Georgia Gold Rush - Rush

Rush

No matter who made the gold discovery in 1828, the gold rush started in 1829 in Lumpkin County and began spreading rapidly. One of the first public accounts was on August 1, 1829, when the Georgia Journal (a Milledgeville newspaper), ran the following notice.

GOLD.—A gentleman of the first respectability in Habersham county, writes us thus under date of 22d July: "Two gold mines have just been discovered in this county, and preparations are making to bring these hidden treasures of the earth to use." So it appears that what we long anticipated has come to pass at last, namely, that the gold region of North and South Carolina, would be found to extend into Georgia.

This notice shows both that the gold rush had spread to Fulton County and that the people of Georgia were certainly aware of the other gold finds in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

Although much of the land on which the gold was found was under the control of the Cherokee Indians, mining operations quickly sprang up in Lumpkin, White, Union and Cherokee counties. In the early stages of the gold rush, the majority of the mining was placer mining. By 1830, historians estimate that there were 4,000 miners working on just the Yahoola Creek in Lumpkin County and over 300 ounces (8.5 kg) of gold per day was being produced in an area from north of Blairsville to the southeast corner of Cherokee County. Other estimates were that there were 6,000 to 10,000 miners between the Chestatee River and the Etowah River in 1831. Boom towns like Auraria and Dahlonega began to appear and Dahlonega was said to have supported 15,000 miners at the height of the gold rush. During this rapid influx of prospectors and settlers, tensions with the Cherokee began to rise. Before long, gold mines appeared in most counties in the North Georgia mountains, including Georgia's northeastern-most county, Rabun.

In 1832, Georgia held the Gold Lottery of 1832, which awarded land which was owned by the Cherokee to the winners of the lottery in 40-acre (16 ha) tracts. In 1838, the Dahlonega Mint was established in Dahlonega by the United States Congress as a branch mint of the United States Mint. This was a testimony to the amount of gold being produced in Georgia. The establishment of the Dahlonega Mint seemed to validate Georgia's actions in the early part of the century to seize Cherokee lands. The culmination of tensions between the Cherokee and various states, including Georgia, led to the forced migration of Native Americans, later known as the Trail of Tears.