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CHAP. XXV.
otherwise. At present, as in all mining under-takings, the expectations of the persons engagedare very sanguine.
It may not be improper to notice a kind ofmania on the subject of gold mines, which at presentprevails in some part of the United States ofAmerica , although it is of too recent a date tohave any influence on the subject of this inquiry.As far as it extends, it may be compared withthe excitement created in Ireland a few years agoby the discovery of some small portions of gold inthe mountains of Wicklow.
Some gold had been found in North Carolina as early as 1824; the amount was then only six thou-sand dollars; in 1825, it increased to seventeenthousand; in 1826, it rose to twenty thousand;in 1827, to twenty-one thousand ; in 1828, toforty-six thousand; and in 1829, to one hundredand twenty-eight thousand. Besides the attemptsmade in North Carolina in the year 1829, thesame spirit of searching was extended to Virginia,where it obtained two thousand five hundred dol-lars, and to South Carolina , which yielded threethousand five hundred dollars. This tendencyhas extended southward to Georgia , where a mineis said to have been discovered near Gainsville , inHall county. It is called a ridge mine, and therocks, when pounded, produce gold in a greater orless quantity. “On the 21st September, 1830,seven hands procured two hundred and five penny-