The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-11-09
NoRTH cARoLINA,s COLD.

ST remember some of the old-time
gold nuggets that were found on the
Reed Farm in North Caroline" said
Jacob 8. Bauman, Of Rowan county,
N. @. "There is, or was for long tlme'
aplaster cast of the "a pound negget IL
the possession of a resident of Concord.
This big lump of gold was dug up oy
the slaves on~the Reed plantation. It
Law only q foot beneath the surface.
The 1911 FOUNDER, one of the Spound
ones, the 5 pound one. and both OF the
21.pounders were also found by q slave,
and all within four weeks. There Is q
plaster cast of the % pound neggcs
fourdon this farm in the United States
Mint. now the Government Assay
Office, at Charlotte. After more than
5000, 900 in gold neggets and gold dust
had been taken by surface mining on
the Reed plantation the Reed deep mine
was sunk, and it yielded Of that as
sayed from IS to $500 a ton. The prop
erty early became involved in expen
sive litigation, which continued for
years, and absorbed q large share Of the
wealth in produced. When it was at
it's best the labor in it was nearly all
done by slaves. It was discovered thai
some of them were in the habit Of secret
ing gold in their clothing and disposing
of it to e~peculators, After that they
were compelled to work naked In the
mine, and even then, it is said, they
managed to steal enough gold to make
it profitable for traders to pay frequent
secret visits to the slave quarters.
81 worked in the placer gold diggings
Of North Carolina more OF less, from
1884 to 1916. Farming and gold dig
ging went hand in nand for years
When the crops were harvested the
slaves were moved into the creek bot
toms. On some farms the gold yield
in the interior between harvesting and
the next planting was worth more than
all the crops of the year. A farmer
near Yadkin, named Macker zie,
plonghed up in one f3ld 600 penny
weights of gold, and at n time the
village of Concord, the county seat of
Cabarrus county, might have been
called the place Of golden streets, for
after every rain, gold in fine grains
could be picked up in the streets and
cutters, where it had been washed
from the neighboring fields. In one
of these fields a FIVE pound nugget was
found by a little negro boy who was
digging fshworms. The field was
more than 100 feet higher than the
Yadkin River, and although it had
been under cultivation many years,
n day the plough turned up a dozen
Jumps of gold, where they were lying
nuddled together like potatoes in a hill.
This pocket Of little nuggets contained
$50 pennyWeights Of absolutely pure
gold. This was on the Parker farm,
which yielded in this way, at various
times more than $25, 900
slave labor was used largely in the
d~iggings. E very other Saturday the
masters gave the slaves half of the
day, during which time they could
hunt for gold themselves. Many a
negro washed enough gold to buy his
freedom, and did so, and a great many
more washed out enough during the
continuance Of the placer diggings to
buy their freedom many times over,
but did not buy it once. At every
camp Whiskey shanties were plentiful
and most of the negroes thought more
of what those shanties contained than
of their freedom, and the moment they
found gold they would quit work and
invest iG in drink.
1.-The production Of gold in North
Carolina in those days was so large
that gold dust was long the common
currency. The carrying Of goose quilts
filed with gold dust and a pair of
scales to weigh it in paying a bill or
making 8 purchase was common with
classesiR the early days of the diggings.
Whiskey was an article that was in
great demand by a certain class of
miners, and if record had been kept of
the the amount Of gold exchanged for
that one article alone during the first
twenty five years of the gold excite
ment ia North Carolina, it would come
pretty ear eCualing the amount the
miners sent to the Mint. A quart of
whiskey cost 81 grains of gold"