Coker Creek in Monroe County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central)

Gold Mining at Coker Creek

The Tennessee Overhill Experience: From Furs to Factories

Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 3, 2023

1. Gold Mining at Coker Creek Marker

Inscription. For more than a century, Coker Creek was the economic center of Tennessee’s eastern gold district. Prospectors began working the area as early as 1827 when it was still within the Cherokee Nation. Tennessee’s first state geologist, Gerard Troost, visited Coker Creek in 1831, where he found hundreds of miners engaged in “washing of the materials or rivulets, gulleys and other low places.” Over the decades, prospectors, local farmers, and several mining companies used panning, hydraulic hoses, mechanical dredges, blasting and/or tunneling in their search for gold around Coker Creek. A few individuals made fortunes, but most realized only a modest return.

[Caption]:
Local gold mining peaked from 1856 to 1860, when 600 to 700 prospectors, including several slaves and freedmen, worked the streams and uplands in the Coker Creek vicinity. Official U.S. Mint tallies document no more than $269, 422 in gold was retrieved between 1831 and 1921. However, early merchants, who traded goods for gold, estimated the recovery at approximately $2,000,000 by the 1890’s.

Mechanical dredging at Coker Creek from Ashley, The Gold Field of Coker Creek, 1911.

Erected by Tennessee

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Department of Transportation; Tennessee 200, Inc.; The East Tennessee Foundation; McMinn, Monroe, & Polk Counties; Monroe County Tourism; Etowah Historical Society; City of Copperhill; Webb Bros.; Coker Creek Heritage Group; and Sequoyah Birthplace Museum.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce. In addition, it is included in the A Tennessee Overhill Experience - From Furs to Factories series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1827.

Location. 35° 15.505′ N, 84° 17.453′ W. Marker is in Coker Creek, Tennessee, in Monroe County. It is at the intersection of Tennessee Route 68 and Hot Water Road, on the right when traveling north on Tennessee Route 68. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 12199 TN 68, Tellico Plains TN 37385, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in East Tennessee.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically,

Photographed by Tom Bosse, July 3, 2023

2. Gold Mining at Coker Creek Marker

it finds itself in what was once the original Cherokee Nation,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 8 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Unicoi Turnpike Trail (a few steps from this marker); Coker Creek (within shouting distance of this marker); Early Gold Mining (within shouting distance of this marker); Tellico Tales: Former City Hall (approx. 7.2 miles away); Tellico Tales: School House Hill (approx. 7.2 miles away); Tellico Tales: Scott Street (approx. 7.2 miles away); Tellico Tales: Memorial Drive (approx. 7.2 miles away); Tellico Tales: Veterans Memorial (approx. 7.2 miles away).

Credits. This page was last revised on July 5, 2023. It was originally submitted on July 5, 2023, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 2,093 times since then and 372 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 5, 2023, by Tom Bosse of Jefferson City, Tennessee. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.