home to many Creeks and
Cherokees. There are a few Creek and Cherokee descendents in Dahlonega today,
though they are not in communities but scattered throughout Dahlonega. Most of
the descendents are Creek-Cherokee mixed. Names like Corn, Davis, and Bird, as
well as the Chambers families, were of Cherokee blood. Surnames like Limley and
Cagle were of Creek and Seminole blood. Though not afforded state or federal
recognition, these families still practice their traditions as Cherokee and
Creek people. The Cherokee called the area Talonega, which means yellow; George
Featherstonhough, an English geologist who visited the town in 1837, observed
that the courthouse was built upon a broad expanse of hornblende slate "and
that the soil of the public square was impregnated with small specks of
gold." The spelling of the Cherokee word Da-lo-ni-ge-i was disputed by
early correspondents, with Featherstonhough, for example, calling it
"Tahlonekay." Since 1977, the state recognized tribe has been known
as The Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee.
Illegal mining
Numerous gold mines were illegally
developed in the area. Miners, entering illegally into the Cherokee Nation
lands, came into conflict with the Cherokee, whose territory they had tress passed.
The Cherokee lands were defined by the treaty between the Federal Government
and the Cherokee Nation in The Treaty of Washington 1819. The miners raised
political pressure against the Cherokee because they wanted to get the gold.
The Federal Government forced the Native Americans west of the Mississippi
River to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears during Indian Removal. Dahlonega was
founded two years before the Treaty of New Echota 1835, which made its founding
a violation of The Treaty of Washington of 1819.
Naming the city
