262 Letter from JV. Thornton, Esq. 



flouritli in a very kixuriant manner, and red clover, with 

 p]aister oi-' Paris for a manure, grows astonishingly. 



Before I mention the gold runs, it may be proper to ob- 

 serve that the healing springs are surrounded within the 

 distance of half a inije by the company's land. These are 

 powerfully chalybeate, and were resorted to from various 

 parts of the country, a? well as South Carolina, not only on 

 account of the tonic virtues of the water, but also in con- 

 sequence of the salubrity of the air and healthiness of the 

 country. From the number who have visited these springs 

 this summer, (the first) it is imagined they v.ill be much re- 

 sorted to hereafter. 



This wajj one of the most unfavourable seasons I could 

 have selected for an examination of the runs for gold. They 

 were dry, like most of those we passed in Virginia and North 

 .Carolina; indeed so dry that no examination could be made 

 of them for gold but with great trouble, as it was necessary 

 to carry the sand and gravel in small portions, sometimes 

 above a mile, before water could be found; and what gold 

 was obtained was principally found bv washing the gravel 

 and sand where there was water, rather than by searching 

 for the gold where there were indications ; and though this 

 was the case, I did not see a single frying-pan full of gravel 

 and sand washed withotit gold being found therein. Some 

 fine specimens were thus obtained, one about two penny- 

 weights, and ?ome smaller : but after we had obtained about 

 twenty dollars worth, we were prevented from proceeding by 

 the want of water to wash for more — though, from what I 

 saw, I am of opinion we might have got some hundred dol- 

 lars worth in a very short distance if the branch had not 

 dried up. While we were engaged in washing for gold, 

 Mr. Love, one of the proprietors of the adjoining mine of 

 Mr'. Read, on washing some of our gravel and sand, in 

 which he found gold, said in my hearing, that he really 

 thought our prospect as good as theirs. They have only 

 four hundred acres ; and though it is said they have obtained 

 between thirty and forty thousand dollars worth of gold from 

 this small place, they value it still at one hundred thousand 

 dollars. We possess thirty-five thousand acres at least ! 



The 



