Georgia Gold Rush - Aftermath

Aftermath

By the early 1840s, most of the “easy” gold had been found, and efforts began to shift to working the known deposits. When news of the California Gold Rush reached Georgia, many miners moved west in search of more gold. The assayer of the Dahlonega Mint tried to convince them to stay. However, even with the departure of many miners, the mines in the Georgia Gold Belt continued to produce gold for years. There were some 500 mines in 37 different counties. It is estimated that Georgia produced about 870,000 troy ounces (24,000 kg) of gold between 1828 and the mid-20th century, when commercial gold production ceased.

Before they were expelled, the Cherokees gained enough gold-mining experience to participate in later gold rushes in California in 1849 and Colorado in 1859. Cherokee gold miners gave the name to the town of Cherokee, California, as well as to a number of other geographic features in the California gold-mining region.

Experienced gold miners from Georgia played key roles in the beginning of gold mining in Colorado. Georgia gold miners Lewis and Samuel Ralston, along with some displaced Georgia Cherokees, noticed placer gold near the present site of Denver on their way to the new California gold fields in 1850. They returned east in 1857, having failed to strike it rich, but remembered the gold just east of the Rocky Mountains. William Greeneberry Russell led a party of Cherokees and Georgia gold miners back to Colorado in 1858, and began placer mining along the South Platte River in present-day Denver. Other Georgians founded Auraria, Colorado, named after the gold-mining town in Georgia. Auraria merged with Denver soon after, but the neighborhood is still known as Auraria. The town of Golden, Colorado is named after Georgia miner Thomas L. Golden. Another Georgia gold miner, John H. Gregory, discovered the first lode gold in Colorado in 1859.

In 1864, four prospectors known as "the Georgians" found one of the early gold placers in Montana, at Last Chance Gulch. The site became the state capital of Helena, Montana.