It is unusual for the author to place the bibliography at the beginning of a book. In this instance, however, it is appropriate because it helps the reader mine mixed veins of fact and legend.
Nancy Roberts has done a service to the history of gold discovery in the United States by emphasizing the seldom-explored Eastern rush - the El Dorado in the Southern Appalachians that produced an influx of foreign capital and miners several decades before the big strike in California initiated a half-century of Western mining frenzy.
Among the stories related are those dealing with gold mines in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, whose discoveries were important enough to justify the construction of government mints at Charlotte, N.C., and Dahlonega, Ga.
Like most gold strikes, the Eastern discoveries soon began to play out; the rush ended abruptly in 1848 when the discovery of gold on the American River at Coloma, Calif., lured experienced miners away from the Southern Appalachians.
Roberts follows this migration through the experiences of heroes such as North Carolinian Thomas Green, a military leader and prominent politician in gold rush California, and Georgian Green Russell, a pioneer miner in California and Colorado who founded the settlement that ultimately became Denver. She also presents other colorful figures, including Black Bart, the cultured Missourian who became the scourge of the California goldfields.
Although the book is somewhat unfocused, it will enhance visits to those areas where gold mining remnants are open to visitors, especially those near Charlotte and Dahlonega.
* John Bowen, retired associate editorial page editor of The Times-Herald, is the author of a number of books on historical subjects.
THE GOLD SEEKERS
Gold, Ghosts and Legends from Carolina to California
By NANCY ROBERTS
University of South Carolina Press
265 pages. $14.95