Gold!

Today most historians agree that the first gold in the state was found on Duke's Creek north of Loudsville, Georgia, at the extreme southern end of the Nacoochee Valley. From northeast of Helen to Dahlonega, and further southwest into Cherokee County runs a belt of gold that remains the purest ever found in the world. Within months thousands of "twenty-niners" pour into the state. Some head for the western Nacoochee Valley in search of gold. In a very short time land prices double, then double again.

First, surface gold is panned from larger rivers. Miners then move in and remove ore from veins, using water-powered stamping machines to grind rock. Finally, hydraulic mining is used to search the soil for alluvial gold (gold found at or near the surface of the land). Gold is a very profitable venture for both miners and local farmers. For example, according to F. M. Green in Georgia's Forgotten Industry, Thomas Lumsden drew thirty thousand dollars in gold from a mine on his property north of the confluence of Dukes Creek and the Chattahoochee during a single summer.

After the Gold Rush

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