Betz Mine (Wing Mine), Lumpkin County, Georgia, USAi

Regional Level Types
Betz Mine (Wing Mine)	Mine
Lumpkin County	County
Georgia	State
USA	Country

This mine, formerly known, as the Wing Mine, is located on lot 388, 12th district. Lots 384, 453, 454 and the mineral interest in 459 are also a part of the property. The Etowah river flows diagonally across the last named lot, in a southeast direction. The cut, where the mining operations have been carried on, is in the head of a small hollow, along which flows a branch, on its way to the river. Before the civil war, Mr. Hawkins Kelly worked this mine, to a limited extent. After doing considerable work of preparation, he had a mining ditch constructed, seventeen miles long; and, having gotten everything in good working shape, he began to work the property, when the breaking out of the war caused his work to cease. After the war, he sold the property to Col. Wing, and gentlemen associated with him, who were organized as The Etowah and Battle Branch Hydraulic Hose Gold Mining Co. Subsequently, Mr. John F. Betz, of Philadelphia, came into full possession of the mine and the ditch. Some time in the early part of 1895, Mr. Betz beg-an work on the property, with Mr. Otto C. Scupin as Superintendent and Manager. A Huntington mill was erected, the Mill Creek ditch was cleaned out, cottages were built, and everything about the place was fixed up in good order. The mine was in excellent condition, for examination of the ore-bodies, at the time of Mr. McCallie's visit. The mining work consists of an open cut, about 100 yards long, thirty to forty feet wide, and from five to twenty feet deep. Besides this, there are other smaller cross-cuts, exposing the ore-bodies at different points. The latter consist of mica-schist, with inclusions of small quartz stringers. In places, especially in the main cut, the schists contain much quartz, in the I form of small grains, forming ore-bodies, similar to those at the Barlow mine. In the extreme end of the open cut, is a dark-colored mica-schist, which is auriferous. The country-rock is mica-schist, passing, in places, into quartzose schist. Its strike is northeast and southwest, and its dip, about 30° to the southeast.

The Mining Ditch, belonging to this property, which was originally constructed by Mr. Hawkins Kelly, was cleaned out, after the war, by The Etowah and Battle Branch Hydraulic Hose Gold Mining Co., and its volume of water was increased, by the addition of a number of small streams to its supply. The ditch was, then, and is, now, known as The Mill Creek Ditch. In the dry season, the streams, which supply it, are quite low; and only about 150 miner's-inches of water is gathered from them, though more could be, if all the water was put on the ditch, and kept on it. The size of the ditch is variable. At the rock cuts, where there has been no enlargement by caving and cleaning, it is 3 1/2 feet wide at the top, 2 1/2 feet at the bottom, and 2 1/2 feet deep. In the earth cuttings, where there is no rock, it is from 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 feet at the top, from 3 to 3 1/2 at the bottom, and from 2 to 2 1/2 feet deep. In its present condition, its capacity is sufficient, to carry not more than 200 miner's-inches of water; but, by enlarging the flumes and narrow parts in the rock, and by a thorough cleaning, it could be made to carry 600 miner's-inches. Mr. B. M. Hall, C. & M. E., of Atlanta, to whose report, on this property, I am indebted, for the data, just given, estimates, that, to enlarge and extend this ditch, so as to furnish 600 miner's-inches of water, as far as the Gordon, Ralston and other mines in that vicinity, including the Hedwig mines, would cost not more than from $20,000 to $30,000.