Pursuing Arkansas Gold and Diamonds
Glenn W. Worthington
Copyright 2012 by Glenn W. Worthington
Smashwords Edition
This is the true story of how I sought for, and found, genuine diamonds and gold in Arkansas. My discovery was awarded “One of the Best Finds of 2008” by Western and Eastern Treasure Magazine. Exact locations and details are given so that you, too, can pursue and find Arkansas gold and diamonds.
Pursuing Arkansas Gold and Diamonds
Less than fifty years after Columbus discovered The New World an army of 600 men led by Hernando DeSoto landed in Florida. Between 1539 and 1543 they tramped across Georgia, The Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. But DeSoto’s conquistadors spent more time in Arkansas than in any other state. And just what were they doing in The New World? They were searching for gold! Or, more specifically, they were looking for Indians who had found gold. DeSoto and his army planned to steal the Indian’s gold and make themselves rich.
That plan had worked well a few years earlier in Peru, South America. DeSoto had been with Pizzaro when he had robbed the Incas in 1532. DeSoto helped capture the Inca ruler, Atahualpa, who ordered his subjects to fill an entire room with gold and silver in order to purchase his freedom. His subjects did exactly that, but Pizzaro killed Atahualpa anyway. DeSoto and his men hauled off the loot. This is how DeSoto gained the wealth he needed to set off on the expedition to also rob the North American Indians of their gold. But his plans failed after realizing that the poor, North American Indians had no gold to steal.
DeSoto and his men had missed the gold when they went through Georgia. But in 1828 a man named Frank Logan discovered gold in White County, Georgia. This set off our nation’s first gold rush. By 1830 more than 300 ounces of gold were being produced PER DAY in Georgia. Production then began to diminish over the years. Much of the gold had been recovered by 1849 when news of gold in California reached the Georgian miners. The prospectors then rushed to California to find their fortunes in gold.
After panning gold in California for years, many of the prospectors headed back to their home states. Some of the California ‘49ers had come from Arkansas. After seeking their fortunes, they returned home. Once back in Arkansas, they panned their own creeks and streams in search of gold. Had gold been lying there all that time undiscovered because no one had the experience or inspiration to explore for it before? Had DeSoto and his men passed over Arkansas gold like they had the gold in Georgia?
While I was doing some research, I found a fascinating, old, newspaper article titled, “News From The Gold District.” It had appeared in the April 12, 1884, issue of Arkadelphia, Arkansas’s newspaper The Southern Standard. It was written by a man who said he had “five or six years’ experience in the mines of California.” His report reads as follows:
EDITOR’S STANDARD: Being one of the number who left Arkadelphia last Thursday for the newly-discovered gold mines in Hot Springs County, and having remained several days to make investigations, have concluded to write a few items in regard to the discovery.
We landed at the mines about 4 o’clock the same day, a distance of twenty-three miles from Arkadelphia. Found about one hundred persons camped in and around the region. The discovery was made by Dr. Willis Jones, who was an old schoolmate of mine forty-two years ago. I was shown a piece of gold that was taken out of the ground near the spring. I pronounced it gold.
The sun having disappeared behind the mountains, we pitched our camp by building a fire on one side of a large log, with the starry firmament for a covering. Our crowd numbered eleven, all from Arkadelphia. By midnight our number increased, making nineteen from the same place. The next morning four or five of our number left for home about 9 o’clock. Having scanned the mountains and Porchelake Creek by moonlight, they came to the conclusion that no gold existed, and the whole concern was a humbug. About 11 o’clock another squad left better satisfied, having taken with them several small pieces of gold, that were panned out by your humble servant. Having only five or six years’ experience in the mines of California, and not willing to pronounce the same a humbug, I concluded I would remain a few days. A.M. and J.W. Crow being of the same opinion, also remained.