By David Freeze
A Visit to Reed Gold Mine
In 1799, 12- year-old Conrad Reed found a 17-pound gold nugget in Little Meadow Creek on his family’s farm. Nobody knew what it was, and it remained a door stop for three years in the house of his father, John Reed. This was the first documented gold discovery in the United States. Once identified, the family sold the gold nugget for $3,50, about the same as a laborer would earn in a month on their farm. Valued at $3,500, John Reed realized his mistake and went looking for more.
North Carolina led the nation in gold production as the fever spread to many neighboring counties and then other southern states. During peak years, gold mining was second only to farming for income in North Carolina.
My granddaughter and I visited another North Carolina Historic Site at today’s Reed Gold Mine off Highway 200 near Midland on Friday, July 17th. The day was hot, but I knew that we would likely tour the mine and be well underground where temperatures would be more comfortable. The visitor center is free with numerous exhibits concerning mining techniques and the history of mining in general.
We first tried our hand at gold panning. Children under eight can’t have their own pan for some reason, but Booper and I agreed to share the $5 pan about half filled with dirt. I am a frequent viewer of Gold Rush on Discovery where the mine owners occasionally do their own panning when in hopes of finding profitable ground. Booper took over the pan mostly and did a good job of shaking it, dumping out water and getting more, as she tried to shake the heavier gold to the bottom of the pan. We threw rocks bigger than a thumbnail back into the sluice and gradually got the pan down to the small rocks and sand. None of ours were gold, which we were assured can easily be seen in the pans when successful.
Next came a look around the gift shop and we took time to watch a nine-minute orientation film. Then we were off to the mine tour itself. In the mid-90s and very humid on the trail, the tour leader led about 25 people to the site where Conrad Reed’s gold nugget was found. Just a small and unimposing quiet creek, still I heard one man say, “Can we go over and pan in the creek?” He was told, “No, not today!”
We walked past some old mining equipment and stopped just before the mine entrance for some instructions which included the need to stay together and to keep an eye out for bats. The mine itself was designated a NC Historic Site in 1977. As we entered the mine, almost immediately the air temperature dropped to 60-65 degrees, a level of coolness that was at first uncomfortable but quickly became very present.
Immediately, we saw a bat and the kids in the group were amazed as it wiggled while hanging above us in a mine shaft. The old shafts here were short and often not flat. We saw the openings braced with wood and heard how mining went on almost every day in these shafts from the 1830s. Miners were free to keep their gold once they paid Reed a royalty on what was found. The guide speculated that probably as much gold was stolen as was reported to the Reed family. We also learned that we were only about 50 feet underground and mine shafts occasionally hit tree roots.
Placer mining, the method of extracting gold from the loose sediments of creek or stream beds, was successful at Reed Gold Mine, but the underground shaft mining never proved profitable long term. Miners underground followed quartz veins and tried to extract gold from those veins.
The largest nugget ever found at Reed Gold Mine was 28 pounds and caused controversy. All the miners working together usually shared profits equally, but in this case, one of the regular miners was sick and sent his son to fill in. With the exceptional payout of this large nugget, a lawsuit developed over whether the young boy should share equally with the experienced miners. The lawsuit took years until the boy’s family eventually did share in the proceeds.
In 1966, Reed Gold Mine was also designated a National Historic Landmark. There are several walking trails around the property, which now includes 70 acres. The Reed family sold the mine to the Kelly family in the early 1900’s, but mining eventually played out and the site was closed. In 1971, the Kelly family sold the rest of the 760 acres but donated 70 to the historic Reed Gold Mine project.
More NC Historic Sites are ahead. Upcoming races and our fall beginning runners class have current information available at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org And who knows, there might just be a bike ride ahead too!
