Gold Discovered in North Carolina!

By David W. Boitnott | March 1999

Two Hundred years ago in 1799 the first authenticated discovery of gold in the United States occurred in North Carolina. Various versions of the story have been published over the years; however, in honor of the bicentennial of this momentous event in North Carolina history it will be retold here just one more time.

In 1799, the month or season lost to history, Conrad Reid (sometimes spelled Reed) the twelve-year-old son of John Reid is credited with the first discovery of gold in the country. By 1799 John Reid, a German immigrant and former Hessian Soldier who had deserted the British in 1783 during the Revolutionary War had settled in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. Here with his family he had acquired just over 300 acres, a portion of which he might have been given as a bounty for fighting on the side of the United States after his desertion. He scratched out his livelihood farming part of this holding. It was here on a Sunday while babysitting his younger siblings while his parents were attending church that young Conrad made his discovery. While the children were playing and bow fishing along Meadow Creek, Conrad spied a shinny yellow rock in the streambed. Curious, he waded in and retrieved the heavy rock. He proudly took the seventeen-pound wedge shaped rock home and showed his father.

John Reid was unsure of its make up but at least expected or hoped it was gold, even though gold was unheard of in the region. This is evidenced by the fact he took the rock to William Atkinson, a silversmith, in nearby Concord, North Carolina. Mr. Atkinson being unfamiliar with gold himself, was unable or unwilling to risk pronouncing it as such. He only said it was not silver and that he could not identify what metal it was. Most likely disappointed, John Reid took the rock home where he put it to good use as a doorstop.

It was used as a doorstop until some time in late 1802 or early 1803. One source states that Mr. Reid sold it to a traveler (James C. Gray, "A Search for Heritage", The Numismatist, August 1998) but most others agreed Mr. Reid took it with him on his annual trip for supplies to Fayetteville, North Carolina. While in Fayetteville, he took it to a jeweler who identified it as gold and offered to flux it for him. Mr. Reid agreed and left it with the jeweler while he attended to purchasing the necessary supplies for the farm. Upon returning to the jeweler it had been melted and cast into a bar six to eight inches long weighing seventeen-pounds. It is unclear who set the price, the jeweler or Mr. Reid, but either way the bar stayed in Fayetteville and John Reid happily returned home three dollars and fifty cents richer. How long he remained happy is unknown as he subsequently learned that seventeen pounds of gold was worth $3600!

At least one source states that on his next trip to Fayetteville for supplies, Mr. Reid paid a visit to the jeweler to discuss the discrepancy. One can only imagine how that conversation transpired and it is not recorded as to whether any settlement was reached. What ever the outcome don't feel too sorry for Mr. Reid as the mine established on his property which bore his name became one of the richest in the state. Originally operated as a placer mine, a mine where the gold was found on the surface and not underground, they found that gold was literally littering the streambed of Meadow Creek for about a mile. Late in 1803, not far from where young Conrad had made his discovery, John Reid found a twenty-eight pound whopper of a nugget. But, this is nothing when compared to the claim made in 1845 when John Reid, Sr. died and the mine was sold to settle his estate. In a notice published to advertise the mine's sale it was noted that the largest mass of pure gold ever found in the United States to that date had been found at the Reid mine. It weighed 299 pounds, avoirdupois! The mine continued to operate after the sale and is now a North Carolina State Historical Site and open to the public. Such is the story and legend behind the first authenticated discovery of gold in the United States - a four-year trek of discovery.

For anyone wishing to read more on John Reid, the Reid Gold Mine, and the early history of North Carolina Gold, I might suggest the following books: The Establishment of the Charlotte Branch Mint - A Documented History by Anthony J. Stautzenberger, The United States Branch Mint at Charlotte, North Carolina - Its History and Coinage by Clair M. Birdsall, The Bechtlers and Their Coinage - North Carolina Mint Masters of Pioneer Gold by Rodney Barfield and Keith Strawn, Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States by Donald H. Kagin, Ph.D., and The Mint Museum of Art at Charlotte - A Brief History by Henrietta H. Wilkinson. Happy collecting and hopefully reading until next time when maybe I'll write a little something on the "North Carolina Gold Rush?"