Historical Investigation and Archaeological Data Recovery at The Sixes Gold Mine (9CK537) Harbor View Development Site Cherokee County, Georgia

During the period of June 23, 1997 to February 1, 1998, R.S. Webb and Associates conducted archival research, site mapping and data recovery excavations at the Sixes Gold Mine (Site 9CK537), an early 19th to middle 20th century gold mining operation. The current study focused on a 22.44-acre portion of the Sixes Gold Mine located in the northern section of Land Lot 221 in the 15th District 2nd Section within the Harbor View Development Area in Cherokee County, Georgia. Mining operations at the Sixes Gold Mine were distributed in various degrees of concentration throughout Land Lots 221, 150, 212 and 284, near where Sixes Creek empties into Allatoona Lake, approximately 2. 75 miles west of Holly Springs, Georgia. Based on testing data, the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office agreed that the Sixes Gold Mine is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Because construction of the Harbor View Development Site (now known as Bridge Mill) will cause unavoidable adverse effects to the Sixes Gold Mine, a data recovery program was designed and implemented by R.S. Webb and Associates on behalf of JRC/Towne Lake, Ltd.. The objectives of the data recovery project were to recover archeological and archival/historical information related to the establishment, operations and economy of the Sixes Gold Mine. Archival research included an exhaustive search of Cherokee County archival records. Available federal and state documents were examined, along with mining and geological records. Local informants were interviewed to provide insight into the operation of the mine prior to its decline. Data recovery investigations included the mapping and photo-documentation of the surface features located within the 22.44-acre study area. Two hundred and fifty-two mining features were mapped during the current study including: 17 placer excavations, 58 open pit excavations, 58 open trench excavations, 13 assay pits, 81 waste piles, seven tramways, five horizontal shaft openings, nine collapsed shaft features, three vertical shaft entrances and one hydraulic mining feature. Excavations totaling 156 square feet (ft2) were conducted in an area believed to be a mining camp and included one, 10.0 by 10.0- foot excavation unit, one 10.0 by 5.0-foot excavation unit and six 1.0 by 1.0 foot shovel tests. The excavations uncovered rock and soil waste from mining operations and a sparse collection of historic artifacts; however, no architectural features or diagnostic machinery parts were recovered. Excavation unit data suggested that the area believed to be a mining camp had been historically razed and/or abandoned and later used as a staging area for raw ore and mining equipment. The artifact assemblage associated with data recovery excavations is typical of a rural, late 19th century domestic scatter. A vast majority of the artifacts recovered were subsistence/kitchen items followed by architectural and industrial items. The investigations at the Sixes Gold Mine characterize the site as one of the oldest gold mines in the state. Prospectors were exploring placer deposits at the mine in 1829, four years before the mine would be legally deeded to Allen Lawhorn in the Georgia land lottery. At the height of activities at the Sixes Gold Mine, operations probably sprawled over 160 acres. Documentary information and archeological evidence collected from the mine suggest that placer workings, open trench excavations, open pit excavations, hydraulic excavations and hard-rock mining techniques were used to extract ore from the property. Similarly, ore processing techniques utilized at the Sixes Gold Mine included stamp milling, mercury amalgamation, mechanical concentration and assay evaluation.