Spanish Influence

Significant evidence exists that Spanish miners inhabited the area in the vicinity of Duke's Creek from 1560 until sometime between 1670 and 1733. For example, Thomas Green Clemson, founder of Clemson University and son-in-law of John C. Calhoun, finds a pair of silver cigar tongs "...precisely similar to those ... used by the Spaniards" on Mount Yonah, at the southern end of the Nacoochee Valley.

In 1733 the state of Georgia is founded as a British colony, effectively cutting off Spanish access to the gold fields. There does not appear to be any significant outsider activity in the area until the American Revolution.

Having successfully fought with the British during the French and Indian War the Cherokee form a pact with them during the Revolution. At one time the British, with the help of the Cherokee in the northwest, control the entire state. Americans regain a foothold in Georgia from a base in South Carolina in 1781. Men under the command of Colonel Andrew Pickens destroy Tugaloo Old Town and follow the trading path to Chota which they also destroy.

White Men Cometh

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