The Sixes Mine is a group of former

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

placer mine Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed (alluvial) deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit (also called open-cast mining) or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment. Placer mining is frequently used for pr ...

s in the Georgia Gold Belt. They are near Sixes in

Cherokee County, Georgia Cherokee County is located in the US state of Georgia. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 266,620. The county seat is Canton. The county Board of Commissioners is the governing body, with members elected to office. Cherokee County is incl ...

, United States, located off Bell's Ferry Road, south of

Canton, Georgia Canton is a city in and the county seat of Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 22,958, up from 7,709 in 2000. Geography Canton is located near the center of Cherokee County at (34.22730 ...

History

The Sixes Mine was originally worked by the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

and was located near the Cherokee town called Sixes. It may have been in operation as early as 1819 and would therefore predate the

Georgia Gold Rush The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States and the first in Georgia, and overshadowed the previous rush in North Carolina. It started in 1829 in present-day Lumpkin County near the county seat, Dahlonega, a ...

. The discovery of six gold mines was the reason why the

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...

was forced off their land. The

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...

march began in Cherokee County approximately from where Sixes Mine is located. After the Cherokee Nation was driven off their land, the

Georgia Land Lottery of 1832 The Gold Lottery of 1832 was the seventh lottery of the Georgia Land Lotteries, a lottery system used by the State of Georgia between the years 1805 and 1833 to redistribute stolen Cherokee land. It was authorized by the Georgia General Assembly ...

took place, which granted plots of land to Georgia residents who were fortunate enough to win the lottery. One such winner was Mrs. Mary G. Franklin, founder of the Franklin-Creighton Mine. The six mines that comprised the Sixes are the * Three Hundred and One, * Cherokee, Clarkston, * Downing Creek Placer Mine, * Macou Project, * Putnam Mine.

Current status

The Sixes mine and Downing Creek Placer mines were both located in what is now the BridgeMill

planned community A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

. The Downing Creek Placer mine is located on private property on Downing Creek Court. The Three Hundred and One mine was located on county plat 301, 15th district. The Cherokee Mine is located off Wooten Drive on Army Corps of Engineers property. Public access is difficult, and there is no easy approach. The mine can be accessed by boat on Allatoona Lake up Sixes Creek, or by foot into the Corps property tree line marked by red blazes on the trees across from the BridgeMill neighborhood

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

. Visiting and

gold panning Gold panning, or simply ''panning'', is a form of placer mining and traditional mining that extracts gold from a placer deposit using a pan. The process is one of the simplest ways to extract gold, and is popular with geology enthusiasts espe ...

is allowed by the Corps, but only panning with

shovel A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made ...

s and pans in the stream bed.

Sources

Georgia Historical Marker - "Cherokee County Gold"

External links

Location Map
Geology of Georgia (U.S. state) Gold mines in Georgia Buildings and structures in Cherokee County, Georgia {{CherokeeCountyGA-geo-stub