Alabama Gold by Peggy Jackson Walls

Author:Peggy Jackson Walls [Walls, Peggy Jackson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781439656617
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2016-07-11T04:00:00+00:00

The Alexander City Outlook from August 3, 1933: “Reopening of Old Hog Mountain Gold Mine.” Courtesy of Tallapoosa County Probate Records, Dadeville, Alabama.

The Hog Mountain Mine will be in operation by Christmas according to announcement made by P.S. Gardner, Jr. son of P.S. Gardner, president of the Hog Mountain Mining and refining Co. The gold mine will employ 75 to 80 men. It is situated 14 and one half miles east of Alexander City and about six miles from Goldville.

Preparations for beginning of mining operations are being carried forward as fast as possible. A power line that will provide for electrical operations of refining machinery and removal of ores from the ground will be constructed by the Alabama Power Company, according to Mr. Gardner.

Approximately 150 tons of ore will be mined when operations first begin. Production [of] up to 600 tons of ore daily will be started after opening of mining operations gets underway in December.

The removal of the precious yellow metal by the Gardner interests will be done under provisions of a ten-year lease Mr. Gardner has taken on the property by T.S. Aldrich of Birmingham.

The Hog Mountain mine was operated for a period of several decades, off and on, but production was stopped in the early days of the World War due to a scarcity of cyanide, a chemical compound made in Germany, used in extracting gold from the ores where it’s found. Before the mine was closed, it had produced in its long history about $600,000 in gold bullion. This production was about three fourths of the total amount of gold taken from mines (Alabama gold mines) in the last hundred years, according to Mr. Gardner.

In its previous years of operation only about 35 tons of ore were removed daily from the veins that were worked. Because the ores therein are low grade, production of a much larger amount of ore is necessary. Therefore installation of electrical mining apparatus is to be provided for. Investigations and soundings of the property in and around the mines have been going on for the last twenty-one months. Without mishaps to intervene, production will get under way by Christmas at the latest, it is expected.

Renewed operation of the mine will be an aid to Alexander City’s business houses. It again demonstrates the wealth and all-around richness of the section of which Alexander City is the trade center and capital.

Businesses in Alexander City had reason to be excited about the reopening of the Hog Mountain gold mine. Any good fortune to come out of the mine’s operation would impact the economic outlook of the city. Visiting speculators, engineers and investors stayed in the old Russell Hotel in Alexander City. There was at least one prominent local investor, Benjamin Russell, who was a director on the company board with O.B. Thurlow, F.C. Weiss and R.M. Fuller, secretary. Mining experts came from other areas: P.S. Gardner, president and general manager, was from Nevada; George M. Brown, vice-president and general superintendent, from Arizona; N.O. Johnson, mill superintendent, from Colorado; and Elmer J.

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