1855 & 1859 - Pair of letters regarding the operation of one of the most productive gold mines in the East that generated over $1 million dollars in its first eight years of operation before the Civil War, approximately $35 million in today's money

Sleeoy Creek & Dorn's Mines, 1859. Envelope or Cover. Very good. One three-page and one two-page stampless folded letters. They were sent by James Dorn who owned two mines in partnership with his brother, William Burkhalter "Billy" Dorn, to Joseph Slocum, in New York and Savannah. Both letters are from South Carolina and bear free-frank manuscript postmarks as James Dorn was the local postmaster; and processed mail at each of their mines. One postmark reads "Sleepy Creek, Sept 1st [1855]" and the other "Dorn's Mines, Decr. 30th [1859]."

These letters from James Dorn read in part:

"I am the same man that you stayed with at Sleepy Creek, I moved here three years ago and formed a copartnership with my Brother for ten years, we done a fine business the two first years and made nearly 30000 Dollars clear each year, but this year we will not clear ten thousand and the old part of the mine has failed at about ninety feet and drove for the vein at the depth of 715 feet . . . and think we will do well next year. . .. We have leased the mine to a man two years ago and he ground up the ore we had raised and made about three thousand dollars and quit and the mill is standing still. I expect to work it when I go back. . ..

"Can you get no offer for that mine, we have got out some 4 or 5 thousand Bushels of flint ore and about 4 thousand Bushels of Slate ore at that which I would guarantee to average 20 cents per bushel...the large rock I sent from the Elbert Dorn mine I would be willing to pay $4.00 Dollars to have it ground up to know how much gold it contained per bushel.. . .."

. It is often forgotten that fifty years before the California Gold Rush, a similar frenzy occurred in the Southeastern United States following the discovery of gold near Cabarrus, North Carolina, and after more was found near what today is Dahlonega (the Cherokee word for "yellow money") prospectors scoured the region and found small veins and nuggets as well as microscopic particle in mineral deposits scattered across a gold belt that ran through both Carolinas.

The possibility of striking it rich nearly drove some men mad, and William Burkhalter Dorn was one of them. His grandparents had settled in South Carolina and by the time Billy was an adult, he had become the owner of the family's 529-acre plantation in the vicinity. Although well-off, he still envied his even wealthier neighbor, John W. Herst. In time he became convinced that gold was located somewhere on his property that he let his plantation go to seed while spending every waking minute searching every nook and cranny of his 500+ acres for it. As he ran out of place to search, he was stricken with the fear that his imagined gold lay just next door on Herst's property. Unable to bear the thought, he visited his neighbor and convinced him to sell a 1,263 -acre track at just under $1 per acre.

Unfortunately, Dorn continued to ignore his plantation, and it appeared banks would soon foreclose. Legend has it that as he was overtaken by desperation with only three days left to pay off his loan, Dorn flung a shovel on the recently purchase track, vowing that if gold were not located where it landed, he would give up his 15-year quest. Incredibly, he found that the shovel had landed on an astonishingly rich lode right at the ground's surface.

At the age of 54, Dorn was rich and could he immediately repay his debt. Soon, he used slaves to do the laborious mine work while he managed the business and within the next 16 months the mine produced $300,000 of gold, over $35 million in today's money. By the time his brother James, who had become his partner around 1855, wrote his 1859 letter, the mine had provided over $1 million of gold, nearly $190 million in today's money. The Dorns were rich beyond their wildest dreams, so rich that at one point Billy considered shingling his Oak Grove mansion with gold tiles. But his wealth begat boredom, and he turned his attention to romance, something he had ignored his entire life.

He became enamored with the 15-year-old daughter of a business associate who was equally infatuated with him. They married in 1855 and raised nine children over the next 10 years. However, most of their incredible wealth disappeared with the Civil War. Dorn spent much of it raising, equipping, and supporting an entire Confederate regiment, and he supplied all his enslaved workers, whom he continued to support, to build coastal fortifications. By the end of the war, his wealth was only a small fraction of what it was before the conflict. Too old and too tired to build his entire mining complex anew, he leased it to an Atlanta partnership who had funded their investment with money from Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the famous reaper, and in time McCormick purchased the Dorn Mining Company outright. Dorn spent his remaining years doting on his family. He died in 1876. His widow lived another 53 years, dying in 1935. The Oak Grove mansion burned to the ground in 1935.

(For more information, see Edmonds's "Mother Lode gave birth to McCormick" in the 31 December 2000 edition of the Greenwood Index-Journal, "[Dorn Mine] Mine Information" at heritagegoldmine.com, and "A Brief Survey of Historic Gold Mining in the Carolina Slate Belt" at the Mining McKissick website.)

Exceptionally rare, no doubt unique. This correspondence fills a major hole in the history of South Carolina gold mining. At the time of listing, no other original source Dorn mine material is for sale in the trade, and OCLC shows nothing is held by institutions. One Dorn Mine item, a postally used envelope without content was sold for $4,425 by Siegel Auctions in 2018; a similar cover was also sold at a Siegel auction in 1986.

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