It was opened in 1836. The last work was done about 1 years ago, when a 60-foot shaft was sunk, but without encouraging results.
The Belzoka mine is 7 miles from Columbia in Goochland county. It was discovered in 1832, and wTas worked by surface washing until 18-19, and after that the veins were opened. The Marks, Collins, Eades and Big Bird mines adjoin the Belzora.
MINES IN BUCKINGHAM COUNTY.
This is the most southwesterly county of the Virginia gold belt in which mines have been actively operated. The occurrence of gold has, however, been reported still farther to the southwest, in Appomattox, Prince Edwards, Charlotte, and Halifax counties.
The Booker mine, near Whitehall Station, was worked prior to 1860 by an English company. The deepest shaft is 110 feet. The ore was crushed in a Howland mill and yielded $13 per ton.
Another English company operated the London mine, seven miles north of the Booker, for a number of years. Other mines of equal importance in their day are the Garnett and Mosely (3 miles west of Willis mountain), the Buckingham, the Morton, the Morrow, the Duncan, the Ford, and the Lightfoot.
MINES IN FLOYD AND MONTGOMERY COUNTIES.
A small placer-mining field was opened here (on the west side of the Blue Ridge) in 1879, along Brush and Laurel creeks and other small streams running from Pilot mountain. The area embraces about 80 square miles.
The Walters and Gardner mine in Montgomery county was operated in 1893.
Gold also occurs it Patrick, Carroll and Grayson counties, but probably only to a very limited extent, associated with copper ores.
GOLD MINES IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
The present gold output of South Carolina is derived almost entirely from the Haile mine.
To show the extent and distribution of the gold-mining industry in South Carolina before the war, the following table comprising the working mines in 1859 is given: *
Chesterfield and Lancaster counties........... 21 working mines.
Spartanburg, Union and York counties........ 19
Abbeville and Edgefield counties.............. 10 "
Greenville and Pickens counties............... S " placers.
Total in State.......................... 58
'South Carolina. Resources, etc., published by the State Board of Agriculture, Charleston, 1883. p. 134.
