Carolina Gold Rush

Carolina Gold Belt, showing, south to north, the Haile, Brewer, Howie, Stuart, Moore, Long, Means, Pioneer Mills, Reed, Ferris, Rocky River, Buffalo, Phoenix, San Cristian, Concord, Moratock, Eisenhauer, Mt. Mackin, Russel, Gold Hill, Reimer, Dunns Mt., Salisbury, Silver Hill, Emmons, Silver Valley, Hoover Hill, and Jones mines. Gold-quartz veins are found in the schists.[1]: 20, 27, 48

The Carolina Gold Rush, the first gold rush in the United States, followed the discovery of a large gold nugget in North Carolina in 1799, by a 12-year-old boy named Conrad Reed. He spotted the nugget while playing in Meadow Creek on his family's farm in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.[2][3] Conrad took the 17-pound (7.7 kg) gold nugget home to show his father. However, gold was not commonly seen in their community and the value of the nugget was not understood. The nugget was used as a door stop in the family's home for several years.[4] In 1802, Conrad's father, John Reed, showed the rock to a jeweler, who recognized it as gold and offered to buy it. Reed, still unaware of the real value of his "doorstop," sold it to the jeweler for US$3.50 (equivalent to $71.58 in 2022) (approximately one week's pay for a farm laborer at that time).

## History[edit]

After learning of the value of the resource on his land, John Reed entered into a partnership with Federick Kisor, James Love, and Martin Phifer. In the year 1803, the men found a nugget weighing 28 pounds (13 kg). News of the discovery was quickly spread by regional newspapers, and land owners across the area began to search for gold on their property. Nearly all of the land was privately owned and the beginning of the Carolina Gold Rush was largely conducted by farmers at the end of the growing season each year. These farmers were capable of conducting shallow surface mining of the stream-beds known as placer mining. However, by the late 1820s these placer deposits had been exhausted and the first lode mine shaft was excavated in pursuit of a gold-containing quartz vein in 1825 by Matthias Barringer in Montgomery County, North Carolina (now Montgomery and Stanly counties). With this progression of mining technique, the profession of mining became a necessity as tunnels and ventilation issues were outside the skill set of land owning farmers.[5][6]

By the 1830s placer mining had been nearly entirely replaced by the more technical lode mining, including at the Reed mine; with this development came opportunity for immigrants from southern England. The region of Cornwall had bred miners for decades, who skillfully extracted the copper and tin from their deep mines until, by the early 19th century, those deposits became exhausted. Learning of new opportunity in North Carolina many of these miners immigrated in pursuit of work and brought their expertise with them. Some of the ore mills built in the Carolinas can be seen to resemble the design of the old mines in Cornwall. The expertise that these miners taught to the Carolina men spread throughout the region as men sought gold across the Carolina terrane. The establishment of a skilled and experienced workforce from this Carolina gold rush can be directly credited for the success of the much larger gold rush of 1849 in California, which drew many of these now skilled miners West.[7]

Over 2,500 ounces of gold was deposited in the Philadelphia Mint by 1824.[2]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Becker, G.F., 1895, Reconnaissance of the Gold Fields of the Southern Appalachians, Washington: Government Printing Office, Sixteenth Annual Report, Part II
2. ^ a b Williams, David (1993). The Georgia Gold Rush: Forty-Niners, Cherokees, and Gold Fever. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press. p. 11\. ISBN 1570030529.
3. ^ Knapp, Dr. Richard K. (1999). "The History of John Reed's Gold Mine." Archived 2017-02-17 at the Wayback Machine North Carolina State Historic Sites, Reed Gold Mine, Midland, N.C. Information from Golden Promise in the Piedmont: The Story of John Reed's Mine by Dr. Richard F. Knapp, revised edition, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Raleigh, N.C., 1999. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
4. ^ Martin, Jonathan (July 8, 2011). "Mecklenburg County (1762)". North Carolina History Project. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
5. ^ "Hines, E., & Smith, M. (2006). The rush started here; II, hard rock gold mining in North Carolina, 1825 to 1864. Earth Sciences History, 25(1), 69-106."
6. ^ "Bryson, H. J. (1936). Gold deposits in North Carolina, North Carolina. Dept. of conservation and development."
7. ^ "Hines, E., & Smith, M. (2006). The rush started here; II, hard rock gold mining in North Carolina, 1825 to 1864. Earth Sciences History, 25(1), 69-106"

## See also[edit]

* Charlotte Mint
* Dahlonega Mint – Former branch of the United States Mint in Dahlonega, Georgia
* Georgia Gold Belt
* Georgia Gold Rush

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Gold rushes of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries

United States|

* Carolina (1800s)
* Georgia (1829)
* California (1848)
* Pike's Peak (1858)
* Black Hills (1876)
* Nome (1899)
* Fairbanks (1902)

Canada|

* Queen Charlottes (1851)
* Fraser Canyon (1858–60)
* Rock Creek (1860)
* Similkameen (1860)
* Stikine (1861–62)
* Cariboo (1861–66)
* Nova Scotia (1861–74, 1896–1903, 1932–42)
* Wild Horse Creek (1863–65)
* Leechtown (1864–65)
* Big Bend (1865)
* Omineca (1869)
* Cassiar (1871–?)
* Cayoosh (1884)
* Klondike (1897–1903)
* Porcupine (1911)

Australia|

* Victorian (1851)
* New South Wales (1851)
* Western Australian (1880s–1890s)

New Zealand|

* Otago (1861–63)
* West Coast (1864–67)
* Coromandel (1860s–1870s)

Latin America|

* Ouro Preto, Brazil (1750)
* Tierra del Fuego (Chile-Argentina) (1883)
* Serra Pelada, Brazil (1980)

Europe|

* Kildonan, Scotland (1869)
* Lapland, Finland (1870)

Africa|

* Witwatersrand, South Africa (1886)
* Kakamega, Kenya (1930s)

Part of a series on Gold mining

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Financial bubbles

* Bull market
* Commodity booms
* Credit cycle
* Diamond rush
* Gold rush
* Irrational exuberance
* Oil boom
* Real estate bubble
* Stock market bubble

1000–1760|

* Tulip mania (1634–1637)
* Mississippi bubble (1684–1720)
* Brazilian Gold Rush (c. 1690–1760)
* South Sea bubble (1711–1720)
* Bengal Bubble of 1769 (1757–1760)

1760–1840|

* Bengal Bubble of 1769 (1760–1769)
* Brazilian Gold Rush (1760–1840)
* Canal Mania (c. 1790–c. 1810)
* Carolina Gold Rush (1802–1825)
* 1810s Alabama real estate bubble
* Georgia Gold Rush (1828–c. 1840)
* 1830s Chicago real estate bubble
* Chilean silver rush (1830–1840)

1840–1870|

* Chilean silver rush (1840–1850)
* Railway Mania (c. 1840–c. 1850)
* Brazilian Gold Rush (1840–1870)
* California Gold Rush (1848–1855)
* Queen Charlottes Gold Rush (1851)
* Victorian gold rush (1851–c. 1870)
* New South Wales gold rush (1851–1880)
* Australian gold rushes (1851–1914)
* Fraser Canyon Gold Rush (1858)
* Pike's Peak Gold Rush (1858–1861)
* Rock Creek Gold Rush (1859)
* Pennsylvania oil rush (1859–1891)
* Similkameen Gold Rush (1860)
* Stikine Gold Rush (1861)
* Colorado River mining boom (1861–1864)
* Otago Gold Rush (1861–1864)
* Cariboo Gold Rush (1861–1867)
* First Nova Scotia Gold Rush (1861–1874)
* Wild Horse Creek Gold Rush (1864–1865)
* Leechtown Gold Rush (1864–1865)
* West Coast Gold Rush (1864–1867)
* Big Bend Gold Rush (c. 1865)
* Vermilion Lake Gold Rush (1865–1867)
* Kildonan Gold Rush (1869)
* Omineca Gold Rush (1869)

1870–1914|

* 1870s Lapland gold rush
* Coromandel Gold Rushes (c. 1870–c. 1890)
* Cassiar Gold Rush (c. 1870–c. 1890)
* Brazilian Gold Rush (1870–c. 1900)
* Black Hills Gold Rush (1874–1880)
* Colorado Silver Boom (1879–1893)
* Western Australian gold rushes (c. 1880–c. 1900)
* Indiana gas boom (c. 1880–1903)
* Ohio oil rush (c. 1880–c. 1930)
* Tierra del Fuego gold rush (1883–1906)
* Cayoosh Gold Rush (1884)
* Witwatersrand Gold Rush (1886)
* Encilhamento (1886–1890)
* Cripple Creek Gold Rush (c. 1890–c. 1910)
* Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899)
* Second Nova Scotia Gold Rush (1896–1903)
* Kobuk River Stampede (1897–1899)
* Mount Baker Gold Rush (1897–c. 1925)
* Nome Gold Rush (1899–1909)
* Fairbanks Gold Rush (c. 1900–1918)
* Texas oil boom (1901–1918)
* Cobalt silver rush (1903–1918)
* Porcupine Gold Rush (1909–1918)

1918–1939|

* 1920s Florida land boom (c. 1920–1925)
* Fairbanks Gold Rush (1918–c. 1930)
* Texas oil boom (1918–1945)
* Cobalt silver rush (1918–c. 1930)
* Porcupine Gold Rush (1918–1945)
* 1930s Kakamega gold rush
* Third Nova Scotia Gold Rush (1932–1942)

1945–1973|

* Texas oil boom (1945–c. 1950)
* Porcupine Gold Rush (1945–c. 1960)
* Poseidon bubble (1969–1970)

1973–1982|

* 1970s commodities boom
* Mexican oil boom (1977–1981)
* Silver Thursday (1980)
* New Zealand property bubble (c. 1980–1982)

1982–2007|

* 1980s oil glut
* New Zealand property bubble (1982–)
* Spanish property bubble (1985–2008)
* Japanese asset price bubble (1986–1990)
* Dot-com bubble (1995–2000)
* Baltic states housing bubble (2000–2006)
* Irish property bubble (c. 2000–2007)
* 2000s commodities boom (2000–2008)
* 2000s Danish property bubble (2001–2006)
* United States housing bubble (2002–2006)
* Romanian property bubble (2002–2007)
* Polish property bubble (2002–2008)
* Canadian property bubble (2002–)
* Chinese property bubble (2005–11)
* Lebanese housing bubble (2005–2008)
* North Dakota oil boom (2006–2008)
* Chinese stock bubble of 2007
* Uranium bubble of 2007

2007–present|

* North Dakota oil boom (2008–2012)
* 2000s commodities boom (2008–2014)
* Lebanese housing bubble (2008–)
* Corporate debt bubble (2008–)
* Australian property bubble (2010–)
* Cryptocurrency bubble (2011–)
* Everything bubble (2020–21)

* AI winter
* Carbon bubble
* Chaotic bubble
* Green bubble
* Social media stock bubble
* Unicorn bubble
* U.S. higher education bubble

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