Old Rock Crusher

This is more an archeologic relic than a recognizable structure, but its implications are large. This is the foundation of an old rock crusher built on Dickenson Branch near Lake Burton in Rabun County. The first gold strike in the east was in Rutherfordton County, NC, in 1799. Prospectors soon began to realize this chance strike was part of a belt of gold bearing ore running from NC to Villa Rica, GA. Who made the first strike is debatable. By legend it was Benjamin Parks near Dahlonega in 1828, leading to the nation's first gold rush, and the establishment of the nation's first branch mint. There were actually simultaneous strikes all through N. GA in 1828. In Rabun County the find was along Dick's Creek on the property of a man named Smith. The gold here was all surface or placer gold. The mining continued up until WW I. How much was removed is anybody's guess. This crusher and the expansive placer leavings littered around it, were powered by a hand-dug water flume that extended up Dick's Creek several miles. The snake-like path of the flume can easily be followed today. The amount of labor required staggers the imagination.
Mike Maffett