Editing Blairsville, Georgia (section)

==History==
[[File:Old Union County Jail, Blairsville (Union County, Georgia).JPG|thumb|200 px|Blairsville City Hall, located in the historic Old Union County Jail building]]

During the 1830s, the United States conducted [[Indian Removal]] of the [[Cherokee Nation (19th century)|Cherokee Nation]] and other Southeast tribes, to what was designated as [[Indian Territory]] west of the [[Mississippi River]]. This area along the [[Nottely River]] was part of the large Cherokee territory and the leader [[Goingsnake]] was born here in 1758.

After American settlers moved into this area, in 1835 the [[Georgia General Assembly]] designated Blairsville as the Union County seat.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/b.pdf | title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=20 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref> The town is named after [[American Revolutionary War]] veteran [[Jimmy Blair (soldier)|James Blair]].<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons Arranged in Cyclopedic Form ...|author1=Candler, A.D.|author2=Evans, C.A.|date=1906|publisher=State historical association|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EMEBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA192|page=192|access-date=2017-01-13}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=Georgia: Her Resources and Possibilities|author1=Georgia. Dept. of Agriculture|author2=Nesbitt, R.T.|date=1895|publisher=Franklin Printing and Publishing Company|url=https://archive.org/details/georgiaherresou00nesbgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/georgiaherresou00nesbgoog/page/n388 338]|access-date=2017-01-13}}</ref><ref name="google3">{{cite book|title=Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers in Georgia|author=McCall, H.H.|date=2010|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Company|isbn=9780806302201|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c6PBnS_rh1wC&pg=PA13|page=13|access-date=2017-01-13}}</ref>

The neighboring city of [[Dahlonega, Georgia|Dahlonega]] was known as the first site of gold in the United States, but the Blairsville area was known to have the purest gold in the mountains of northern Georgia. Assayers in Washington, D.C. could tell by looking that gold ore was from the Coosa Mines because it was “the yellowest gold” submitted and its brilliant color set it apart.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dyer Jones|first1=Ethelene|title=Gold in Union County|url=http://www.unioncountyhistory.org/Home/styled-33/|website=unioncountyhistory.org|access-date=2015-02-10|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210065735/http://www.unioncountyhistory.org/Home/styled-33/|archive-date=2015-02-10}}</ref>

This area of northern Georgia was still rural and isolated before World War II. During the [[Great Depression]], under the President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] administration, the Nottely River was selected as part of the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] projects. The river was dammed in order to form a reservoir to generate hydroelectric power. It also created a lake with recreational opportunities. This was one of the projects that produced electrification in a rural area.

Blairsville's newspaper, the ''[[North Georgia News]]'', was first published in 1909.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The North Georgia News (Blairsville, Ga.) 1909-Current |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/sn89053348/ |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries |publisher=[[The Library of Congress]]}}</ref> [[United Community Bank|United Community Banks, Inc.]], one of the largest financial institutions in the Southeast U.S., was founded in Blairsville in 1949.