1829 letter:  Branch Gold in Rutherford County.

http://books.google.com/books?id=IjwPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA361&dq=Gold+Rutherford+County+NC&hl=en&sa=X&ei=V3PgT421Nem_6AGVrdl-&ved=0CHEQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=Gold%20Rutherford%20County%20NC&f=false

I am fortunate that in the summer I teach online and therefore, in between working with students, I have "computer" time to explore my love of history and genealogy.

I'd like to share some "tidbit" finds:

In 2003,I read that a trunk containing historic papers was found in Asheville.  This trunk opened up a "mine" of history.
http://www2.unca.edu/news/releases/2003/papers.html

The trunk interested me because I had recently traveled to Duke University and also to Chapel Hill to study documents on the McEntire (McIntire, McIntyre) genealogy.  While there, I read letters from Archibald McIntyre, the son of famed Archiblad McIntyre (comptroller in NY) while he was in Rutherfordton, NC.  I also read about McIntyre mining in the Adirondacks.

http://www.adirondack-park.net/history/mcintyre.mine.html

But back to the "found" papers...

These papers eventually formed the collection known as "Speculation Lands," now housed at UNC-A.
http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/speculation_lands/default.htm

Reading the speculation collection was to discover "history" in volumes.  One of my favorite finds was when an agent from Hendersonville,  Mr. Justice, was advised to "act like a farmer," in order to gain the trust of Rutherford County farmers so that he could make offers to by their lands.   This line became the inspiration for the poem, Land Speculators: Book 37, Number 400,* (included below)

Reading these papers also led me to some of the most interesting mid 1800 -early 1900 reports by state geologist, Ebenezer Emmons and to the 1847 "Report on the Gold Mines of Philadelphia and North Carolina."

I was and continue to be fascinated by the descriptive writing on these mines near names familiar:  Whiteside, Edgerton branch, Gilbert Town...

http://books.google.com/books?id=xyY7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=south+of+rutherfordton+gold&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JnrgT4OuAe-K6gGlvbB_&ved=0CHQQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=south%20of%20rutherfordton%20gold&f=false

I also found beauty in learning about the  "arborescent gold," at the Shemwell Mine, as well as the significant gem size discovered at Twitty* mine.  No wonder the wanderlust for gold!

*Twitty mine: http://books.google.com/books?id=tTvPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA79&dq=gold+rutherford+county+nc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aYXgT_KTCI2K6gHsu5yAAQ&ved=0CGwQ6AEwCDgU#v=onepage&q=gold%20rutherford%20county%20nc&f=false

And finally, in closing on this glance of tibits, I discovered Chapel Hill's: Documenting the American South.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/support/about/

One could spend a summer "online" in this treasure alone.

I am teaching once more in summer and eager to see where this season's mining leads.

"Happy Trails."

Other links to explore gold in Rutherford County:

1919:
http://books.google.com/books?id=pTBNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA18&dq=gold+rutherford+county+nc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AYTgT63GMoSM6QGFwfR_&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=gold%20rutherford%20county%20nc&f=false

1919:
http://books.google.com/books?id=fP8mAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA20&dq=gold+rutherford+county+nc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AYTgT63GMoSM6QGFwfR_&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=gold%20rutherford%20county%20nc&f=false

1878
http://books.google.com/books?id=-SlMAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA72&dq=gold+rutherford+county+nc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1ITgT5GzD7DR6gGGj4iWAQ&ved=0CEoQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=gold%20rutherford%20county%20nc&f=false

1884:
http://books.google.com/books?id=t0wDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA10&dq=gold+rutherford+county+nc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1ITgT5GzD7DR6gGGj4iWAQ&ved=0CGoQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=gold%20rutherford%20county%20nc&f=false

  Land Speculators: Book 37, Number 400

They came among us
when we were newborn.
“Act like a farmer to gain their trust,”
said lawyers from New York.

Vain janglers
babbling reason and chiming dollars
toward a farmer’s tethered pockets.
Were we eager to dream
a sturdy wagon, new shoes,
spring corn?

And later, as northern zines
sprouted promises to own
ripe and unspoiled lands,
deeds like old Doc Brown’s
were sought and sold
together with all rights,
privileges and appurtenances thereunto.

A day’s work done,
dealmakers clung
‘til the hand-shaker’s shadow
stretched like a caul
across some sawyer’s
virgin planks.

Our grandfathers signed,
and trace ink dried like dribbled milk
as we dreamt our youth
under the scrambling front porch vines
of a golden scuppernong.

Our history sleeps there still,
wrapped in speculation and transaction,
shaded by the twinning branch of a Carolina pine,
and rocked by the wafting trill
of some hopeful mother’s
mountain song.

Teresa Price, published first place in Anuran, ©2004, all rights reserved