Gold Prospecting, Treasure Hunting, Mining, Relic Hunting, and Metal Detecting in Alabama

The Yellowhammer State

RELICS

Alabama has a rich history of early settlements and battlefields - the perfect combination for an energetic relic hunter! See the bottom of this page for links to online maps of engagement areas during the Civil War.

If you've ever thought about diving, though, Matt Mattson @ Treasuresites.com contributed the following leads for 1860s shipwreck sites:

February 8, 1862 - 271 ton stern-wheel steamer Sam Kirkman is burned at Florence, Alabama to prevent capture.
August, 1864 - The 6-gun floating battery Phoenix is sunk at Mobile, then burned.
August 5, 1864 - Federal gunboat Tecumseh, 1034 tons and 2 guns, strikes a torpedo buoy at the entrance to Mobile Bay, across from Fort Morgan and goes down with practically all hands. Nothing saved. The site is now marked, approximately 100 yards from the old torpedo buoy line.
August 5, 1864 - The Gaines, a Confederate side-wheel gunboat is beached on Mobile Point, and burns within 500 yards of Fort Morgan. The main topmast protruded 10 ft. above the water at sinking, with the stern settling in 12 ft. The Gaines was 863 tons, and armed with five 2-pound guns.
November, 1864 980 ton ship Danube, used as a floating battery, is sunk in the upper line of obstructions in Spanish River Gap.
December 7, 1864 Union gunboat Narcissus is sunk in Mobile Bay after striking a torpedo.
March 28, 1865 Union gunboat Milwaukee hits a torpedo and sinks in Blakely River while returning to Spanish Fort on Mobile Bay. Armed with 2 turrets containing two 15" and two 11" guns, the top of the gunboat was 10 ft. below the water's surface when found.
March 29, 1865 Union gunboat Osage sinks on Blakely Bar, on the edge of Blakely River, at Mobile Bay after striking a torpedo.
April 1, 1865 Union ironclad steamer Rodolph is sunk near the same position as the Milwaukee.
April 12, 1865 C.S.S. Commodore Farrand orders the unfinished ironclad Huntsville, (150 feet long, armed with four 32 pound guns) sunk in the main channel of Spanish River.
April 13, 1865 Union steamer Ida destroyed below the obstructions to Mobile Bay.
April 14, 1865 Union gunboat Scioto sunk off Mobile.
April 14, 1865 Union gunboat Itasca, and steamer Rose, are sunk inside Mobile Bay by torpedo.
April 17, 1865 Union transport steamer St. Marys was blown up by a torpedo in the Alabama River. Nothing saved.

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GOLD

Gold was first discovered in Chilton County west of the Coosa River along tributaries of the Chestnut Creek and Blue Creek in the 1830s. Most of Alabama's gold deposits were discovered in an area called the Piedmont Upland which include the following counties: Chilton, Clay, Cleburn, Coosa, Randolph, Talladega, and Tallapoosa. Twenty years later, the California Gold Rush caught the dreams of these early prospectors, and Alabama's gold was largely forgotten.

Placer Deposits

A placer deposit is a concentration of a natural material that has accumulated in unconsolidated sediments of a stream bed, beach, or residual deposit. Gold derived by weathering or other process from lode deposits is likely to accumulate in placer deposits because of its weight and resistance to corrosion. In addition, its characteristically sun-yellow color makes it easily and quickly recognizable even in very small quantities.

The gold pan or miner's pan is a shallow sheet-iron vessel with sloping sides and flat bottom used to wash gold-bearing gravel or other material containing heavy minerals. The process of washing material in a pan, referred to as "panning," is the simplest, most commonly used, and least expensive method for a prospector to separate gold from the silt, sand, and gravel of the stream deposits. It is a tedious, back-breaking job and only with practice does one become proficient in the operation. Thankfully, technology finally caught up with our gold fever and brought us metal detectors!

You can always ask for permission to hunt on any private property, but there are also several places you can pan and metal detect in public access areas. The following lands are controlled by the the Talladega National Forest Service. Contact the local Local Forest Ranger for more information including maps, regulations, and mineral rights.

Talladega County: Between Chandler Springs and Waldo in the Talladega River; and stream beds south of Waldo
Cleburn County: SW of Chulafinnee in the Chulafinnee Creek and nearby / connecting streams and washes.

COINS & JEWELRY

Alabama offers many incredible opportunities. If this is your interest, here's a few ideas to get you started:

Schools and College Campuses
Parks / Playgrounds / Picnic Areas
Foundations, Wells, and Cellar Holes of Old Churches or Houses
Downtown Construction Sites
Swimming Holes and Beaches
Camp Grounds, Boy Scout Camps, WPA Camps, and Railroad Camps
Sports Facilities
Ghost Towns
Rodeo Arenas, Riding Stables, and Race Tracks
Old Fair and Carnival Locations
Old Town Dumpsites

LOST TREASURE

As in other areas of the US, there are several tales of lost treasure in Alabama concerning caches buried for safety. In many of these stories, people either died or forgot where they buried the stash. Contributing factors include:

1. Fear of "foraging" troops during the Civil War

2. Distrust of banks during the Great Depression.

C.E. Sharps, a wealthy mill owner in Alabama, liked to keep his money in gold coins, and hidden. In June 1899, he drowned and took the secret of his "huge cache of gold" to his grave.
Spanish gold may have been cached on the shore of Minette Bay in Baldwin County. Nearby, and not far from Fort Morgan, pirates may have buried some treasure.
A family treasure is said to be buried near an old river ferry site at Seminole, Baldwin County.

These excerpts are a sampling from American Coin Treasures and Hoards