Eureeka! GOLD in the Hills EarthCache

A drive into the foothills will lead you into the Coker Creek community made popular by the discovery of gold in the 1831. Coordinates will take you to Doc Rogers field. If you are unsure about how to get there, stop at the visitor's center and ask direction. (Take Joe Brown Hwy. You will be looking for a dirt road to the coordinates.

A little bit of treasure found by Billy and me.

Coker Creek was the first place gold was discovered in Tennessee. You will be visiting an area that is frequented by gold prospectors. It is free to pan for gold throughout the year. Sluicing and dredging require a permit that is obtainable at the Tellico Ranger Station, Monday through Friday.

You will be visiting an area where gold has been mined since early 1800s. At the site, you will be able to find information about the history and the gold geology of the area. A very short walk to Coker Creek could be very helpful in your quest for answers. There is a marked path or walk through the field.

EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS:

Please send answers prior to posting your find to the earthcache. Do not post the answers in your log. If you can not post your picture at the time of your log, then log it as a note until you can upload the picture. Any log that does not meet the requirements will be deleted without notice.

1.) Picture requirement: My intentions are to have you post your picture with the creek in the background or you standing in the creek. If you refuse to post your face in the picture, then each log must have a unique picture for each log. Tilting the picture with a photo program will not be acceptable for unique. Group photos must reference who's picture you are in otherwise. A unique picture must be included with every log if you are not in the picture. .
MANDATORY: Send the correct answers to all the questions. If you can not send the answers at the time of your post, then Please use the "write a note" feature.

• What are the two principal types of gold deposits?
• What type of deposit is at Doc Rogers field?
• How was the gold retrieved from the land at Doc Rogers field?
• Walk down the path to the creek and describe the creek
• Describe the impact of the panning and dredging to the creek.
• Tell me something interesting that you discovered in the area. If you are in a group, everyone must have a unique answer for this question.

Failure to comply with the requirements for this earthcache will result in log deletion with no explanation. Simple terms: You don't complete the requirements... I delete your log.

Gold is relatively scarce in the earth, but it occurs in many different kinds of rocks and in many different geological environments. Though scarce, gold is concentrated by geologic processes to form commercial deposits of two principal types: lode (primary) deposits and placer (secondary) deposits.

Most of the gold in Tennessee is in a narrow belt along the North Carolina border. Tennessee has produced 23,800 ounces of gold from 1831 until 1959. Most of that was a by product of the Ducktown copper ores in Polk County. The placer deposits along Coker Creek seem to be of the most interest to recreational prospectors.

In the southeast part of the county along Coker Creek, there is numerous placer deposits and mines. The first discovery of gold was made in this area in 1827. The total production by 1962 was around 9,000 ounces of gold. The present stream gravels, along with bench and "high terrace" deposits contain abundant placer gold. There are some alluvial cones that were heavily mined in the area as well. There was numerous small mines that produced low grade deposits in fissure veins.

None of these mines were commercially valuable, but of interest to the recreational prospector. Along the whippoorwill Branch of the Tellico River gold has been reported as well. All of the following creeks contain some color: Alvin, Big, Hot Water, Johnson, Long, McCallister, Mill, Peels, Roberts, Liberty, Sixmile and Wildcat Creeks.

Thorndike/Barnhart's Advanced Dictionary defines "placer" as "A deposit of sand, gravel or earth in the bed of a stream containing particles of gold or other valuable mineral." The word "geology" in the same dictionary is defined as "The features of the earth's crust in a place or region, rocks or rock formations of a particular area." So in putting these two words together, we have "placer geology" as the nature and features of the formation of deposits of gold and other valuable minerals within a streambed.

The main factor causing gold to become deposited in the locations where it does is its superior weight over the majority of other materials which end up in a streambed. By superior weight, I mean that a piece of gold will be heavier than most any other material which displaces an equal amount of space or volume. For example, a large boulder will weigh more than a half-ounce gold nugget; but if you chip off a piece of the boulder which displaces the exact same volume or mass as the gold nugget, the nugget will weigh about six times more than the chip of rock.

As gold is eroded from its original lode, gravity, wind, water and the other forces of nature may move it away and downwards until it eventually arrives in a streambed.

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