Crisson began as an open‑pit hard‑rock operation in 1847 after placer gravels on the property were worked out. Early miners tunneled into quartz veins, then later turned to hydraulic monitors and heavy equipment to wash and crush ore on a larger scale. The site’s small stamp mill—over a century old—still crushes gold‑bearing quartz today and harkens back to the era when stamp batteries boomed across Lumpkin County. Crisson stayed in commercial production far longer than most Dahlonega mines, operating into the late twentieth century. Local lore holds that some of the gold leaf used on the Georgia State Capitol dome came from ore produced here, a testament to the deposit’s quality. In 1969 the owners opened the property to the public for panning and demonstrations. Visitors can watch ore reduced, try their hand at panning, and appreciate how open‑pit benches and weathered cuts tell the story of a working mine that bridged the nineteenth‑ and twentieth‑century gold eras.