58 GOLD AND TIN DEPOSITS OF SOUTHEKN APPALACHIANS. 
GOLD. 
INTRODUCTION. 
HISTORY AND PRODUCTION. 
When the early Spanish explorers came to America they were shown by the Indians 
rich nuggets and ornaments of gold which came from the Southern Appalachian region. 
Some of this gold is supposed to have come from the area with which this report deals .a 
The Spaniards mined for gold in Georgia in the seventeenth century. During the eight- 
eenth century very little attention was given to mining anywhere in the Appalachians, 
although it is supposed by some that gold was found in this section (Brewer mine) before 
the Revolutionary war.6 Just at the close of that century placer gold was discovered in 
Cabarrus County, N. C, and from that time forward prospecting was carried on with con- 
siderable vigor. About 1825 vein gold was discovered in Montgomery County, and soon 
afterwards in Mecklenburg County, N. C. 
The first recorded production from the particular area here described was $3,500 in 1829, 
and came from Lancaster and Chesterfield counties, S. C. In 1830 work was being done 
in many places and with profit. From that time until the civil war mining was an important 
industry of the region, and although the rich fields of California lured many from these 
deposits of lower grade, the indirect result of the California excitement was a stimulation 
of mining activity in the East. During the war, and for several years after, little mining 
was done in this area, but in the seventies, eighties, and nineties the condition of the industry 
improved. At the present time gold mining in this central portion of the Carolinas is not 
in a very flourishing state. On later pages the endeavor is made to show the causes for 
the lack of general success in this region. 
Unfortunately, no reliable statistics of production from this area are available. The 
■best records to be obtained are those from the United States assay office at Charlotte, N, C, J 
but these, given by States and counties, have been carefully kept for but comparatively 
few years and hence are of little value. To judge from all available data, it seems probable 
that the total gold production of this region has been in the neighborhood of $10,000,000. 
A considerable but unknown proportion of this amount has been derived from placer 
deposits, but much the larger part has been won by hard-rock mining. 
IMPORTANCE. 
This area constitutes the southern part of the Carolina belt, one of the three principal 
divisions established by Becker in his excellent description of the Southern Appalachian 
gold fields. c The mines of this area are among the most important gold producers in 
the Carolina belt and, in fact, east of the Black Hills. Such mines as the Haile, Brewer, 
Colossus (formerly Howie), and Kings Mountain have been worked for years and have fur- j 
nished a large part of the total output of the area. 
Placer mining, which could be carried on at little expense, has undoubtedly been exceed- 
ingly profitable in many instances and has probably only rarely been conducted at a loss. 
With lode mining, which is at present by far the more important industry, the case is I 
different. Although numerous rich strikes, with large profits, have been made, lode mining 
in this region has been on the whole unsuccessful. More has probably been put into the j 
mines, considered collectively, than has ever been taken out. In those mines which are the \ 
exception to this rule profit has been realized in general only by constant and diligent 
care in the exploitation of the ore bodies and in the reduction of expenses. 
aCi. Becker, G. F., Gold fields of the Southern Appalachians: Sixteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. 
Survey, pt. 3, 1895, p. 255. 
b Geologv of North Carolina, vol. 2, 1888, p. 234. 
c Sixteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1895, pp. 251-331. 
