This picture of the mining tools is used with permission of Pine Mountain Gold Museum, located in Villa Rica, Georgia. Courtesy of Peggy Jackson Walls.
Although much of the history of the mining in the Devil’s Backbone District is anecdotal, taken from interviews with family and community members, interesting, credible articles have appeared in professional journals such as the Engineering and Mining Journal, 1894. Helen Pate Ross collected stories from family members and organized them into a book. John F. Farrow was one of the people she interviewed. He shared information about his family’s involvement in the gold mining, and documents such as receipts, letters or reports, naming the dates mines were in operation and the approximate amount of gold retrieved from the operations. Banks were ready to finance the new companies and invest in mining operations before World War I. The Gregory Hill Gold Mining Company was formed in 1915 with a J.J. Heard serving as president and Dr. Ben E. Kidd as vice president, who deeded 1,180 acres in Tallapoosa County to the company in return for 3,000 shares ($300,000 par value) capital stock; 5,000 shares were the total authorized. A $35,000 loan obtained from Heard National Bank financed the operation. Only $10,780 of the loan went into camp development and machinery. The rest went to salaries, maintenance, legal expenses, and bond payments. An L-shaped mill building, well, cookhouse, bunkhouse and mule pen were constructed. After only nine months of operation and a total expenditure of $17,191.56, the mine closed due to World War I, which “caused the total suspension of gold mining by cutting off the supplies of mercury and cyanide, increasing wages and calling labor to other pursuits.”65
A smaller operation was conducted on the Nichols Mine Property, located on the south side of the Tallapoosa River. The property was owned by B.E. Kidd Jr. and other heirs to the estate of B.E. Kidd. Professor William M. Brewer, assistant state geologist, recorded in Bulletin No. 5, Alabama geological survey, his evaluation and recommendations regarding the Devil’s Backbone gold mines.
On the west side of the Tallapoosa River in Tallapoosa County there were operations at Blue Hill, Gregory Hill and Farrow Gold Mining Company, during the 1880s and 1890s.
In traveling to the north-east of Blue Hill, I found that the gold bearing quartz, and graphitic slates were not as closely associated as in the case at Blue Hill and Gregory Hill (both in the same land section), where the two became a conglomerated mass, so intermixed and irregular in structure that it is impossible to separate the one from the other and the entire sides are quarried down, and send to the mill. This product from the mines was yielding at the time of my visit about $2.00 per ton, or, rather that amount was saved. I am of the opinion though, after panning several average samples, that at least double this amount would be saved, were some process devised for eliminating the graphite before amalgamation was attempted.66
OPERATION IN THE EARLY 1900S
In 1902, Ben E. Kidd Sr. purchased extensive land holdings abutting the original eighty-acre Blue Hill property. The Blue Hill Gold Mining Company leased and developed the Blue Hill mine during 1902–07. Gold mining was dormant from about 1907 until 1934, when the property was leased to Frye-Rhea Development, financed by investors in Cleveland and New York City. The Frye-Rhea enterprise was the last attempt to mine at Blue Hill. Again expenses outweighed profit, causing owners to close the mining operation.
Tom T. Farrow’s gold pick. He used it to prospect for gold throughout his lifetime. Courtesy of Tallapoosee County Historical Museum.
Rufus Benjamin Gamble, maternal grandparent of Dr. Charles A. Farrow, played his fiddle at local social gatherings of friends and family. Courtesy of Tallapoosee County Historical Museum.
FANNY GOLDMINE HILL
One of the stories associated with this district comes from the early years when Indians still owned some of the land in Tallapoosa County. The widow of an Indian was told she had to give her land an English name before she could register it properly. She had heard the name Fanny from settlers and liked the idea of owning a gold mine, so she registered her land under the name “Fanny Goldmine” although the land was not gold mining property.
6
Hillabee Gold Mining Company (1890–1916)
THE FAMOUS HOG MOUNTAIN
In east-central Alabama, almost the entire county of Tallapoosa is in the Weodowee Schist. But the largest occurrence of gold veins are in the tons of quartz at Hog Mountain, which is described as “the most extensively developed gold mine in Alabama and is credited with a total production of about 24,000 troy ounces of gold.”67
Tallapoosa Mining Company at Hog Mountain in 1911. The original image comes from the old Alexander City State Junior College Alabama Room. Courtesy of Peggy Jackson Walls.
Three successful operations have been conducted at Hog Mountain, the first from 1839 to 1849, the second from 1893 to 1916 and the third from 1933 to 1937. The state geological surveys are the principal records of operations.
The mine was operated intermittently prior to 1890, when it passed into the ownership of T.H. Aldrich Sr. From 1893 to 1914, production totaled about $250,000. The largest part of this production came from the use of cyanide processing. The chart below shows the production of gold beginning in 1830, the year gold was discovered in Alabama and ending in 1879. However, a great deal of the gold mined in Alabama was never shipped to the mints but was instead spent locally for household, farming and mining needs. When cyaniding was introduced in 1904, the figures jumped. For additional information, see the following chart.
VALUE OF GOLD PRODUCED IN ALABAMA
YEAR GOLD VALUED IN DOLLARS
1830–79 $365,300
1880 1,000
1881 1,000
1882 3,500
1883 6,000
1884 5,000
1885 6,000
1886 4,000
1887 2,000
1888 5,600
1889 2,639
1890 2,170
1891 2,245
1892 2,419
1893 6,369
1894 4,092
1895 4,635
1896 6,495
1897 8,455
1898 6,578
1899 4,766
1900 2,618
1901 3,773
1902 2,938
1903 4,894
1904 29,288
1905 41,530
1906 24,921
1907 25,982
1908 41,208
1909 29,239
1910 33,533
1911 18,916
1912 16,724
1913 11,094
1914 11,970
1915 5,243
1916 8,65068
A great deal of interest in mining the old gold mine sites resulted in increased activity and speculation that mining would be profitable. William B. Phillips examined the Hog Mountain property to determine its condition and the viability of conducting a new mining operation. As a state geologist, Phillips regularly visited the mining sites that were operating to record the activity and determine the potential of the mine. Following a visit to Hog Mountain in 1891, he recorded the following observations:
There was a ten-stamp mill California pattern with engine and boiler on the property.…He estimated that 500 tons of ore had been mined and milled.…Assays from samples which Phillips took at random from the old dump gave $58.67, $6.20 and 22.73, and one from the bluish quartz with a little pyrite, taken from the Blue Vein gave $10.53… One assay gave $8.26 in gold and 36 cents in silver per ton. A barrel or ore sent to the St. Louis Works for treatment gave $39.27 in gold and 10 cents in silver per ton. Many assays made in 1886 and 1887 gave from $2.00 to $31.00 and averaged $7.50 per ton, and this was spoken of as representing the true character of the ore better than any other investigation which had been made.69
The 1935 Hog Mountain Gold Mining and Milling Company, reprinted from The International Atlas of the World, War History Collection, Chicago, 1946. Courtesy of Peggy Jackson Walls.
As president and general manager of the Hillabee Gold Mining Company, T
.H. Aldrich Jr is a credible source for data about gold mining at Hog Mountain in the pre–World War I operation. Aldrich’s firsthand observations about the methods and process of gold mining at Hog Mountain provide the perspective of an engineer, manager and mine owner. Since water is essential to the gold mining process, the proximity of a reliable water source and equipment for transporting the water to the gold mine were primary concerns of investors and mine owners. The value of gold ore also had to justify the expense of setting up equipment and structures needed for the operation of a mine. T.H. Aldrich Jr. made the following observations about the Hog Mountain mine operation in the last decade of the nineteenth century, noting the availability of water and the value of the gold ore:
A 200 H. P. hydroelectric plant was built on Enitacopko [sic] Creek in 1893 to supply water to the Hog Mountain mine. Air drills and a Blake crusher were used to dislodge and crush ore. Experiments were conducted in which ore was heated in a revolving kiln. Work was done on the Blue Vein and on the Barren Vein at a depth of 110 feet and with a 15-foot sump. The value of oxidized ore was $5.00 per ton in gold and the sulphide from $6.50 to 9.00 a ton.70
The evaluations of the ore and possible profits for mining encouraged T.H. Aldrich Sr. to begin preparations for a new mining operation. First, he transferred his and wife Ana’s ownership of the Hog Mountain property into the Hillabee Gold Mining Company, of which T.H. Aldrich Jr. was president; J.A.P. Kennedy, vice-president; and E.J. Smyrn, an investor. Aldrich Jr. applied for a business certification and received approval from John H. Merrill, secretary of state of Alabama, on January 14, 1905. The key objective was stated: “To mine for gold and acquire construct, improve or maintain smelting furnaces, machinery and apparatus of any and all kinds necessary or deemed necessary in and about the mining for gold.” Excerpts from the prospectus for the mining company follow.
The total paid up capital stock of said corporation is $22,000, divided in the following manner:
T.H. Aldrich Jr. $12500.00
J.A.P. Kennedy $12400.00
E.J. Smyrn $100.00
Hillabee Gold Mine prospectus was created to provide critical information to the potential investor in regard to cost of shares, location of mine, projected costs, and profits.
Prospectus
The Hillabee Mining Company had a capital stock of $2,000,000.00 and divided into 2,000,000 shares of the par value of $1.00 each.
Location
These lands are in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, situated about 5 miles from Alexander City, the nearest town and railroad point, on the Central of Georgia Railroad point, and reached by good wagon road.
Climate
Reference to a map of the United States shows this district on the 33 parallel north latitude, or half way [sic] between the Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico. This insures [sic] fine climatic conditions.
LABOR: working 11 and 12 hours per day the following is the standard wage here:
Miners per day $1.00 to $1.25
Laborers in mine .50 to 1.00
Teamsters .50 to .75
Blacksmiths 1.25 to 1.50
Helpers .75
Carpenters 1.00 to 1.50
Engineer 1.00 to 1.25
Fireman .75 to 1.00
All boarding themselves
Estimated Earnings
Estimated earnings working 100 stamps. Practical experience in milling this ore has shown an average value saved of never less than $6.00 to $7.00 per ton, but to make a very conservative estimate and place the average of all the veins at $5.00 per ton would give:
100 stamps crushing 300 tons per day value $5.00 per ton $1500.00
Cost of mining and milling 300 tons at $1.50 per ton $450.00
Profit net for 24 hours $1050.00
One month 26 days $27300.00
One year, 312 days $327600.00
Titles
The title to each and every parcel of this tract has been carefully examined by attorneys and by an Abstract Guarantee Company and the abstract this prepared and furnished to this company shows a chain of title in “fee simple” and without flaws to the grantor of this Corporation.
Equipment
At present there is a modern 20 stamp mill and chlorinating plant steam power…200 feet from Hillabee River, 5 buildings for the officers in charge at the mines, office and laboratory, all of which are well finished and furnished, also five buildings or dormitories for employees, barns and carriage houses, black smith and wood working shops, complete line of tools and all purposes required in mines, boarding houses and commissary building, two large pumps, 16,000 and 10,000 gallon tanks above mills. Other tanks for special purposes. Buildings are furnished with water by pipe lines hoisting machinery, mining cars, telephone, etc.71
Hillabee Gold Mine at Hog Mountain, featuring the Barren Vein and Tunnel Vein, in the early 1900s. Courtesy of David and Karen Daniel.
HILLABEE GOLD MINING COMPANY CLOSES
The mine closed in 1916 due to shortages in chemicals and labor, which was particularly drawn away into military service or employment at greatly increased wages. No other reasons were given for the mine’s closing. The quantity and quality of ore remained high.
After closing the Hillabee Gold Mine, T.H. Aldrich moved to Pine Mountain, Georgia, where he leased the mining rights to Stockmar gold mine from the Stockmar family. He moved his complete cyanidation plant and equipment to Pine Mountain area. In January 1915, he started successful operations and continued so through December 1917.
During the last few months of 1914, Aldrich installed the cyanidation plant complete, as was transported from the Hog Mountain mine. The two leaching tanks were of Cypress wood staves and capacity of 150 tons each. The plant was erected about half way [sic] down the North Slope of the Hill and ore from mine was brought direct from tunnels and drifts onto the tanks by steel rail and dump cars of 1-ton capacity each.
Part II
SURVIVING THE DEPRESSION:
“GRINDING STONE INTO BREAD”
Ode to the Miners
They walked the distance from clapboard and timber houses past furrowed fields dotted with white cotton tops like patches of small clouds cluttering the blue sky, past morning glories, dew damp, trailing rail fences round the neighbors’ pastureland.
Father, son, brother in practiced step traverse the dirt road, a unified front against the hunger and denials of the ’30s. They walked the distance to the mountaintop to excavate tons of rock from the earth’s depth, pulverize its hardness, and make stone into bread.
—Peggy Jackson Walls
7
The Hog Mountain Mining and Milling Company
1933–1937
News of the possible reopening of the Hog Mountain gold mine came to the rural farming communities at the best possible time—during the Great Depression. By 1929, the boom of the cotton industry had ended, with prices plunging to the lowest levels of the 1800s. The cotton market, once described as “Alabama’s Gold,” now was saturated with surplus goods and few buyers. The size of cotton fields shrank as the profit from the sale of cotton fell. Alabama’s unemployment rate rose to 25 percent, with no significant improvement in the 1930s.72 Few jobs were available in the cities and even fewer in rural areas. The peckerwood sawmills that moved from place to place offered a limited number of jobs and paid workers only fifty to seventy-five cents a day. The owner-operated farms were the mainstay of the rural community’s economy. Families were large, and everyone was expected to do his or her part in the cycle of planting, growing and harvesting of food that would be cooked and served immediately or preserved for the winter months. Large fields of peas, squash, okra, tomatoes, melons, corn, millet and cane kept everyone busy in planting and harvesting time. Farmers raised hay to feed the cows, mules and horses. During harvesting season, neighbors worked together when families had emergencies and needed extra help.
Sharecrop farming was common. The sharecropper families were provided with a house to live in while they worked the farmer�
��s fields. The houses were little more than one- or two-bedroom shacks, constructed with pine lumber from nearby forests. Through cracks in the floors, the farmer and family members could observe chickens pecking for worms or seeds, where dogs and cats took shelter from the rain or the summer heat. Fireplaces with stone hearths provided small relief from the winter cold as much heat escaped through the chimney openings and through slits in the pine slab walls.
But there was comfort in knowing that no matter how cold the weather might be, at least Alabama winters were short; with spring came milder weather and the start of a new farming cycle. The sharecroppers charged staples throughout the year at the country store with the understanding they would pay their debt when crops were harvested and sold. In the fall, when they were paid, they made their way to the country store, paid off the year’s debt and perhaps experienced a temporary optimism that their life could change for the better. But few sharecropper families, black or white, managed to escape the lien system. They moved into houses that belonged to the farmer, worked in his fields and relied on a share of the profit from this enterprise. In this manner, they reared families and lived their lives in the hope that the crops would do well and that there would be buyers to purchase the fruits of their labor. The farm owner lived by the same cycle, one or two seasons of bad crops away from the same poverty. As bleak as the chances were for a different and better future, sharecrop farming provided a means of surviving.
To feed his family, the farmer relied on farming, hunting, fishing and slaughter of farm animals for pork and beef. Essential farm animals included chickens for eggs, a cow for milk and a mule or two for plowing fields. In the winter, wood was cut and hauled for use in the fireplace, wood heater and stove range. Nothing was wasted. Flour and feed sack cloth was used to sew clothing, sheets and pillowcases. Such were the economic circumstances in the small, rural farm communities during the Depression.
Alabama Gold Page 7