1D: Gold Boom Gone Bust: The History of Auroria, Georgia

Abstract

In the 1830s, Lumpkin county, centrally situated on the “gold belt,” experienced the initial American gold boom. Individuals encroached upon traditional Cherokee lands, waving previous territorial agreements in the name of profit. Constructed in response to increased American interest, the impromptu mining town of Auraria followed this trend as it developed around the cache of gold. A raucous intersection of diverse individuals, Auraria focused their disparate pasts around an emotion of unbridled anticipation. Miners and policymakers alike disregarded indigenous claims to the land. Prospects of territorial and mineral wealth motivated federal expansionist policies towards Cherokee lands, resulting in the forced exodus of the Cherokee nation in 1838. Exploration of the Auraria mining town, emblematic of the region, allows further consideration of individual and federal responses towards prospects of financial success, regardless of the humanitarian consequences.