Dick's Creek Flume

This subtle feature is the Dick's Creek flume that carried water for miles to a gold mining site on Dickenson Branch in Rabun County near Lake Burton. Surface (placer) gold was discovered in 1828 along Dick's Creek and its branches and mining operations continued until WW I. The flume was dug by hand in the 1890's and the foundation of the rock crusher and piles of tailings litter the woods. I found it amazing to follow the course of this flume as it snaked around the mountains, its decent hardly noticeable. We can scarcely imagine the physicality of these people's lives.
Mike Maffett