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Wellborn Hill Gold Mine Towns-Union County, GA |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2022) |
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Wellborn Hill Gold Mine Towns-Union County, GA |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2022) |
| Some prospecting was carried on at this location shortly after the Civil War, but no systematic work was conducted at the mine until 1883, when the property came into the hands of the Chattanooga & Gumlog Mining Company. The company spent a considerable amount of money in developing it, including a stamp mill, but the work was abandoned in 1889. |
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| "The main parts of the work are near the summit of a low ridge; they consist of a main shaft, one hundred thirty five feet in depth, with two drifts at the eighty five foot level." Above is that main shaft, mostly collapsed now, so it's no more than twenty feet deep. |
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| "A second shaft, west of the main shaft, extends down to the southeast drift..." Above is that second shaft, also mostly collapsed. A third shaft is visible at upper left. |
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| Third shaft, adjacent to shaft 2. |
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| A wider view of the line of shafts, now collapsed |
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| Tailings piles from the shafts, which are out of the frame to the right. |
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| Numerous old pits and cross-cuts can still be found here. One of these cuts contained a hundred twenty foot long tunnel known as the Old Tunnel, which followed a productive vein. I didn't find the tunnel where the reports indicate it was located, so apparently it has slumped or collapsed. |
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| Tailings pile below one of the cuts. |
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| But I did find another tunnel: "A projected tunnel, the entrance of which is near the stamp mill, will cut the vein at a considerable depth, and can be made an outlet for the mine for years to come." - Henry Hanks, State Mineralogist, 1885. This is the tunnel that he was referring to... |
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| Tunnel entrance |
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| Into the tunnel... |
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| Inside the tunnel. Unfortunately the floor was covered in water. |