Nearly 50 years before the famed gold rush to California in 1848 and 1849, Conrad Reed, son of German immigrant John Reed found a 17 pound lump of gold in North Carolina. The year was 1799, and the place was Little Meadow Creek in Cabarrus County. John Reed did not realize what his son had found, until several years later. The Reed family used the gold nugget as a doorstop until the elder Reed took it to a Fayetteville jeweler who proceeded to offer Mr. Reed $3.50 for his "worthless rock". Not knowing what it was really worth, Reed gladly sold the nugget. It was reported later that he sued the jeweler for the real value of the nugget.
This was only the beggining of the golden finds on the Reed farm. In later years, many more large nuggets were uncovered in what was nicknamed the potato patch. The largest of these nuggets being a tremendous 28 pounds. This nugget was reported to have been found by a slave named Peter. The last large nugget to be found on the property was discovered by Jacob L. Shinn on April 9,1896, at a weight of nearly 23 pounds and was reportedly 3 1/2 feet below the surface.
As news spread of the Reed Mine, prospectors came to North Carolina in droves. There were miners from all around the world taking part in the first gold rush of the new country. This included miners from Germany, Spain, England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, Mexico, Turkey, Brazil, Austria, Switzerland, and Poland. The slaves also played a very importand role in the gold rush, with many of them earning enough in their free time to buy their freedom.
At the peak of the gold rush there was enough gold being produced in the Carolinas to warant a branch U.S. Mint in Charlotte NC. The mint opened on December 4, 1837. Gold coins had already been in production since 1831 from a private mint owned by Christopher Bechtler. The German native's coins carry a very high value to collectors. These coins a very rare. One reason for this is when Bechtler made the coins he always used more gold than the face value. When the U.S. Mint got any of them they melted them down to make a small profit.
Most of the miners left North Carolina when gold was discoverd in South Carolina and Georgia. The few who remained left when gold was discovered in California in 1848. Many experts feel like there is a wealth of gold still waiting to be discoverd in North Carolina. Many of the creeks were overlooked and the ones that were worked, were not worked nearly as hard a the ones out west. With the modern day miners selection of equipment, it is now possible to get down in the bottom of the rivers where the miners in the 1800's could not get.
I hope you found the information on this page helpful. If you have any questions about prospecting for gold in North Carolina, e-mail me and maybe I can help.
Links to other sites on the Web
South Carolina Gold Museum
East Coast Prospector
Online Treasure Hunter
Gold Prospectors of the Rockies
Treasure Net
© 1997 woodyw@atomic.net
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