This article will explain below how the first documented gold nugget was found in the United States. The discover eventually gave birth to the Reed Gold Mine in North Carolina.
Some efforts to look for the gold in the Appalachian Mountains had earlier been embarked on by some Spaniards and English colonists. As the early explorers often did, they would search for gold as they made their way through uncharted lands.
The year 1799 brought a change to all that. North Carolina was being settled and farming was the way of life for most people at this point in history. Gold had not yet been discovered in the United States, and it wasn’t really on the minds of most people.
The Discovery on Little Meadow Creek
The first discovery of gold in the US is credited to a 12 year old boy by the name of Conrad Reed. Without much effort at all, he stumbled upon a huge gold nugget along the banks of Little Meadow Creek that ran across the family farm.
Conrad showed the gold to his father, but he did not have any knowledge to identify gold. They had made perhaps the most important discovery in the US up to that point, yet they didn’t even know it. Instead, the nugget was used as a doorstop in the Reed house!
In 1802, John Reed went on a trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas where he visited a jeweler to have the “rock” inspected. The jeweler knew right away that it was gold. The jeweler requested to buy the rock and asked John Reed to name his price for it. But due to his ignorance of how much worth the nugget was, he sold it at a giveaway price of $3.50. And the pay was just equivalent to a week’s wage. It was later sold for $3,600 dollars.
Gold is Found and Mining Begins
John Reed organized some local men and established a small gold mining operation. They soon started finding more gold… a lot more gold! And big gold nuggets weighing several pounds were recovered including a 28-pound nugget and many others weighing over a pound were recovered from the early mining activities.
As time passed the capacity of the mining operations began to increase. The mine was producing good gold, and Reed continued bringing in more men and equipment. Some records showed that by the year 1824, $100,000 was realized from the gold captured using the pans and rockers on Little Meadow Creek.
Gold Fever Spreads Throughout the Region
In the early 1820s many more mines were established in the surrounding area. Eventually, hundreds of mines would spring up throughout North Carolina’s western region.
Towards the end of 1820s the placer gold deposits were getting mined out. Men continued working the gravels with pans and sluices, but it was getting harder to make a living.
By 1829 other rich mining grounds had been found near Dahlonega. As a result, a good number of miners relocated from North Carolina to mine the new gold rush in Georgia. More gold was found farther west in Alabama. A gold rush was on again throughout the south, and men from around the world were traveling to dig for gold in Georgia and Alabama.
The Final Years at the Reed Gold Mine
John Reed was not one of them. He and his partners increased their operations even more by introducing underground mining operations at their mine in 1831. The Reed Gold Mine was now extracting hard rock gold.
The Reed Gold Mine was credited to have been the first successful commercial gold mine in the United States, which realized an approximate value of $10 million in gold.
The mine struggled as the years went on. The civil war stopped all mining efforts for several years. The placers were eventually mined out completely, and the hard rock operations ceased in 1912.
The Reed Gold Mine was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1966, which eventually became an historic site in 1971. Today the site is open to the public. There is a museum on site depicting the life of an early North Carolina miner.
Mining may be over, but the discovery of gold on Little Meadow Creek still gets credit as the first gold discovery in the United States. And what a discovery it was!
