Gold Fever on Discovery

Ordell · Oct 11, 2013

Anyone watching? It's a miniseries on the California Gold Rush and how basically one guy built San Francisco capitalizing on prospectors. Mike Rowe is narrating and they have a few talking heads, one of them Dave Turin.

aurumdigga · Nov 23, 2013

I think that what you first said is truly correct. There was gold being found everywhere in the SE USA gold belt. Auraria was the first established mining town that was distinctively know for this area arising for the gold only, and nothing else. The name Auraria is a Latin version term that probably meant Gold town. There was a mint here also. I don't know of a significant place in the Carolina's that can say a mint was needed to handle the gold being produced in that area.

The mass exodus of most miners was mostly from the now known Dahlonega area. The discoveries in California made all miners in the Carolinas and Georgia hitch their wagon and head west.

I am partial to the area I live in and the gold history that it has. Of course the gold belt reaches to the Carolina States. At the same time, it would be incorrect to say that Georgia produced less gold compared to the two Carolina States. Gold production in Georgia is superior to both the Carolina States put together.

Goldwasher · Nov 23, 2013

There was a federal mint built in Charlotte, only shut down due to the civil war. Fact is less than one thousand people traveled overland during the first year of the California gold rush and "ALL" the miners did not pack up and head west. The production of gold in Carolina and Georgia did not cease

?? the mass exodus consisted of predominately NON-MINERS....of course if a town is a mining town and comprised of mostly miners, and they all move, then mostly the miners moved from that town.. Georgia and the Carolina region had the ONLY miners in the country at the time. The demographic of the whole rush was totally different.

Goldwasher · Nov 23, 2013

Also......Georgia produced....817,000 ounces of gold and is no longer commercially producing. North Carolina produced out of its 15 districts total of 1.2 million ounces...so if you do some simple math. N. Carolina produced more gold by a Large amount even. So your wrong by about 329,000 ounces and that is a lot.

aurumdigga · Nov 27, 2013

Goldwasher said:
Also......Georgia produced....817,000 ounces of gold and is no longer commercially producing. North Carolina produced out of its 15 districts total of 1.2 million ounces...so if you do some simple math. N. Carolina produced more gold by a Large amount even. So your wrong by about 329,000 ounces and that is a lot.

An Illustrated History of the Georgia Gold Rush and the United States Branch Mint at Dahlonega, Georgia

In 1830, 1.7 million in gold was sent to the Philadelphia mint. The Dahlonega mint was established in 1835. A mint was established or voted on to be built in 1835 for Meckdinburg County, N.C. also. New Orleans got a mint too. I think the total you were quoting may have not included pre-mint in Dahlonega mining finds.

From the information that I have read, you really can't put a true estimate on how much gold was mined in Dahlonega or Auraria. It is understood that the majority of finds did come from Georgia or the Dahlonega area when this gold belt was being mined.

The link above tells about what what the 17 pound gold nugget that was made into a doorstop and sold for $3.50.

If I remember right, that same nugget is still in the Dahlonega Museum.... which is the old Dahlonega Courthouse in the center of Dahlonega today.

Foothills Gold · Nov 28, 2013

The door stop nugget was found by a boy in NC . At what later was the Reed mine , now a historic site. The kids family used it for a door stop for a lot of years until a traveling salesman saw it and yes, gave them $3.50 for it. It was a 17 lb nugget . It was never made into a door stop . No one knows where it went. I've been to that mine and general area a lot if times. The south is full of history.

Goldwasher · Nov 28, 2013

You do not remember right.... The Charlotte... and Dahlonega and New Orleans Branch Facilities All opened the same year 1838. and all shut down due to the war. The New Orleans re-opened in 1879 until 1909....And those are known production numbers for both areas, so the numbers for both could be higher but, not by much. And still the Carolina mines produced more than Georgia. Remember the gold had to go somewhere so its introduction to the Market was noted as we were on the Gold standard. It was currency mainly, and bling for the rich in some cases. No industrial uses at the time at least nothing major. So the gold being mined was wealth and tracked for very important reasons. There wasn't the hording we have today to hedge against inflation. That's why back in the day even the largest nuggets and specimens went to melt. There was no value in that. We were a growing nation trying to fill our coffers. It sure is a Hoot to correct your historical inaccuracies keep 'em comin' :icon_thumleft:

aurumdigga · Nov 30, 2013

Goldwasher said:
You do not remember right.... The Charlotte... and Dahlonega and New Orleans Branch Facilities All opened the same year 1838. and all shut down due to the war. The New Orleans re-opened in 1879 until 1909....And those are known production numbers for both areas, so the numbers for both could be higher but, not by much. And still the Carolina mines produced more than Georgia. Remember the gold had to go somewhere so its introduction to the Market was noted as we were on the Gold standard. It was currency mainly, and bling for the rich in some cases. No industrial uses at the time at least nothing major. So the gold being mined was wealth and tracked for very important reasons. There wasn't the hording we have today to hedge against inflation. That's why back in the day even the largest nuggets and specimens went to melt. There was no value in that. We were a growing nation trying to fill our coffers. It sure is a Hoot to correct your historical inaccuracies keep 'em comin'

Legislation was passed in 1835. Of course the building couldn't be built in one day. My quote is here >>>> ( established or voted on). Your comprehension of what I wrote is flawed Goldwasher. The only thing that is inaccurate is your comprehension Goldwasher. Let me define the term "established" for you Goldwasher: to institute, to found, to build...... not "built". Goldwasher, know the meanings of terms and you won't embarrass yourself.

Of course I meant that tallies of gold prior to the mint being built were not included in the total tally. By this time the Dahlonega Mint was built, Georgia gold prospecting was on the downslide. This means that most of the gold was already mined prior to the mints being built. Therefore, these tallies of gold in Ga. vs the Carolina tally can only be the tally after the mints were working. Prior to that, it would be impossible to calculate how much gold was mined in Georgia vs North & South Carolina.

Unless the Dahlonega Museum has a replica of the the nugget that was used as a doorstop that I mentioned, it is the actual nugget. I knew about this nugget only by going to the Dahlonega Museum and seeing it there.

This doorstop nugget is an odd looking nugget too. It looks like a dinosaur egg and looks pitted on the top. This could be a blob of gold ejected from a volcano in ancient times from the way it looks. I suggest that Foothills Gold Doug goes to the Dahlonega museum for himself since he lives in Marietta, SC. Dahlonega is not that far from you Doug. Also Doug, the nugget was made into a door stop by the family that found it. I didn't say this family altered it in any way.

Nitpicking here makes me nauseous.

Sample Pan Dan · Nov 30, 2013

This guy just keeps going on and on and on and....

AzViper · Nov 30, 2013

drywallman said:
This guy just keeps going on and on and on and....

LOL... Of the 108 post to this thread he has written 20 of them and most are very lengthy post. Kinda like the Eveready Bunny. He has way too much time on his hands.

Foothills Gold · Dec 1, 2013

Agreed AzViper,
. Aurumdigga , you're like a catfish going after chicken liver ! if a few "facts" make you nauseous , imagine how much puking you've caused with all of your nonsense. You need a real hobby. I hear the old folks home near you needs a fictional historian ? I've been to the museum . Biggest nugget they have there is 5ozt .And why would Georgia have a nugget from SC ? The nugget was melted into a bar by a jeweler in Fayetteville. Those guys wanted money. Not museum pieces. Geeeeez. I think I'll go get nauseous now ......;-)

Goldwasher · Dec 2, 2013

your the one who said Built not me.....I have no problem with comprehension...You were the one who claimed to be the Hero of facts....yet every time I prove you wrong you claim to be misunderstood. Obviously they do have a pretty good handle on how much gold was mined Prior to the federal Branches being " Built" remember the 1.7 million worth being sent to Philadelphia?...that gold is in the figures.....Quote from a book I have "...in 1958 a historical society sent a wagon train carrying 46 oz of new gold from Dahlonaga to the capitol of Atlanta. The Gold Hammered out into Gold leaf to cover the Capitol Dome, was in Remembrance of the 870,665 ozs. taken from the Georgia earth in the 130 years since Benjamin Parks' original discovery. The first gold coins minted in America were stamped out by a private jeweler, Christian Bechtler who produced coins in denominations of $1.00, $2.50 and$ 5.00 from 1831 to 1857. The War closed the Charlotte mint and the miners just had an assay office. The doorstop nugget is from the Reed mine, after it was in the home for three years Conrad reed sold it for $ 3.50, later when he found out what the jeweler sold it for he got an additional $3000.00 dollars. He and three helpers started hunting for more gold eventually finding 153 pounds of nugget gold. The largest was found in 1803 weighing 28 pounds. The doorstop nugget was melted down and has not been in the Dahlonega Gold museum ever. I have a collection of technical and historical books on Gold Mining and Mining camp/cultural history bigger than my local library, and I live in the county where the rush began. And I will continue to correct you as long as you keep being wrong...You will most likely keep side-stepping but, :dontknow:

whatever I hope the fellas don't mind that I just can't let you continue to screw up the history of something I know so much more about than you. I hope you can comprehend that. :tongue3: