Reed Gold Mine – The Place History Forgot

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When you think of the first discovery of gold in the United States you think of 1848 and Sutter's Mill in California, right.

Wrong. It happened in 1799 on John Reed's Farm right here in North Carolina.

The actual real first gold rush happened in Cabarrus County North Carolina in 1799. John Reed was born in 1757, 1758 or 1759 in what is now Germany. He was in the British Army and the illiterate Hessien mercenary deserted somewhere around Savannah and finally settled down on Meadow Creek, married and had a family.

One Sunday, Conrad Reed, John's 12 year old son, was fishing with his siblings and found a 17 pound shiny yellow rock. He picked it up and bought it home. For three years the rock was used as a doorstop. They had brought it to the local blacksmith but he was not sure what it was, it was not until a trip to Fayetteville that he discovered it was gold.

In Fayetteville, he took the rock to a jewelry who realized it was raw gold. The jeweler offered to purchase it and asked Reed to name his price. Reed thought about it and came up with what he thought was an outrageous amount $ 3.50. The jeweler paid him the money quickly as the true value was about $ 3,600. Can you imagine it's price now? Later on the jeweler did end up paying him another $ 1,000 after Reed learned the value of gold.

Soon Reed began Reed Gold Mine and started a flurry of activity in North Carolina as people flocked to make their own discoveries. In fact over one million dollars in gold was found in North Carolina per year and gold mining was second only to farming in number of North Carolinians it employed. Both placer mining (panning in creeks) as well as underground mining occurred on the site of Reed's property as well as many other areas in the state.

Until 1848 North Carolina led the nation in gold production, then gold was discovered in California and the California Gold Rush started and Reed Gold Mine and it's discoveries faded and even faded from our American History books.

Today many of the underground tunnels have been restored for you to explore and you an pan for gold. About one of every six pans will include some gold. The visitor center has gold and silver exhibits, a movie on the history of gold at Reed Gold Mine and a tour of a restored ore-crushing stamp mill. There are picnic areas and trails as well.

It is well worth seeing. I am passionate about American History and our textbooks are losing important pieces. If you asked 100 Americans about the first Gold Rush the few that would have an answer would say California – heck until I moved here I would have too. If you come to North Carolina, visit Reed Gold Mine.

Source by Jodie Strait

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