Gold Rush No. 1
Until 1810. North Carolina pro¬
duced all the gold mined in the
United States.
By l.i:0 SHERRILL
In 1799. little 1 2-year-old Conrad
Reed, fishing Meadow Creek on the
eastern boundary of Cabarrus with his
sister, Margaret, found a yellow stone
as large as a smoothing iron. John
Reed, their father, used it as a door¬
stop for three years before selling it to
a Fayetteville jeweler for S3.50. Leg¬
end says he later recovered around
$3,000 from the purchaser.
This was the first gold to be dis¬
covered in the United States, and in
the period between 1804 and 1810,
North Carolina provided all the gold
mined in this country ... a total of
around $110,000 worth.
Reed organized a company and
other mines opened in the vicinity. At
first, it was only necessary to pick the
gold up out of the creek bed in the
form of nuggets, some of them of im¬
mense size. The largest, one found on
the Reed property, weighed 28 pounds
and was found within a few inches of
the surface.
The Reed mine and others pro¬
duced several nuggets remarkable for
their size, and production became so
heavy in Cabarrus and nearby coun¬
ties. that in 1831, the goldsmith Chris¬
topher Bechtler opened a private mint
in Rutherfordton. Prospecting spread,
and by 1824 the Gold Country, as it
was called, included 1,000 square
miles of the south Piedmont Country,
and attracted hundreds of "Gold Hunt¬
ers," described by a contemporary as
"one of an order of people that begin
already to be accepted a different
race."
In 1838, the boom caused the Unit¬
ed States to open a mint at Charlotte,
and accounts of the day indicate a tur¬
bulent condition, later to be enlarged
and exaggerated on the Pacific Coast.
The finding of the big nuggets led to
wild talcs. "Various marvelous stories
arc told respecting this rich mass (the
big Reed nugget). As that is had been
seen by Gold Hunters at night reflect¬
ing so brilliant a light that when they
drew near it with torches as to terrify
them and deter them from further ex¬
amination."
Farmers dropped their plow reins
and dug feverishly, and speculators
swarmed over the land, leasing rights
and swapping claims. The parent veins
were discovered in 1826, and with the
exhaustion of the nugget fields, shafts
were sunk and the sands were washed
for dust.
Cabarrus gold was described as of
"almost unequalled purity — 23 carets,
which is to say 23 of 24 parts of pure
gold, the rest silver and copper."
Kept in Quills
Almost everybody hunted gold and
almost everyone found at least some.
Said one report: "It is usually when
found kept in goose quills, and ex¬
changed by weight, constituting a part
of the currency of the county. Almost
every man in the vicinity of the mines
has a quill of it in his pocket and a
pair of money scales, and the commod¬
ities of trade arc paid for by weighing
out the price as in the days of the
Patriarchs. I saw a bottle of whiskey
paid for by weighing out 3 Vi grains of
gold."
They don’t do that in Cabarrus any
more, but prospecting for gold is a
pursuit ranging from a few never-say-
dic dreamers to the Sunday afternoon
rambles of hobbyists. A lot of folks
have a purseful of tiny nuggets or dust,
and it is not difficult to pan out a few
specks if you go to the right place.
It is popularly supposed that the
California gold strike of 1849 killed
the North Carolina gold mining in¬
dustry. This is not true. More gold
was produced in North Carolina in
the 50’s than in the 40's, according
to the reports. As a matter of fact, the
California rush aggravated speculation
and a report says that “wildcalting
followed the '49 discovery." But the
easy-to-get gold apparently was taken
out by the time of the Civil War, and
while there were sporadic efforts at
mining for many decades, few of them
were profitable. It became a popular
saying that a gold miner could make
more money peddling stock in his mine
in New England than he could digging
gold in Cabarrus.
tlOW MANY CAN
Y Oil ANSWER?
If you have a good fund of general
information, you ought not to have too
much trouble with these questions. If
you get 17. 18, 19 or all of the an¬
swers correct, give yourself a grade of
excellent. If you get 14, 15 or 16 right,
you're good. If you succeed in answer¬
ing 11, 12 or 13 correctly, you're en¬
titled to a grade of fair.
1, Bokar, Yuban and Beechnut all
refer to what product?
2, What is the oldest humorous pub¬
lication in England?
3, The name of a capital of one of
our states means "diminutive stone."
What is its actual name?
4, Cedar from Lebanon was used
for building what famous structure in
Biblical times?
5, If you wanted to find an aileron,
where would you look for it?
6, Where is "Rotten Row"?
7, What is the name of the race
track and gambling resort in Mexico,
just south of the California state line?
8, What was the name of Sherlock
Holmes's best friend?
9, Where is the original Rialto lo¬
cated?
10, What is a safari?
1 1 , How many hours difference is
there in time between the two cities of
New York and San Francisco?
12, What is an effectual and non¬
violent way of stopping a canary’s
singing?
13, In what ancient city did a huge
statue stand astride the harbor en¬
trance?
14, What is claustrophobia?
15, What is largely made of chicle?
16, What island is famous for its
cigars?
17, Under what Chinese dynasty
was the most famous porcelain manu¬
factured?
18, In Scotland the prefix "Mac” on
a man’s name means "son of.” What is
the Russian suffix that means "son
of"?
19, In wines, what is the meaning of
"sec"?
20, Are the shrouds on a ship the
ropes, the sails or the spars?
(Answers on page 28)
THE STATE. DECEMBER S. 1951
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