Questioning the Spanish and old timers

[Just_curious]

Has anybody ever wondered how the Spanish were so good at finding gold? It appears that wherever the Spanish had mined, the old timers stumbled upon those same sights 250-300 years later. But when you try to look into the knowledge that these old timers possessed, it seems to have been either lost or covered up, or taken to the grave.

What made these prospectors between the 1500's and 1800's so darn good?

They say that they worked the placers first, and then moved into hard rock. Surely, gold couldn't have been that prominent. Take Georgia for example. Although I HIGHLY disagree with it, history tells us that the Spanish was unsuccessful in finding gold in Georgia. But if placers and nuggets were so profound and could be seen sitting on top of the ground by the whites in the early 1800's, then how did the Spanish miss it?

In any event, something told the Spanish to come to Georgia for gold...so they had to have known it was here. And I think somehow the later while settlers learned about the Spanish hunts, and looked in those same areas, but were 200 years to late. Either way, it's almost like there was hidden knowledge that the Spanish had to find these deposits. They mined in all the gold rush areas, years and years, before the 1800's gold rushes.

With travel as hard as it was back then, with Spain and other European countries as far away as they were...thats a big gamble to just decide to ship off to sea to get the gold in the new world. They had to have known something. Which also makes me question the validity of the fountain of youth. Now, I don't usually believe in fairy tales, but if these Spaniards were willing to sail across hellish seas for the gold they KNEW wad here, it really makes you wonder if the fountain of youth was in fact real. But that's a whole other question.

I get on side rants, but I'm mostly wondering about this ancient knowledge of gold mining. Surely, not everybody was a geologist. So how did they know!

 

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[russau]

Well one thing is perfectly clear , Toad Hoffman DIDNT help in their search for gold!

 

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[Goldwasher]

I can't speak to California and the southwest, but based on my research, the Spanish were quite active mining gold and silver in the southeast in the late 16th and 17th centuries. I'm sure much of their information was gathered from indigenous groups, but the Spanish (and the French for a short time) were focused on minerals and included experienced miners in almost all their expeditions. Evidence of old 17th century mining efforts have been located:

-- The best evidence of Spanish era mining is along the Valley River, north of Murphy, North Carolina, where as many as eleven mineshafts have been found that were constructed to mine gold ore. (Spanish artifacts were taken from these shafts - interested folks should visit the Cherokee County Museum in Murphy.)

--The “Horse Stomp Mine,” located on Rich’s Knob north of Little Switzerland, North Carolina,

--Iron tools found in "prehistoric workings" in the Guyer mica mine northwest of Franklin, Macon County, North Carolina.

--An apparent mine site I've been investigating in Hamblen County, Tennessee

--Remains of what may have been a placer mining operation in Duke’s Creek valley, in White County, Georgia

--Remnants of a stone dam and sluice found by early settlers in Lincolnton, North Carolina

For those interested, De Rei Metallica is also available for free online (https://archive.org/details/deremetallica50agri). Former President Hoover (a mining engineer) and his wife translated from Latin. I find it amazing how sophisticated mining techniques were in the 16th century.

That's actually a very small amount of activity.

Permanence would mean a lot of activity.

The main mining was done in Mexico and South America. Mostly for Silver and Copper.

As far as what is now the U.S. they missed pretty much every major deposit there was to find.

They had a person with mining knowledge on expeditions, not quite miners.

Most of their finds in the America's were based on leads from native populations.

 

[Jason in Enid]

That's actually a very small amount of activity.

Permanence would mean a lot of activity.

The main mining was done in Mexico and South America. Mostly for Silver and Copper.

As far as what is now the U.S. they missed pretty much every major deposit there was to find.

They had a person with mining knowledge on expeditions, not quite miners.

Most of their finds in the America's were based on leads from native populations.

exactly. Look at the indiginous gold use and later mining by the Spanish. The south American cultures used silver and gold extensively with royal and religious items. The Spanish found this and exploited it. The North American Indians didnt care about gold, so when the Spanish arrived there was little knowledge of gold deposits to exploit. Yes, they tested likely looking areas, but as already mentioned, they missed massive and easy discoveries.

 

[Goldwasher]

don't get me wrong. The Spanish were the first in the new world to really tap into the resources on an industrial level.

Though the majority of their success was based on luck and trial and error

http://www.insidemydesk.com/lapubs/miningtrends.pdf

 

[bug]

I dont know about unpolluted minds.. gallon of cheap whiskey and high stakes gambling everyday, will pollute rather quickly

Sure some drank as throughout all history but if you read the writings and journals from the time period you will see they were certainly not all a bunch of degenerates. (one of my favorites is John Doble's journal and letters from the mines) Quite the opposite these were the men that made America great. Their minds were strong. Just look at the mining engineering accomplishments in those days before Caterpillar and John Deer. For example fluming entire stretches of river, pumping systems, drift mines, hydraulic mining...
Many even memorized entire books of the bible in those times. Who can do that now. Our environment is polluted, our food is fast and toxic filled with chemicals, our minds are filled with trash from hollywood, the music we listen... you get the drift.

 

[flex]

Spanish mining in the southeast certainly wasn't on the scale witnessed in Mexico or Bolivia. However, none of the old mine sites I've been able to document show up in the history books, and instead of being carried out by the crown, were probably free-lance operations carried out by miners who didn't want to share proceeds. In addition to not being sanctioned by their government, there were apparently several conflicts between miners and Indians. There was a strong oral tradition of this reported among the Cherokee, and a specific account places a battle at Lincolnton, North Carolina. These operations apparently ended around 1700, shut down by the expanded English influence out of Charleston.

One can't defend Spanish treatment of indigenous tribes, but from a technical perspective, these guys seemed to be pretty competent miners.

 

[Goldwasher]

Sure some drank as throughout all history but if you read the writings and journals from the time period you will see they were certainly not all a bunch of degenerates. (one of my favorites is John Doble's journal and letters from the mines) Quite the opposite these were the men that made America great. Their minds were strong. Just look at the mining engineering accomplishments in those days before Caterpillar and John Deer. For example fluming entire stretches of river, pumping systems, drift mines, hydraulic mining...
Many even memorized entire books of the bible in those times. Who can do that now. Our environment is polluted, our food is fast and toxic filled with chemicals, our minds are filled with trash from hollywood, the music we listen... you get the drift.
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it was only some of the "boys" who really let looses and only initially was it super wild.

After a while you were working for someone else if you stuck around.

Just like today if you were to drunk to work, well you didn't keep your job very long.