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FARMERS' REGISTER— GOLD REGION OF VIRGINIA. 



course of a few years we expect to see it execute, 

 will place it at an infinite distance from all other 

 efforts of mechanical genius. — Letters on Natural 

 Magic, in the Family Library. 



THE GOLD REGIOJV OF VIRGINIA. 



The Rail Road Journal accompanies the following 

 piece with a map of the gold region which it is unne- 

 cessary to offer to our readers who are acquainted with 

 the geography of this part of Virginia, and who have 

 access to larger and better maps. It is sufficient to 

 copy the list of the mines now worked, and to add 

 more full descriptions of their several localities. 



The greater number of mines opened are in one 

 neighborhood, through which passes the Rappahannock 

 River and its principal tributaiy the Rapid Ann, and 

 near their junction. These are. 



The United States Gold Mine, Spottsylvania county. 



Rappahannock 



Rattlesnake 



Culpepper 



Millbank 



Virginia 



Vaucluse 



Liberty 



Union 



Millville 



I. Payne's 



Greenwood 



Stafibrd " 



do. " 



Culpepper " 



do. " 



Orange " 



do. 

 Tauquier " 



do. " 



Orange " 



do. 

 Spottsylvania " 



(head waters of 



On both sides of the North Anna 

 York River) are, 



Johnson's mine, " Spottsylvania " 



Dixon's " do. " 



Tinder's " Louisa. " 



On the north side of James River, 



The Goochland mine Goochland county. 



And on the south side, 



Booker's mine " Buckingham county. 



The remainder of the article from the Rail Road 

 Journal and from Mr. Shepherd's report, is copied be- 

 low. 



This map exhibits a condensed view ot the gold 

 region of Virginia, and is taken from a larger one 

 belonging to Mr. F. Shepherd, of New-Haven, 

 who has spent some monlhs in surveying and ex- 

 ploring this interesting portion of our country. 

 We say interesting, because the amount of gold 

 annually obtained in the United States, is estimated 

 in millions of dollars; and this amount is rapidh' 

 increasing when, comparatively speaking, the 

 surface only of the ground has been disturbed in 

 getting this precious metal. 



We learn from Mr. S. that the undue excite- 

 ment which, the first discovery of gold creates in 

 the minds of all classes, is now at an end in Virgi- 

 nia, and the business of gettmg gold is assuming 

 a settled and systematic character. The farmer 

 now goes on with his farnjing, and the exjjerienced 

 miner with his mining, and in this way each is 

 mutually an aid to the other. 



As to the richness of the Virginia ores, Mr. S. 

 has given us full satisfaction, by simply pounding 

 them in a mortar and washing away the sand in 

 our presence, when, to our surprise, a large pro- 



portion of metallic gold appeared in numerous and 

 beautiful grains, and this, too, fi-oni specimens 

 which had no gold visible on the outside. 



The tbl lowing is an extract Irom the report of 

 Mr. Shepherd: 



"I am decidedly of opinion that Virginia is des- 

 tined, sooner or later, to become a rich and pros- 

 perous mining country; that whenever skill and 

 capital shall be judiciously applied, (in the language 

 of an able and beautiful writer,) she will one day 

 be to the country what Cornwall is to England, 

 the seat of prodigious industry, and the source of 

 individual and national wealth. 



In coming to this conclusion I do not lose sight 

 of the great natural advantages Avliich Virginia 

 possesses over other mining districts in the United 

 States, and throughout the world. It will be seen 

 by the map that by a little more than half a day's 

 ride, any one can be transported from the city of 

 AVashington on the Potomac, to the gold mines on 

 the Rappahannock, on the banks of a beautiful 

 river made navigable by locks and dams, a dis- 

 tance often miles to tide-water and steamboat navi- 

 gation, commencing at Fredericksburg, which is a 

 busy inland town, at all seasons supplying a plen- 

 tillil market. Add to this the very low price of 

 provisions and labor, the vast abundance of wood 

 and timber, the great number of water powers 

 easily created upon the numerous streams, the 

 peculiarity of the soil and earth as affording facili- 

 ties ibr excavation, (since steam is now applied to 

 all kinds of digging,) and finally the beautiful de- 

 velopement of the rich gold veins, said by those 

 who have been observers in both countries, by far 

 to excel Mexico, South America, or even Russia, 

 so much celebrated of late for her gold mines. 

 These veins are composed of quartz commonly 

 called white flint, Iro.m one to four feet in thick- 

 ness, generally perpendicular in the earth like a 

 wall, supported on both sides by soft taicose slate, 

 and extend from the surface to an unknown depth. 

 It is not uncommon to find gold in the broken 

 fragments of the veins at the surliice, and it has 

 also been found at the depth of 160 feet increasing- 

 ly rich. The gold district lies in that part of Vir- 

 ginia between the tide- water and Blue Ridge, 

 where the atmosjihere is dry and exhilerating, the 

 climate mild and affreeable, the water well tasted 

 and pure, the inhabitants of that class so long and 

 so justly famed for their hospitahty and refinement, 

 and for whose convenience, the great National or 

 Southern Rail Road is about to pass by them as it 

 were at their thresholds. 



Still, with all these natural and extraordinary- 

 advantages, Ifeel it my dutjr, continues Mr. Shep- 

 herd, to give my friends and lellow-citizens of 

 New England, a few words of advice by way of 

 caution. That there is a v-ery large amount of 

 gold in the great state of Virginia, and that this 

 large amount of gold may be extracted so as to 

 afford a large profit, is clear to a demonstration; 

 and I believe that this section of our coimtry is 

 worthy tlie attention of northern enterprise and 

 capital. Yet it frequently happens that many 

 jicrsons have an idea that wherever gold is dis- 

 covered, if thev can but get possession of the lands, 

 no matter at what price, their fortune is made for 

 a certainty. This foolish impression has ruined 

 many a man. The temptation is so great that 

 where a person wishes to sell his land as gold land, 

 and cannot find gold upon it, in order to effect hi« 



