The Dahlonega Gold Rush It all started when John Witherwoods found a three ounce nugget along Duke's creek. Then two other people ind a nugget. There was no actual document that stated that gold had been found in Georgia until August, 1, 1829. The land that was once called the Cherokee Nation was engulfed by thousands of people's lust for gold. A writer of the Cherokee Pheonix wrote "Our neighbors who regard no law and pay no respects to the laws of humanity are now reaping a plentiful harvest. . . . We are an abused people." But there was little the Cherokees could do; it seemed the louder they protested, the more eagerly the miners came." Auraria became an instant boomtown for the gold rush. Placer mining was the most populat among the men. But as more people moved in money was only available for vein, hard mining. Then Georgia had lotteries distribute land that ws one the Cherokee's. Finally they just pushed them out og Georgia to Oklahoma. The journey was dangerous and tireding. 4,000 out of 15,000 Cherokee and Creek died in that trip. It was known as the trail of tears. But them leaving did not change that gold was running out. In 1849 California also hit a gold rush, and know that it had stopped in Georgia, everyone went to California, That was the end of the Dahlonega Gold Rush.