What Happened to the Old MInes in the Southeast????

    The land in the south was privately owned when gold was found here... That's why there was never a mass "Rush" to find gold here. The folks who owned the land would shoot trespassers. The land in GA where they found gold... belonged to the Cherokee Nation (That's why it was called Cherokee county). The Federal Government took the land and put it up for draw... The Cherokee were sent to Oklahoma (Trail of Tears) and the public was able to flood in without any recourse from a landowner. In 1849 most of the Gold Miners left the eastern "Diggings" for the California gold fields. That's why Califorina was explored so quickly... The men who were exploring it had perfected their skills in the southeast.

     In the 1860's (when the Civil War started) All the able bodied men in the southern gold fields, were forced to abandon their mines and go to war. When they did this, they sealed their shafts and back filled their pits and trenches. The miners who were lucky enough to come home after the war were faced with a decision.... reopen their mines (while their states were being occupied by the Yankees) or leave them lost to history. They chose to let them be lost. The Yankee occupation (called "reconstruction" in your history books) lasted roughly 40 years. Most of the land owners lost their lands to back taxes during reconstruction. Those who did not die in the war... did not die during reconstruction... did not have their lands confiscated for delinqeunt taxes... and had an available labor source (slaves were no longer available).... MIGHT have made an attemp to reopen in the early 1900's, only to shut down again at the start of WWI. WWI not only took the miners but it also took their steel. The Southeastern gold industry never recovered. There are lots of "lost" or "hidden" or "forgotten" gold mines in the South. The last men to seriously mine it, died out with and shortly after the Civil War. They were "effectively forgotten" during reconstruction, because the locals didn't want the Yankees "stealing" their gold. No stories were told... no children were shown the locations. The old men died and their knowledge went with them. The modern Southeastern miner has very little valid information to go on... Pan every creek you cross... IT MAY HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN!!!