Intelligence and Miscellanies. 361 



lessor Olmsted,* at only one thousand square miles. Since 

 that time, successive discoveries have extended it over the 

 counties of Guilford, Chatham, Rowan, Davidson, and over 

 the adjacent counties of South Carolina. Indeed, very re- 

 cent observations have carried it westward more than one 

 hundred miles from the original mine of Cabarras, to the 

 very base, and even among the valleys of the Biue Ridge. 

 The following letter, from D. Reinhardt, Esq. of Lincoln- 

 ton, in the vi^estern part of North Carolina, addressed to 

 Professor Olmsted, of Yale College, contains the most recent 

 accounts we have seen of the new discoveries of gold in that 

 region. 



" Lincolnton, N. C. June 4, 1S29. 



" Dear Sir — I suppose you have seen some statements in 

 the newspapers, respecting the recent discoveries of Gold in 

 this section of country, and will excuse the liberty I take in 

 offering you a few additional particulars. 



" In the course of last summer, an old man who had wor- 

 ked the mines in Cabarras, found some small parcels of 

 gold in Rutherford county, between First snd Second Broad 

 Rivers. In the month of March last, near the same place, 

 a few more specimens were found. Of these I purchased to 

 the valueof thirty seven dollars. Shortly afterwards, similar 

 discoveries were made in rapid succession, near the South 

 Mountains, and on each side of them, in the counties of Ruth- 

 erford and Burke.t So well were those rewarded who search- 

 ed for gold, that in a short time, all the common laborers 

 were engaged in digging for it ; and one dollar's worth of 

 gold to the hand per day, was thought to be only tolera- 

 ble business.| Companies were soon formed, and lands that 



* See this Journal, Vol. IX. 



t At the base of the Blue Ridge, on the east, lie the counties of Rutherford, 

 Burke, and Wilkes, in each of which the face of the country is very uneven, 

 being traversed by numerous spurs of the Alleghany mountains. The coun- 

 ty of Lincoln lies still farther east, and is less broken, but is remarkably distin- 

 guished for the abundance, variety, and excellence of its iron ores, vs^hich are, 

 to some extent, manufactured into castings, and bar iron. The South Moun- 

 tains above mentioned, are seen on the west, from the village of Lincolnton, 

 presenting a grand and interesting outline. All the foregoing counties lie 

 westward of the Catawba river, beyond which it was not supposed until recent- 

 ly, that the gold country extended. — 0. 



t This amount is obtained by merely collecting the earth in small parcels, 

 and washing it by hand. — 0. 



Vol. XVI.— No. 2. 19 



