Battle Branch Mine

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Gneiss sample from the Battle Branch Mine showing gold veinlets (they appear white)

The Battle Branch Mine, sometime referred to as the Battle Creek Mine, was located near the town of Auraria in Lumpkin County, Georgia. During the Georgia Gold Rush, sometime before the Gold Lottery of 1832, men from several different states were all working in the same stream when a dispute over the possession of the place ended in a fight in which a number of men were seriously wounded, providing the name for the mine ultimately located there.^[1] After the American Civil War, William John Turner Hutcheson, who served with the Blue Ridge Rifles, a Confederate fighting unit from Dahlonega, Georgia, became superintendent of the Battle Branch gold mine. ^[2] The mine continued producing gold well into the 1900’s, producing 661.28 ounces of gold in 1935.^[3]

There is some confusion as to the actual location of the mine. The United States Geological Survey lists two mines named Battle Branch Mine. Both are to the east of Auraria, but one is on the west side of the Etowah River^[4] and the other is on the east side of the Etowah River.^[5]

[edit] References

^ Mines Of The Nation's First Gold Rush, by Sylvia Gailey Head (accessed October 27, 2006)
^ Cpl William John Turner Hutcheson - Company E by:Kurt Graham (accessed October 27, 2006)
^ Gold and Silver by Henderson, Chas. W.; Dunlop, J. P, p.95 in Minerals yearbook 1936 (Year 1935) (accessed October 27, 2006)
^ USGS MRDS record 10119433 (accessed October 27, 2006)
^ USGS MRDS record 10083766 (accessed October 27, 2006)