Goldville is maybe 30 miles from my home. A lot of creeks in the area contain gold. Have several friends who prospect as a hobby. My dad and his buddy gave it a try. Gave it up. Hard work! For not much return. There surely is such a thing as “Gold Fever”. I’ve seen it in people that find a few small flakes. You would figure with the price of gold as it is that it would become profitable to prospect. But, as I said, it’s a lot of hard work.
Gold Hill is a small hamlet north of Auburn. We would pass through it on the way to other places and that is how I learned of Alabama’s gold deposits. As you say, hard work for a very low return.
That Alabama gold field extends east-northeast up through GA towards the SC border: Across the border to the east Villa Rica, Dalonaga, and other little GA towns in that little fault line of the old mountains yielded most of the US gold found before 1848-49 in CA.
I’m in Tallassee. Right by Gold Camp Road. We had one or two mines here back then.