There's Gold In Them Thar Holes

by J. Burgess

When the Cherokee were sent to Oklahoma in the 1830s they did not have time to pack or dispose of many of their belongings. Only the barest essentials could be taken. Many family treasures had to be left behind, and some were probably hidden so they could be retrieved at a later date. This is speculation on my part because of stories I heard from my grandfather and great-uncle when I was a boy.

At some time, probably around the turn of the century, some Cherokee returned to the old Milton County area. They were seen wandering all over the area, but refrained from telling the residents what they were looking for. One of then, purported to be a Chief, told that "If the white man knew what the Indian knew he could shoot a horse with silver shoes." Of course, the story was told that they were looking for hidden Indian Gold. Since gold was used as currency during the displacement era, it would be highly unlikely that the Cherokee, who were mostly subsistence farmers would have accumulated so much wealth that they could not carry it all with them on the Trail of Tears. There were probably, however, some Cherokee in the area that did amass some considerable wealth, perhaps kept as gold which was a legal tender. I recently learned from historian, J. B. Tate, that the Cherokee had known for some time about the gold in the hills of north Georgia, and even had operating gold mines that were taken over by the white man when the Cherokee were run out. So, there may have been buried Cherokee gold.

These Indians from Oklahoma seemed to follow old trails that were still known about a century ago, and they referred to maps that they had brought with them. Indian trails were marked by carvings or glyphs on rocks along the sides of the trails. A common carving was often described as a "turkey foot." One I remember being pointed out to me by my great-uncle was on a large rock on family property on the south side of Big Creek at about the site of the middle school. In fact, the dirt moved to make way for the school may have covered up this stone. From the farmhouse, it was located on an incline leading to the bottom land where an island and ford was found in the creek.

Indians, like some young lovers, carved symbols on beech trees, and some were still around at the turn of the century. A century ago, some of these trees were still standing and may have had information carved upon them that led the way to buried treasure.

My relatives got in on the act also. Seems as though their gold deviner had found gold on the east side of Haynes Bridge Road between the Mall and Big Creek. My grandfather and great-uncle began sinking a shaft. Since it was bottom land with soggy sandy soil the shaft began caving in and timbers had to be used to shore up the sides. Evidently, the shaft grew to a considerable depth when one evening they quit the dig for the day. When they returned the next morning, the shaft was no more. Someone had dynamited it during the night. Had someone dug a little further during the night and found the gold? Or, had some enemy blown it in spite?

My great-aunt had kept a gold deviner that her husband had owned many years ago. Divining Rods used to find water are actually rods sometimes made of wire others made of tree branches, The one my great-aunt had was two cylinders connected with a chain. The cylinders were hollow but were refilled by some mysterious substance and resealed at the bottom. To use, one cylinder was held in both hands and the other cylinder was permitted to swing freely. If the diviner was held over a spot on the ground and gold was present, the free cylinder was supposed to react by swinging in a certain way which I do not remember. A free swinging pendulum would scribe a straight back and forth line in one of several directions, a clockwise or counter clockwise circle or occasionally a figure eight. I think that the most unusual swing would probably have been the one that signified gold.

There are lots of reports of gold being found in north Georgia. In fact it was the lust of the Euro-Americans for the gold in Araria, south of Dahlonega that finally caused the demise of the Indian Nation. In Old Milton there does not seem to have been much gold. This is on the authority of Mr. Virgil Webb, science teacher at Milton High School. He told me that he had panned for gold in the creeks in the area and the only stream where he found any color or trace was the one that runs behind the old Bailey Johnson School. For a while there was a panning operation located on the south bank of the Chattahoochee River on the western side of Roswell Bridge, but this was not in Old Milton County. This operation was probably picking up placer gold washed down from the mountains of White County where there were gold operations. After Buford dam was build, mountain gold would have been left at the bottom of Lake Lanier.

So much for gold in Milton County. But in Cherokee County to the northeast is a different matter...

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Copyright 2007-2009 by Edna Strickland