How many of you think that the first gold citing in the United States was in California? Well, those of you who think so are partly right! The part that you are right about is that the first gold rush was in California. However, the first gold citing was in Midland, North Carolina in 1799. The name of the mine that became the leading producer in gold until 1848 is Reeds Gold Mine. John Reed (Johannes Reith) retired from the British Army and was a farmer in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, known as Midland, NC.
One Sunday afternoon John’s son, Conrad, found a large shiny rock in Little Meadow River located on the farm. Conrad did not know what this rock consisted of, but had one of the slaves that worked on the farm come and take it out of the river. Not knowing what the substance of the rock was, the Reed family used the rock for a doorstop for three years.
After three years had gone by, John Reed finally decided to take the rock to a jeweler in Fayetteville, NC. This is where the jeweler had announced to John that it was a 17lbs golden nugget. John decided to sell the golden nugget to the jeweler for $3.50. Even though this may sound like a low selling price, it was the value of a week’s worth of pay for a farmer. This value also was one tenth of the actual value of the golden nugget.
At some point after this sale, a slave named Peter had found another chunk of rock that looked like the first golden nugget. This golden nugget weighed 28lbs and this time John Reed realized that his farm was in fact a Gold Mine. John Reed and his team mined an estimated yield of one hundred thousand dollars worth of gold by 1824.
When I went to visit Reeds Gold Mine with my family last week, they offer a free tour of the entire mine and gold panning for only $2 a pan. For a free tour I would have to say that it was very insightful and interesting. We were able to be guided near the Little Meadow River and then later guided through the entire goldmine. It was really interesting to kind of get an idea of what the miners went through. Also due to the fact that the Gold Mine is considered to be a Historical site, it is being preserved and maintained with daily upkeep to ensure the safety of visitors.
One of the preserved stations within the mine was one of the actual tunnels that the miners traveled through, this tunnel had the actual depth and width of the tunnels that the miners worked in 12hrs 6days a week. This may sound like a lot of work, but they did get paid a lot for their jobs which was about twice as much as a farmer. The only negative about working so much is that they had all of that money and no time or energy to spend it when they actually had the chance to do so.
After the tour of the Gold Mine you are able to pan for gold for just $2 a pan. When you get to the panning station you are greeted by the friendly workers who will teach you how to pan. There are steps that you need to take before you can actually check to see if you have gold in your pan. The workers will walk you through each step to ensure that you do not dump your gold into the water. Once you get to the bottom of the pan when there is just a little bit of minerals left, the workers will check for gold. If you have any they will put it in a little bottle with water and you can take it home with you and show all of your friends that you found gold!
I disagree. Gold was first found here in Bakersville California. Don’t you remember you history? The California gold rush? There was no East coast or hickville North Carolina gold rush. And that picture looks like my butt crack. What is that supposed to be of?
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My family went just today and really did enjoy the tour, walking the property, panning for gold, but most of all the employees. They were very kind, and knowledgable about everything. The land was gourgeous, and well maintained to preserve the history. We will be back, I can promise that~ oh,, and yes.. we left with 2 peices of gold from our panning..
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