24 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



luable vein mines, for when they worked until the gold 

 seemed to fail, they would come back and open into the 

 sides or banks of the ravine, guided by the gold, and at 

 last discover valuable bodies of gold ore. Many in- 

 stances of this kind are notorious in North Carolina and 

 Virginia. 



It has been calculated that not less than six millions 

 of dollars in gold have been extracted from the branch 

 gold mines of the United States, since the commence- 

 ment of mining operations ; the larger portion of the 

 gold finding its way, not to the mint, but abroad, and 

 being worked up for jewellery in the different parts of 

 the country. 



Three deposit mines in Georgia have alone furnished 

 half a million of dollars ; and if we look at the great 

 number of labourers employed, the vast extent of the 

 gold region, hundreds of miles in length, and the in- 

 creasing attention given to this subject, we need not be 

 surprized if the gold deposits of the United States yield 

 far larger returns than those of Brazil, Colombia or the 

 Urals, united. 



One singular geological fact, as also connected with 

 the history of the gold region and the aborigines, may 

 be cursorily noticed here : It is, that arrow heads and 

 other implements peculiar to the Indians of the Ameri- 

 can continent, are met with in the superincumbent strata 

 of these gold mine branches. They have been found at 

 various depths above the gravel, but never below it. 

 The greatest depth at which they have been met with 

 is twelve feet below the surface, in second strata of gra- 



