North Carolina Gold

If you read our Storymap  "The Gold Standard" , you have a pretty good understanding that gold, the shiny interstellar metal, has captivated civilizations for thousands of years and has played an integral role in the history of both the ancient and modern worlds. From the Greeks to the Romans, and the Egyptians to the Incas, humans have been in search of this unique metal for nearly 5,000 years.

There have been downsides to "gold fever": wars have been waged, mine workers have been enslaved, and civilizations have been pillaged and ravaged. Gold has also made people and countries prosperous, has led to the development of major cities (San Francisco, Sydney, Johannesburg), and has gifted our world with amazing pieces of art of jewelry.

The United States had not been a player in industrialized gold mining until a fateful Sunday in 1799 when a 12-year-old boy in Cabarrus County, NC found a 17-pound shiny nugget in a creek on his family's farm. The discovery of that gold nugget triggered the first gold rush in the U.S. and forever changed the history of our nation. The history of gold mining in North Carolina is a great story of industrialization and agriculture and how the two struck a balance in the early years of gold fever. There's currently no major commercial gold mining in North Carolina, but new mining technologies and renewed interest in minerals for our high tech world could change that.

• Native Americans in Cherokee County may have been mining gold before the arrival of European settlers
• Unsubstantiated reports claim that in 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto attempted to mine gold along the Valley River near Murphy
• North Carolina was the only gold-producing state in the U.S. from 1803-1828; most of the gold mining during this time was placer mining
• A branch of the U.S. Mint was opened in Charlotte in 1837; this Mint coined nearly five million dollars worth of southern gold (in $1, $2.50, and $5 denominations) until the start of the Civil War in 1861
• North Carolina was the leading producer of gold until 1848, when gold was discovered in California
• Sporadic gold production occurred in NC until the early 1900s - the last significant gold production between 1954 and 1963 was actually a byproduct of copper mining in the Blue Ridge mountains

Although gold is a rare element, it's widely distributed in small amounts in igneous rocks. Luckily for North Carolina, the Piedmont and Mountain regions are full of igneous rocks that have quartz veins, where the gold tends to be deposited. In the early 1800s, gold production was mostly in the central Piedmont region from the Greensboro area southwestward towards Charlotte.

The central Piedmont in the 1700s and early 1800s was rural farmland, inhabited by the Catawba Native Americans and European settlers but the Revolutionary War and discovery of gold would drastically change this landscape (figuratively and literally). Once word got out that gold had been found on a farm in Cabarrus County, prospecting spread from farm to farm, county to county, and southern state to southern state - a gold rush! Gold mining in these early years was restricted to creeks and streams on farmland in this very rural part of the state.

Farmers that became prospectors and miners had little to no knowledge of mining and milling and it usually took years to make a profit, if one was made at all. With little profit from gold, farmers had to keep up the daily work of their farms in order to earn a living and so these two industries became intrinsically linked. The farming and mining industries' relationship was so symbiotic, in fact, that in 1830, the Miners' and Farmers' Journal was established to detail the connection between mining and farming activities.

Governmental leaders began to realize in the early 1800s that gold mining could play a role in reinvigorating our state's economy and could lead to development of other resource-based industries. In 1823, Denison Olmsted was commissioned to perform the state's first mineralogical and geological survey, a survey which produced the first map of North Carolina's geological and mineralogical resources in 1825. From this first survey 200 years ago, the North Carolina Geological Survey was born!

There's no definitive answer, but some  estimates  put the value of gold production around $1 million (1800s value) per year during the gold rush. Many miners in the early years of production kept their profit records secret and there was likely theft by workers and family members. Much of the gold that was mined didn't go to the Mints, but rather was sent back to Europe, was used for settlers to move further west, and was even made into jewelry.

 Reed Gold Mine  holds a special place in North Carolina's history. Since prior claims of gold discoveries and mining haven't been verified, it's generally accepted that this was the location of the first documented gold discovery in the United States. Finally, the U.S. had a seat at the gold table! The story of the Reed Gold Mine is quite a tale that's been told many times so we won't be reinventing the wheel here but do hope to provide a glimpse into the history of this famous discovery. For a complete history of Reed Gold Mine, take a look at Gold Mining in North Carolina, A Bicentennial History by Richard F. Knapp and Brent D. Glass (1999), check out the North Carolina Historic Sites  webpage , and watch the video below.

John Reed, a German immigrant, and his wife Sarah settled in the southern Piedmont region near Charlotte around the end of the Revolutionary War. The history of his family, his farm, and the United States was changed one Sunday morning in 1799. Reed's son, Conrad, was fishing on the family farm where he discovered a shiny metal object in Little Meadow Creek. It's said that the object was about the size of a clothes iron and weighed about 17 pounds. John Reed took the rock to a silversmith in Concord, NC but the silversmith said the rock had no value. After returning home, the family used it as a doorstop (can you imagine?!) for three years before finally taking it to a Fayetteville jeweler in 1802.

That jeweler, knowing exactly what that shiny object was, fluxed the metal and made a gold bar roughly six to eight inches long. The jeweler asked John Reed how much he wanted for it and John said $3.50 - not knowing its real worth was about $3,600! Reed later discovered that the jeweler had sold the gold for several thousand dollars so he returned and received additional compensation from the jeweler. After realizing the potential for gold on the family farm, Reed and a partnership of local men began a search for gold along Little Meadow Creek - off season, of course, as farming was still top priority.

In 1803 and 1804, part-time mining was in full swing on the Reed Farm. In 1803, an enslaved worker named Peter found a 28-pound gold nugget - the largest gold nugget found on the Reed property and the largest found east of the Mississippi River. Needing a way to make money from their discoveries, the partners shipped gold to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1804. As you might imagine, word spread quickly about the Reed gold discovery throughout Philadelphia, New York, and Washington D.C.

Gold fever began to spread as other local farmers and farmers in nearby counties started to explore their own land and creeks for gold, hoping for the same good fortune as the Reeds. Part-time placer mining continued at the Reed Mine for the next twenty years and by 1824, their mining had yielded nearly $100,000 worth of gold (Gold Mining in North Carolina, Knapp & Glass, 1999). Denison Olmsted, North Carolina's first state geologist, even made a visit to the mine in 1821, offering ideas to enhance the extraction of gold from the creek.

John Reed's farm and mine remained a rather rudimentary operation, as he employed family members and didn't reinvest much money on workers, equipment, or technology. Tales of discontent and greed within the family often circulated, but reached a head in 1834 when a Reed family member found a 9.5 pound nugget. Disputes over ownership of this gold and other nuggets found at the mine culminated in lengthy court battles which eventually ended up in the state supreme court. A court injunction caused the mine to close for over a decade.

John Reed died a wealthy man on May 28, 1845 before mining operations were renewed - he was estimated to be 87 years old. After John's death, family members were instructed to sell his property which they did by auction in 1846. Intermittent mining continued over the next few decades and the property was sold and resold many times over. The last underground mining at Reed Gold Mine was in 1924. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, a few men tried to find more gold, but as the economy improved, this rudimentary mining stopped and the Reed Gold Mine became abandoned and a place for hobby prospectors to pan for remaining gold. In 1966, Reed Gold Mine became a National Historic Landmark and in 1971 the North Carolina Division of Archives and History opened it as a state historic site.

In 1825, a farmer in Stanly County was following gold upstream when he noticed that it disappeared into the hillside. Within a few feet of the surface, a gold-bearing quartz vein was found. This discovery led to the beginning of lode (hard-rock) gold mining in North Carolina and before long, underground gold mining became the preferred method of extraction. Lode mining brought with it the prospect of more wealth, but needed more men (many of whom were enslaved) and machinery.

In 1842, hard-rock mining began in the Gold Hill district in southeastern Rowan County. This is the the second most famous gold mining area in North Carolina, after the Reed Gold Mine. The Randolph Shaft was opened at Gold Hill in 1843 and was the deepest and richest of all the Gold Hill Mine shafts at an astonishing 800 feet deep. By 1848, there were at least 15 active mines in the Gold Hill District.

Although there was sporadic gold production in the late 1800s and early 1900s, gold output in North Carolina peaked in the late 1840s. In response to rising gold prices, interest was renewed in the mid-1970s but dropped again once the price of gold fell in the late 1990s.

A Mint is a facility that produces coins that are used for a nation's currency. The first national Mint in the U.S. was established after Congress passed  The Coinage Act  on April 2, 1792 which made the dollar the nation's official currency. Since Philadelphia was the nation's capital at that time, it was chosen as the site for the first Mint.

Although there was quite a bit of gold being produced in North Carolina's Piedmont in the early 1800s, U.S. currency (the dollar) was scare in this rural area. Residents were using gold to pay for goods and services but there was no place to exchange gold for currency.

You think you found a piece of gold but how can you tell for sure? Chances are it's pyrite (fool's gold) or mica, so here are a few ways you might be able to differentiate them.

• Gold: soft and malleable (can be hammered without shattering), heavy for its size
• Pyrite: harder than gold (will shatter when hammered), lightweight, usually a cube shape
• Mica: soft like gold, occurs in thin sheets that can flake or split with your fingernail

Think you have what it takes to be a gold prospector? Before heading out, be aware of these restrictions:

1. You CANNOT take any rocks or minerals (including gold) from state parks, state forests, or state recreation areas.

2. You CANNOT hunt, pan, or dig for minerals (including gold) on private property without the permission of the property owner. Note: private property may extent into a river, stream, lake, or other body of water.

National Forests: you can pan for gold and minerals in North Carolina's National Forests. Please visit the  USDA Forest Service  website for their rules and regulations before heading out. The  Uwharrie National Forest  might be a good place to start your search.

Commercial and Historical Mines: Below are a few commercial and historical locations where you can pan for gold - best of luck!

The North Carolina Geological Survey has produced a number of publications about gold over the years, including  The Gold Standard  StoryMap. Please visit our online store to purchase any of our  gold publications . If what you're looking for is out of stock or out of publication, please email our store manager Mike Medina (michael.medina@deq.nc.gov) to see how we can help.

Thank you for taking this gold journey with the North Carolina Geological Survey. If you have any questions or would like more information, please reach out to Amy Pitts, Senior Geologist for Education and Outreach (amy.pitts@deq.nc.gov).

ROCK ON!