WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1831-1832
198
The Gold was discovered in 1830, and the entries made imme- diately thereafter. The country is on the same parallel of Longi- tude with the best mines of Georgia, and the Largest entry in the immediate vicinity of the Coker mines; which are on the South side of the Georgia line, within the present Indian boundary. The lands which I hold are not within the Indian country, but in the State of Tennessee, to which the Indian title has been long since extinguished, and counties organized in 1820. With few exceptions, the land is of no value but for mining purposes. Dr. Troosts~ description of the country is accurate so far as it pro- ceeds. It is more easy to reach my lands than any other place in the Gold region by the rout of Baltimore & Winchester Va. also by Abingdon, and from thence to Knoxville Tenn- from which point the farthest tract does not exceed forty miles. There is no wil- derness on the rout- thick settlements, and good houses of ac- commodation, and Mail Stages running with [in] fifteen miles of the land! I am in constant expectation of more satisfactory information on the subject of Gold found upon the lands, in what quantity, and the size of the pi~ces found Sam Houston Mr. James Prentiss [Addressed]: Mr. James Prentiss - P·resent
[Endorsed] : Saml Houston letter 27 march 1832. 1 Jamcs Prentiss Lettt-rs, The University of Texas Library.
~James Prentiss was a financier and broker of New York City. He was interested in and helped to finance several land companies that operated in Texas. See Prentiss Letters, The University of Texas Library. 8 Before the discovery of gold in California in 1849, gold mines were profitably worked in North Carolina, Georgia, North Alabama, and South- east Tennessee. The North Carolina gold fields are in the vicinity of Charlotte, and were being worked as early as 1822. The mills and smelters of these "St. Catherine" mines were run full time by 1830-1840. They were under the control of the Bissells of Hartford, Connecticut, Eugene Rousseau of Paris, France, and other foreigners. (See J. H. Bissell to Ashbel Smith, April 23, 1831, Ashbel Smith Papers, The University of Texas Library.) Ashbel Smith was interested in these North Carolina gold mines, and when he went to Paris (1831) he carried several boxes filled with specimens of the Carolina and Georgia mines to Maldnn (brother-in-law of Rousseau) to be analyzed. (See Rousseau to Smith, September 27, 1831, also Titus Bis- sell to Smith, November 13, 1832, Ibid.) The Georgia mines were not opened until 1830. These mines are in Hall and Habersham counties, the Haber- sham mines being better for "deposits" and "washings"; the Hall mines being richer as "vein mines." (Charles Fisher to Smith, July 16, 1831, ibid.)
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