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The Gold Rush History
Most people are under the misconception that California had the first major gold rush. This is a common error because the gold rush to California is well-documented and widely regarded as one of the most important times in our country’s history. However, the first gold rush was over fifty years before people would begin heading to California in droves.
Cabarrus County
The first gold rush started in Cabarrus County, located in North Carolina. Cabarrus County is a beautiful county just over three hundred and sixty square miles. It's located on the gentle countryside of the Carolina Piedmont. There are no real high points in the county, though the eastern half contains the westernmost foothills of the Uwharrie Mountains.
Cabarrus County was the center a controversy between the Scotch-Irish on the western side and the Germans on the eastern side. They couldn’t agree on a location for the county seat, as both sides wanted it closer to their specific populations. Eventually, Stephen Cabarrus, for whom the county was named, wrote a letter to the towns people urging them to come together and find a compromise through civil and peaceful means.
In 1796, the central county area was picked and named Concord. This was derived of two French words: “with” and “peace”. Representative Paul Barringer put forth a bill into the state legislation to incorporate the town of Concord. It was officially passed on December 17th, 1806. The land which was incorporated was owned by Samuel Hule and his wife, Jane Morrison Hule.
Conrad Reed
The iconic moment in gold rush history begins with a boy named Conrad Reed. At just twelve years old, Conrad was already working on his family’s farm, helping his father with harvest and with other projects. One day, the young boy was at Little Meadow Creek when he found what he believed to be a beautiful yellow rock. He had no idea that he’d just found a sixteen-pound gold nugget.
He took the ‘rock’ home and gave it to his father, John Reed, as a present. Gold was so uncommon in this time that his father did not recognize it for what it was either. For three years, the Reed family simply used this gold as a weighted door stop. It wasn’t until a traveling jeweler went by that they discovered what it was.
The jeweler told them it was gold, and the Reed family was excited when the jeweler offered to buy it from them. He told John reed to name a price and he’d come up with the money for it. John asked for a whole three dollars and fifty cents. That was about the equivalent of a week’s pay for a farmer at the time. The jeweler gave him the money and went on his way. It was only later that the Reed family found out that nugget was worth around thirty-six hundred dollars!
Gold Mining Operationgold dust falling
In 1803, John Reed decided he wanted to start his own small gold mining operation after realizing there was much more gold on his property than he’d previously realized. Soon after he decided this, a slave simply known as Peter found a twenty-eight-pound gold nugget.
For several years, John simply used a technique called placer mining. This is the mining of stream beds. It can be done by open-pit or by using surface excavating equipment. It can also use tunneling equipment.
John continued this trend until 1831, when he began underground mining as well. He died in 1845 as a very wealthy man. The gold from his property had certainly changed his way of life for the better. Mining went on until 1912 at the Reed family farm.
