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Georgia Gold Rush
Architect Richard Thornton is a member of an alliance of Creek, Choctaw and
Seminole scholars, who over the past seven years have been intensely studying
the heritage of the Muskogean peoples. Much of their activities have involved
re-examination of the archives of the early Spanish, English and French
exploration of the Southeastern United States. We have asked Richard to provide
AccessGenealogy with some of his work. As we add to these articles we will
also be providing a question and answer section for the reader to ask questions
of Richard.
In 1824 gold was officially
“re-discovered” in the Dukes Creek area of the Nacoochee
Valley. After word was slowly spread around the nation
about the large gold deposits by couriers and
newspapers, thousands of men from throughout the United
States rushed to the Georgia Mountains to seek their
fortune. They ignored the fact that the Nacoochee Valley
was within the sovereign territory of the Cherokee
Nation. The Cherokee population of the valley probably
number no more than a hundred. There was nothing they
could do. They were a beaten people.
The State of Georgia cleverly solved the problem by
sending formal notification to the Cherokee Nation’s
leaders that they had misunderstood the boundary line
and English of the 1793 Treaty. Georgia officials kindly
provided the Cherokees with new maps which showed the
Nacoochee, Dahlonega and Auraria gold fields to be east
of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokees didn’t understand
the whites’ obsession with gold or with mountain lands
containing very little bottom land. Very few of their
citizens lived in the gold fields, so they protested
very little. Thus, as of 1824, the Nacoochee Valley was
no longer in the Cherokee Nation.
The best gold mining locations in the Nacoochee Valley
were quickly gobbled up by corporations and partnerships
founded by wealthy coastal planters. Senator John C.
Calhoun was one of the biggest mine operators. The
mining conglomerates often hired Cherokees as workers.
These workers got live outside the boundaries of the
Cherokee Nation, and thus were considered citizens of
Georgia. Many of the people in the Nacoochee Valley, who
claim some Cherokee ancestry are descended from these
miners.
Some of the richest deposits were very close to the
Great Appalachian Valley where most of the Cherokees
were concentrated. Some violence did occur, though, as
miners discovered gold veins farther west. Whenever
there were problems, Georgia did its best to blame the
Cherokees and punish them. Many miners solved the
problem of mining land they didn’t own, but marrying
Cherokee women. That automatically gave them the right
to be inside the Cherokee Nation. Descendants of these
men who married to get Cherokee land, are probably the
largest group of Cherokee descendants in Georgia today.
One of the most common myths about the Cherokees that
one reads in books today is that the Trail of Tears
occurred because gold was discovered on Cherokee land.
Georgia grabbed the most productive gold lands almost
immediately after the rush began. It is true that some
of the Cherokee Nation was divided up into “gold lots”
and commercial gold mining operations continued until
the early 20th century. However, the main incentive of
sending the Cherokees out of the state was for coastal
planters to grab large tracts of fertile river
bottomlands in northwest Georgia to build plantations.
In 1848 word of the discovery of gold in northern
California reached the Georgia Mountains. A wagon train
of Georgia gold miners was preparing for the long trek
across the continent when the editor of the Dahlonega
Nugget newspaper went out on the courthouse square to
give a speech, which would persuade them to stay in
Georgia. He ended it with the statement that went
something like, “Stay here fellows! There is still gold
in those hills!”
Georgia gold miners taught the newcomers to California
how to mine gold. Many returned home wealthy enough to
build a plantation. Some returned home with nothing, or
died trying. Georgia gold miners were again the core of
the Colorado gold rush. Auraria, Colorado was named
after Auraria, Georgia.
The summer home era
From 1824 until the 1870s the Nacoochee Valley
essentially remained part of the frontier. Most of its
residents were yeoman farmers living in log houses. They
were more prosperous than most mountain farmers because
the soil was fertile and the climate temperate. However,
access to the valley was difficult from the south and
east, but almost impossible from the north and west.
Nearby Clarksville had been a resort since the 1780s.
That brought some cultural exposure to the locals, that
was not possible in many other parts of the Southern
Highlands.
Beginning immediately after the Civil War, northern
capitalists (known to Georgians at the time as
carpetbaggers) bought up hundreds of thousands of
mountain land at pennies per acre. As the South’s
economy began to recover, northern capitalists created
railroad companies to build “modern” transportation
access to the virgin forests they intended to harvest.
Soon, however, many of these businessmen began to see
the recreational potential of these mountains. They
promoted tourist attractions such as Tallulah Gorge and
the Nacoochee Valley. Once the valley could be reached
by train affluent Georgians built summer homes there
along a road than ran from the train station to
Clarksville.
The Nacoochee Valley remained the quiet abode of big
Victorian summer homes and quaint 1920ish cabins until
the 1970s. Four things completely changed the situation.
Atlanta’s population and affluence exploded. The
interstate highway system in northern Georgia was
completed. The movie, “Deliverance” was filmed near the
Nacoochee Valley. Finally, the dreams in the 1960s of
converting a saw mill town into an alpine village,
became a reality. All the world was driving to visit
Helen, but happened to notice the Indian mound with a
white gazebo on top.
Today, the old train station near the Nacoochee Mound is
empty again. It was moved a bit to get it away from the
highway and then went through a series of
not-so-successful occupants. Few corporate transplants
from Atlanta even realize that it was once a place where
generations of Georgians got off the steam locomotive
pulled passenger cars to the shouts of, “Mama, Daddy,
Let’s go picnic on the Nacoochee Mound!“
Chattahoochee River in the Nacoochee Valley
Notes About this Material
Source: Richard Thornton, an alliance of Muskogean scholars, professors and
professionals. Copyright Richard Thornton, Blairsville, GA, 2010. Used here with
permission.
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