issue to farming between crop seasons. In
North Carolina prospectors obtained permission from the owners of the land to wash
or dig on shares, varying from one-fourth to one-half, and the proprietor was accus-
tomed to put his slaves to work in the same way along the creek bottoms after the
crops had been safely gathered. "The dust became a considerable medium of circu-
lation, and miners were accustomed to carry about with them quills tilled with gold,
and a pair of small hand scales, on which they weighed out gold at regular rates; for
instance, Si grains of gold was the customary equivalent of a pint of whisky." For
a number of years, about 1830 ami later, a man named Bechtler coined gold on his
own account in North Carolina, and these coins, with Mexican silver,are said to have
constituted the chief currency over a large region. A regular mint was established
at Dahlonegain 1838 and maintained for some years. From 1804 to 1827 all the gold
produced in the United States came from North < 'arolina. although the total amounted
to hut SH0,000. The discovery of the rich deposits in California checked mining
operations in the south, and the civil war brought about an almost complete suspen-
EXTENSION OF GEORGIA LAWS 221
siim, from which then' is hardly yet a revival. According to the best official esti-
mates the gold production of the southern Allegheny region for the century'from I7;t9
to 1898, inclusive, has been s ething over $46,000,000, distributed as follows:
North Carolina $21,926,376
( ;.•. >rgia 16, 658, 630
South Carolina 3,961,863
Virginia, slightly in excess of 3,216,343
Alabama, slightly in excess of 437,927
Tennessee,