183 Years Later, the Cherokees Return to the Silver Mines in North Georgia
During the infamous Trail of Tears which left North Carolina, Tennessee and North Georgia during the 1830s the Cherokees planned ahead by disguising and hiding their silver mines. The Cherokee Trail of Tears result from the enforcement of the Treaty of New Echota according to the provisions of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which exchanged Native American Land in the East for land West of the Mississippi River. This agreement was never accepted by the tribal leadership nor the majority of the Cherokee people. Although the removal began in 1833, it was not handily enforced by the U. S. Government until 1838 when about 2,000 Cherokees were re-located in the Indian Territory known today as Oklahoma. Upon examining the Dawes Rolls applications (1903) wherein descendants applied for (free) land in Oklahoma, it is quite obvious that not all of the Cherokees left Georgia because there were still Cherokee families residing in North Georgia having as much as 1/32nd Indian Blood, some of whom remembered the names of relatives listed on Indian Rolls. It was not until the final trek of 1838 that an estimated 4,000 Cherokees died en route. About 1914 a wagon train of Indians suddenly appeared on the horizon of several North Georgia Counties carrying tools and maps! These were the children and grandchildren of those who were driven West. The families went about collecting silver and other valuables from hidden mines. The mines were scattered throughout Forsyth, Paulding, Lumpkin and White Counties. Before the wagon train, some of the silver had already been discovered buried inside black pots along creek beds and ditches. Index to Georgia Wills-See Names of your Ancestors
