“THE FIRST U.S. GOLD RUSH was started by a 12-year-old boy,” reads the Interesting Facts website.
What? Not James Marshall at Colonel John Augustus Sutter’s Mill? Well, no. And indeed, “A Mother Lode of Nuggets” here at SimanaitisSays cleared up one aspect of the 1848 California Gold Rush: Sutter’s “Colonel” was only honorific.
And, new to me from Interesting Facts, “Although the 1848 California Gold Rush was the largest in American history, it wasn’t the first. That distinction belongs in the state of North Carolina, where in 1799, Conrad Reed, the 12-year-old son of a Hessian Revolutionary War deserter named John Reed, found a 17-pound gold nugget in Little Meadow Creek outside Charlotte.”
Wikipedia offers details: “For three years, the rock served as a bulky doorstop. In 1802, a jeweler from Fayetteville identified the rock as a large gold nugget. He told John Reed to name his price. Reed, not understanding the true value of gold, asked for what he thought was the hefty price of $3.50, or a week’s worth of wages. The large nugget’s true value was around $3,600.
“About 1803,” Wikipedia continues, “John Reed organized a small gold mining operation. Soon afterward a slave named Peter found a 28-pound nugget. Reed continued with placer mining for a number of years. In 1831 he began underground mining.”
The Reed Gold Mine, Midland, North Carolina; a National Historic Landmark. Image by Bang-Ning Hsu from Durham (NC, USA) from Wikipedia.
“Until 1828, North Carolina was the only gold-producing state in the Union,” Interesting Facts writes, “and its gold rush reached its peak in the 1830s and 1840s, when the industry employed nearly 30,000 people. The state’s gold-hued fortunes changed once the first reports of wealth out West arrived in the Carolinas, but Reed never saw the end of his state’s gold-rush boom time, dying a rich man in 1845 with his mine raking in millions.”
Two Cornish miners at Gold Hill Mine, North Carolina, 1857. Image from N.C. Historic Sites, Division of Archives and History.
Where Else is American Gold? “In the United States,” Wikipedia says, “the first documented occurrence of gold was in Virginia in 1782. Some minor gold production took place in North Carolina as early as 1793, but created no excitement. The discovery on the Reed farm in 1799 which was identified as gold in 1802 and subsequently mined marked the first commercial production.”
“Most gold produced today in the U.S.,” Wikipedia notes, “comes from large open-pit heap leach mines in the state of Nevada…. In 2015 Nevada and Alaska together accounted for 90.3% of U.S. gold production.” A total of twelve states contributes around 200 tons (more than 6 million troy ounces) annually.
Image from North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
Recreational Gold Panning. North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality notes, “Recreational gold panning remains a popular past time in North Carolina. It is difficult to find large amounts of gold, but the possibility of finding even a little ‘color’ in a gold pan is hard to resist.”
It continues, “If you aren’t sure it’s gold, it probably isn’t! Pyrite and yellow-colored mica are frequently mistaken for gold, but can easily be distinguished. Gold is very soft (2.5-3 on Mohs scale of hardness) and can be hammered into thin sheets without shattering.”
By contrast, Pyrite is harder than gold and brittle. Struck with a hammer, it’ll shatter. Mica is lighter than gold and flaky.
Yet Another 12-Year-Old. Pandora Dewan reports in newsweek.com, July 12, 2023, “A schoolboy in Brazil struck gold quite literally when he stumbled across a golden nugget on a school trip to a disused mine. Alvaro Henrique, 12, from Carmo do Rio Claro, discovered the 24-carat nugget during an excursion to the Tancredo Neves Gold Mine on Friday afternoon.”
According to Alvaro’s school, the Institute of Education and Culture, the market value of the piece could be over $100. A statement from the school notes, “The boy’s eye shone brighter than the precious metal, and a feeling of luck and joy took over the environment. For our student and our school it is priceless, as it marks a unique moment that education and culture promote a promising future.”
In marked contrast to 1799: Recall that his dad initially used Conrad’s discovery as a doorstop. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024