As Knapp tells the story, in 1799, 12-year-old Conrad Reed skipped church to go fishing and found a 17-pound gold nugget in Little Meadow Creek. The creek was located on Reed's family farm in Cabarrus County. Reed showed the nugget to his father, John Reed, an illiterate German immigrant, who failed to realize it was gold. According to Knapp, the family used the nugget as a doorstop until a jeweler from a neighboring town offered to buy it for $3.50. The nugget turned out to be worth $3,600. John Reed later employed slaves to search for gold on his property, and eventually became a wealthy man.
According to a 2006 article by Rebecca Lewis titled "The North Carolina Gold Rush" on the North Carolina Museum of History website, news of the discovery of gold in Cabarrus County spread quickly, and soon gold was being found in the neighboring Piedmont counties of Montgomery, Stanly, Mecklenburg, Rowan and Union. By 1805, newspapers were reporting an influx of people moving to the area in search of gold. In 1825, a man named Matthias Barringer discovered that gold could be found in veins of white quartz, meaning miners could follow the vein into the ground, where it could eventually lead to gold. Prior to this discovery, according to Lewis, gold mining in North Carolina had been limited to the "placer," or above-ground method.
The underground mining method required more manpower, and soon immigrants from many countries began to arrive in the Piedmont area. According to Lewis, one mine employed 1,000 workers who spoke more than 13 languages. In addition to regular workers, mine owners brought in mining experts from Europe to help run the mines. Many of these experts were from Cornwall, England, where miners had perfected underground techniques in tin and copper mines. Lewis says Cornish miners were also experts in steam technology, which was used to mill the gold ore.
The North Carolina mines prospered, and according to Lewis, produced a total of about a million dollars of gold a year. Mining employed more men than any other industry in the area except farming. Then, in 1848, gold was discovered in California. At that point, Lewis says, many of North Carolina's single miners headed west, although the Cornish miners, who tended to have families, stayed in the state. Today, the John Reed Mine is the site of a visitors center that contains historical mining equipment. Portions of the underground mine have been restored for tours.
