumpkin county, that the first discovery of gold in the State was made, some months previous to the above date, on the Calhoun property, three miles south of Dahlonega. This early discovery is substantiated, by living witnesses; but, whether or not it antedates the Duke's creek find, is an open question’ (p.29). All in all, the writer claims that it was started in 1829.
Not paying attention to all the companies dealing with gold extraction, we can take an example of Dahlonega, which was discussed by the previously analyzed writer’s work as well. At first, the geographical location of Dahlonega is written.
It looks like a practical guide for those who want to find the greatest Georgian company. ‘Dahlonega may be reached by hack from Gainesville on the South- ,earn Railway, which, by the shortest route, is twenty-one miles distance; or, from Ellijay on the Atlanta, Knoxville & Northern R. R., by the same means, over a distance of about 30 miles. Good teams are to be had at both places, at reasonable hire’ (p.270).
The book is a detailed analysis of each Georgia region’s policy towards the gold rush: when some of them were open for all the miners, who came to their territory, the other regions merely monopolized the gold, located on their lands.
Hence, the two analyzed in this paper works are, in fact, completely different, because, of course, they were written in different periods of time. When in the first one we have seen the complex attitude towards the issue, comparison of different scientific positions, the second work deals with witnesses’ statements and personal author’s data. If we make a conclusion concerning the matter which work is more reliable, we should remember that history is built on complex analysis of the data given, so we have to search in both books the facts and to find out whether they correspond each other.
References
Sawyer, G. Northeast Georgia: A History Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2001. Print
Yeates W.S. et al, A Preliminary Report on a Part of the Gold Deposits of Georgia, Geological Survey of Georgia, Bulletin No. 4-A, 1896. Print
