Findley Mine, Dahlonega, Lumpkin County, Georgia, USAi

Regional Level Types
Findley Mine	Mine
Dahlonega	Town
Lumpkin County	County
Georgia	State
USA	Country

At the northeast end of Findley Ridge, are two very extensive cuts, in what is known as the Findley mine. This mine includes lots 1,047, 1,048 and 1,087, 12th district, 1,048 adjoining the Bast lot, which lies west of it. Probably, no mine in the county enjoys a better reputation, than the Findley mine; but comparatively little work has been done on it, for several years. Still, the work, done, has placed it in a state of development, that is equalled, in not more than three or four other mines in the county. In a large open cut, near the top of the ridge, the yellow and black schists have been taken out, to the point, where the saprolitic condition of the black slates begins to change to the hard, unaltered underlying quartzose slates. These contain considerable quantities of an undetermined dark-green chlorite, arranged parallelly along the plane of schistosity. A shaft was sunk, during the civil war, a hundred feet in the top of the hill, the lower half extending through the hard chloritic quartzose schists. After the war, the shaft was sunk twenty-four feet lower; and the dump, from this last work, in the large open cut on the top of the ridge, affords excellent specimens of the unaltered quartzose schists. At no place, can one get a better idea of the character of the black slates, than in this large approximately square cut in the Findley mine. The northeast wall shows the overlying yellow belt, about twenty-five feet thick from the surface, and about forty feet of the black belt, to the bottom of the wall. These all dip, at about 35° to the northeast, and have a northwesterly strike. There are two very prominent auriferous quartz veins in the cut, one of which, the "dead-horse" vein, is intercalated between the black slates, and dips, with them, to the northeast. The other is in an almost vertical position, dipping slightly to the northwest, and having a northeasterly trend. This vein, which varies from one to twelve feet in width, contains considerable galena in places; and it has produced some very handsome specimens of free gold in quartz, two of which, showing dark-green hornblende, as an associate of the gold, are on exhibition in the State Museum. The quartz of the "dead-horse" vein is more finely granular, shows more oxidation of the pyrite, and contains much more of the mica-schist inclusions throughout; in fact, it is typical of the "stringer lead". In addition to these, there are two other veins, which were covered by debris, at the time of my examination of the property, but which have been examined, since, by my assistant, Dr. Watson, who describes them, as follows:- Vein No. 3 lies adjacent and parallel to the "dead-horse" vein. "The two veins are quite similar in appearance, and are some twenty paces apart. The former vein will probably average from one to four feet in width, and is composed of quartz, which is more or less stained from the pyrite decay. Vein No. 4 is about forty paces from Vein No. 3, near the southeast end of the cut, and from the character of the material, from which the vein is made up, is known as the "cement" vein. At the time of my visit, the vein was almost entirely covered with debris, which renders a definite and accurate description impossible. However, the vein apparently consists of two branches, partially exposed along the face of the cut, the material of which is a soft, highly-colored ferruginous mass. The original rock, from which this material was derived, cannot be recognized from the decayed product."

The work, which has given the greatest reputation to this mine, has been the excavation of an incline, on a remarkably rich shoot in a vein, a little south of the upper cut. Large quantities of very rich free gold specimens have been taken from this incline, which has been stoped, for 350 feet. It is stated on good authority, that this shaft has yielded about $300,000, of which $200,000 was taken out before the war. The work is more fully described, beyond. The last work done on this shoot was about five years ago; and, as a consequence, the incline was not in such condition, that I could examine the vein or take samples for assay. Some of the most beautiful specimens of free gold in quartz, which have been produced by this county, have been taken from this shaft. Below water-level, the ore of this mine is an auriferous sulphide quartz.

Farther down the end of the ridge is the other large cut, worked, some years ago. This cut begins at the bottom of the ridge. A tunnel extends, along the trend of the vertical vein, from the upper to the lower cut.

On top of the ridge, is a reservoir about 150 feet long, 15 feet wide and 6 feet deep, from which water is delivered, by ditches and iron pipes, to various parts of the open cuts, for making the flood-runs of saprolite from the cuts to the mill, and for operating the hydraulic giants.

On lot 1,087, across the creek, is a large vein, known as the Evans vein, which is said to average $15 per ton, but which has not been worked, because of its sulphide character.

The history of this property, as a gold mine, dates from a comparatively recent period. Lot 1,048, on which nearly all the mining operations have been conducted, was granted by the State to Talbot Davison, of Jones county, who sold it to James A. Paxson, December, 1833. The deed given by Davison, to Paxson, was lost, and was never recorded. The first instrument of record is a power-of-attorney, given by Horace Lawrence to James A. Paxson in January, 1834, to sell an undivided fourth of the lot. In December, 1843, Lawrence, through Paxson, deeded this fourth, and Paxson, another undivided fourth, to Lemuel Dwelle of Augusta, Ga., this, and other property mortgaged, to revert to Paxson, on the payment of a note for $549.00. In March, 1852, William Martin, Administrator of the estate of Richard G. Dunlap, sold an undivided fourth of this lot to Charles M. McJunkin, a wood-hauler; and, in May, following, McJunkin purchased another fourth from Bartley McGee. The court records do not show, from whom Dunlap and McGee got their titles to the property; and this led to subsequent litigation, when it was ascertained, that the lot had something more than a nominal value. While it would seem from the above, that deeds to an undivided half of the lot were held by Dwelle, and to the other undivided half, by McJunkin; still, I am reliably informed, that Paxson had mortgaged an undivided fourth of the lot to Mr. Germain T. Dortic of Augusta, Ga., to secure a note. While this transaction is not recorded in the office of the Superior Court Clerk of Lumpkin county; yet, there is recorded a power-of-attorney, given by Dortic, to Paxson, June 16th, 1859, showing, that Paxson recognized Dortic as the owner of an undivided fourth of the lot.

McJunkin, after having cut the wood from the property, sold his undivided half of the lot to James Jefferson Findley, in February, 1858. The deed, as recorded, does not mention the consideration in this transfer; but the statement is generally accepted, that it was an old horse, that had seen better days. Findley immediately sold a fourth interest in the lot to Boling W. Field; and, soon afterwards, he secured the services of Charles Duncan, conceded to be one of the best prospectors in the section, to prospect the lot for gold. Duncan soon found a vein, with a small, but remarkably rich, shoot, which has since become famous, as "The Findley Shoot". It soon became known, in the neighborhood, that marvelous quantities of gold were being taken from lot 1,048; and Mr. Harrison W. Riley bargained with Capt. John Huff, that, if he would go, at once, to Augusta, and secure a lease of the half interest, held by Mr. Dwelle, and the fourth interest, held by Mr. Dortic, he would give Huff a half interest in the lease. Mr. Huff pushed through the country on horseback, as fast as possible, and secured the lease, on a royalty. By agreement, the shoot was worked jointly, by Messrs. Riley, Huff, Findley and Alex. Nix, for three or four months, all work ceasing, on their reaching waterlevel. The rich shoot in the vein was only from four to six inches wide, and from 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick; but it was so rich, that masses of gold, as large as a man's thumb, were not uncommon in the quartz. It is said, that the gold was carried away at night in a water-bucket. Mr. Huff, whose veracity I cannot doubt, told me, that he weighed a piece of the ore, and found its weight to be 1 lb. 11 ozs. He then beat it up, in a mortar, and found the weight of the resulting gold to be 11 ounces. The gold in this shoot was in pockets, and these were found, only now and then. The incline shaft made was four by six feet, sufficiently large to permit three men to work, at the same time.

Just before work was stopped, Paxson, who had allowed his note to remain unpaid, for fifteen years, having learned, that large quantities of gold were being taken from the lot, paid the note, held by Dwelle, on June 16th, 1859, and secured a power-of-attorney from Dortic, on the same day. He then brought suit against the mine operators, to recover the royalties, leases etc. Having hunted up Mr. Davison, the original drawee of the lot, he induced him, to give him, August 10th, 1858, a new deed to the property, to take the place of the one, that was lost 25 years before. Paxson, then, sold the entire lot, in June, 1863, to The Stephenson Gold Mining Co.; and, about a month later, he deeded, as attorney for Dortic, the undivided fourth, which he had, previously, included in his deed to the company. In the meantime, Findley had sold the other fourth, belonging to him, to Field, in February, 1859. The suit, brought by Paxson, remained in court, all during the civil war; and it was compromised in 1866, Paxson getting the royalties, which he had already consumed in litigation. On July 9th, 1866, The Stephenson Gold Mining Co. sold the lot to Dr. Benjamin Hamilton, who, in turn, sold it to The Dahlonega Mining Co., a month later. In October of the same year, Mr. Field, still claiming the half, which had come through McJunkin, sold it back to Findley. Since that time, this claim seems to have been quieted, as it does not again appear in the history of the lot. I am informed, by a disinterested party, that, in 1869, when Mr. W. A. Ives bought the lot from The Dahlonega Mining Co., he employed Judge Geo. D. Rice, a prominent lawyer in the State, to clear the title to this and other properties; and, that this accounts for the Findley claim's not having been put forward, since. Dr. M. F. Stephenson, who organized The Stephenson Gold Mining Co., was its Manager. The last work, done on the shoot before the war, was stopped, it is said, by impure air in the shaft, which was then about 250 feet deep, on the incline. Dr. Stephenson, in beginning his work, decided to sink a shaft at the top of the hill, north of the shoot, until it was opposite the lower end of the incline, and then to drive a tunnel to strike the shoot. He sunk his shaft a hundred feet deep, and then drove his tunnel, in a southeast direction, for about fifty or sixty feet, when he was forced to stop, on account of the scarcity of labor and the high price of powder, it being then worth $2.00 a pound.

Work done, some time after the war by other parties, which is described, further on, proved that Dr. Stephenson, as he predicted, had ceased work, at only five or six feet from the shoot; but, that his tunnel, continued, entered the incline about the same distance above its bottom.

The Dahlonega Mining Co., who bought the property from Dr. Benjamin Hamilton in 1866, consisted of Mr. Wm. A. Ives, of New Haven, Conn., a gentleman by the name of Rider, from New York City, and a number of other friends of Mr. Ives, who resided in the North. Beyond preparatory work, nothing of any consequence was done, by this company, on the Findley mine. The most important operation was the running of a long tunnel, starting from a point near the middle of the hill, now the location of the lower cut, to strike the rich shoot at the bottom of the incline, a distance of about 500 feet from the point, where the tunnel was begun. After driving 300 feet, the project was abandoned by Mr. Amory Dexter, the Superintendent of the mine, on account of his having encountered a belt of very hard rock, and because of some dispute over the title. In June, 1869, The Dahlonega Mining Co. sold the property to Mr. William A. Ives, its President. The company had leased this and the Lockhart mines to Messrs. Crisson and Huff, in 1868 ; and their lease was continued under Mr. Ives. They confined their operations to the Lockhart property, until after the retirement of Mr. Huff, when Mr. Criss on, in the spring of 1871, removed the Lockhart 24-stamp mill to the Findley mine; and, having substituted new stamps for those, that were badly worn, he began mining operations on that property. In the spring of 1875, Mr. Crisson secured an option on the two mines; and, the Findley lots 1,047, 1,048 and 1,087, he sold to Mr. James Farmer, Trustee for N. H. Hand, Price Bros. and James Farmer, for $30,000. Mr. Farmer, as Trustee, sold the property, July, 1878, to The Findley Gold Mining Co., of New York City, for $60,000. It was sold at sheriff's sale, in January, 1885, and was bid in, by Mr. George L. Nichols, for Mr. Spencer Trask and others.

During the time, when the property was under option to Mr. Crisson, Mr. N.H. Hand, who was interested with the former in the option, began to develop the property, so as to place it on the market. Mr. F. W. Hall was placed in charge of the work. He began, at once, to ascertain the most feasible way of ventilating the incline, and working the rich shoot. After securing valuable information from Dr. Stephenson, he decided to drive a tunnel from the Dexter tunnel to the bottom of the Stephenson shaft, and, after cleaning the debris from the shaft, to continue the Stephenson tunnel, to the shoot. He started his tunnel, about twenty feet from the end of the Dexter tunnel, in a belt of schist, much softer than that, in which the latter tunnel ended. The last blast, in the Hall tunnel, broke through into the Stephenson shaft, and a stream of water began to flow out; for the shaft was filled with water, earth, brush etc. After the flow of water had subsided, examination proved, that the bottom of the Stephenson shaft was four or five feet below that of the Hall tunnel. After the Stephenson tunnel and shaft had been cleaned out, work was resumed, where Dr. Stephenson left off; and, as has been before stated, five or six feet put them inside the Findley incline, about the same distance above its bottom. Mr. Hall tells me, that about $3,000, in handsome free gold specimens, was taken out, and that a great deal more was left in place, the object of the work being, as before stated, to develop the mine for sale. With these superb specimens, Mr. Hand induced Mr. James Farmer to come from Cleveland, Ohio, to examine the property. Not to be deceived, Mr. Farmer went into the shaft himself, and took from the vein, with a chisel, a gold miner's pan full of the quartz containing free gold. Having brought it out of the shaft himself, the gold was beat out by him in a mortar; and, being weighed, it was ascertained, that 546 dwts. of gold was the result. The sale was made, at once, Mr. Hand taking a third interest. Mr. W. B. Price, son-in-law of Mr. Farmer, and a banker in Cleveland, came down, to take charge of the mine himself. He worked the shoot, for a year or more, with great success, while the pocket lasted, after which Mr. Farmer, as I have before said, sold the property to The Findley Gold Mining Co., for $60,000. A young man, a relative of a stockholder in this company, was sent down from New York, as superintendent. He was fresh from the mining school, and unwilling to take suggestions from the miners, experienced in the local conditions. He was not able to find the shoot, which had been lost; and, ultimately, he abandoned the work. He continued working in the open cuts; but, after about two years, work was stopped. Soon after this, Mr. George L. Nichols, Jr., Trustee, leased the mine to Mr. R. B. King. Mr. King, at once, went to work, to carry out certain conditions of the lease, in the way of repairs; and, then, he began mining the vein, and the rich shoot was almost immediately found. For certain reasons, the owners directed their attorney in Dahlonega, to have the lease cancelled; but, as Mr. King had faithfully complied with the conditions of the lease, the attorney informed them, that there was no ground, on which he could proceed. The lessee continued to mine the shoot, I am told, with unvarying success; when, just before his year's lease expired, he lost the shoot intentionally; and he ever afterwards claimed, that he could find it again, at any time, so I am reliably informed. The Findley Gold Mining Co. continued to own, but not to mine, the property, until January, 1885, when it was sold to Geo. L. Nichols, Jr., Trustee, at Sheriff's sale, to satisfy a claim of $5,500, held by Mr. Spencer Trask and others. Mr. Nichols, who was a relative, was acting for Mr. Trask, in the purchase. Five years later, in April, 1890, Mr. Nichols sold the property to Mr. Thomas J. Cheney, who purchased it for The Trefoil Gold Mining Co., of St. Louis, Mo., of which he was President. This company repaired the mill ; and, changing the elevation of it, put in a set of concentrators, which, however, proved to be a failure. It is said, that they did some work in a long tunnel, the character of which I was unable to learn. Just a year later, the property was mortgaged to Mr. Robt. T. Stillwell, who, in July, following, sold it, through Mr. Wm. A. Charters, attorney, of Dahlonega, to Mr. Christian Wahl, of Milwaukee, Wis., its present owner. Since Mr. Wahl has owned the property, Capt. H. D. Ingersoll has been its manager, and, for the past year or two, its lessee. While no extensive work seems to have been done; yet the work on it has been constant; and, as stated, in the beginning of this report, the property is one of the best developed in the county.

During the time, when the property was being worked, under Mr. James Farmer, Trustee, and while Mr. N. H. Hand was, still, General Manager, a mill, known as the Little Findley mill, was erected on the northwest side of the ridge, well up towards its top, for use in milling the ore, brought by flume from the large cut, on top of the ridge. This cut had been started by Mr. W. R. Crisson, who was Superintendent of the mine, under Mr. Farmer. This mill was a 10-stamp Hall mill, which had been moved from the Lawrence mine in Dahlonega; it was run by steam. When The Findley Gold Mining Co. came into possession, they enlarged the mill to 20-stamps, and increased the steam power, and put in pumps, to raise water from the Findley ditch, near by, to the top of the ridge, for use in working the upper cut. They, also, replaced the 24-stamp mill, with the present 40-stamp mill.

The lower cut was begun, by Mr. W. R. Crisson, when he moved the 24-stamp mill from the Lockhart to this mine. The cut was, subsequently, worked by those following him. The veins, in this cut, were not in condition for examination, at the time of my visit, being covered by debris; but I am informed, that there are two large veins in the cut, which yield good returns.