Alabama Gold: A History of the South}}}s Last Mother Lode [Paperback]

Gold rushes in Cleburne and Tallapoosa Counties attracted thousands of miners years before California's famous strike. In 1936, production at the Hog Mountain mine caused Alabama to be recognized as the top producer in the Appalachian states. In Hog Mountain's heyday, a local German settler discovered the precious metal while digging a wine cellar. In Log Pit, unscrupulous speculators shot ore into rock crevices and salted nuggets on land to enhance its sale value. A Cleburne County miner cleaned over eleven pounds of gold and was killed in a free fight all in one day. Join author Peggy Jackson Walls as she traces a century of gold mining in Alabama. The really appealing factor in this book is the uniqueness of its content, supplementing any existing library on rockets of the 1960s and adding especially useful information. The author has done a magnificent job condensing a lot of information in the expanded captions and that makes it especially useful. Space Flight Magazine

Walls began her research with the miners of the 1930s, many of who were connected to her family. The second half of Alabama Gold is full of interviews in which these miners tell their stories. Walls felt that sharing the harsh realities of life in this little-known period of Alabama history was a job that was meant for her.Lake Martin Living

Walls' interest in Hog Mountain and in gold mining in Tallapoosa County has resulted in Alabama Gold: A History of the South's Last Mother Load, a 175-page book release earlier this month by The History Press. The book spans a century of gold mining in Alabama, the last southern Piedmont state in which gold was discovered.alexcityoutlook.com