The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-22
GOLD IN NORTH CAROLINA.
SOME BIG NUGGETS TAKEN FROM
THE PIONEER PLACER MINES.

y century hHo-h VNba hehhap VI
Gold that was Traded 20 n Peddler-A suc-
cessrul Woman Miner-stories or Biz FINDS.
at seems strange to mo-" said a citizen OF
Charlotte, N. c., who Is among tho Southern
visitors now in this city. that among all the
stories Of placer mining and nugget finding
that tho Klondiko excitement has brought out.
not a reference has been mado TO the original
placer mines in this country, from which mil
lions OF dollars had been taken In dust and
nuggets long before gold was discovered In
California. These were in North Carolina,
and 80 far arc they from being exhausted
that in a few weeks last year $4,000 in dust
and nuggets was taken out within an area OF
100 yards. at n depth OF from one foot to three
feet. This Is at tho mine, In Stanley
county. A ten.pound nugget of pure gold was
found there In August. 1895. and one weighing
sia pounds in April. 1896. Last March two mug.
gets were uncovered. one weighing Oh pounds
and ono 3 pounds, all virgin gold.
"But that record is nothing to that OF the Rocd
mine in Cabarrus county. Taking them in tho
order of their weight and not chronologically,
the Reed mine has yielded nuggets weighing %.
%, II, 10. 1914, Ole, q ttwol, 3 two, b. 3. 2io
two, 2, and IL, pounds, all pure gold except tho
30. ponndcr, which had some quartz mingled
with 1t. This one was found in April, 1896.
where tho ground had been worked over time
ana time again. NO record mas Deen kept OF
nuggets smaller than tho pound and three
quarter ono, although hundreds have been
washed out at the Reed mine ranging from ten
ounces down to n pennywcight.
There Is authentic record OF all those big
nuggets. and Reed family tradition mentions
one still larger. although. at the time IL was
found, the ancestral Reed who discovered 1t along
tho creek in his field did not know IL was gold,
and when a travelling pcddler offered him q pair
Of brass shoe buckles, five yards OF dooskin, and
q pewter mug for the rock as 1t was called,
that innocent old gentleman was glad enough to
make the trade. The family tradition is that
this rock weighed eighty pounds. and when.
years later. a descendant of that Reed learned
that a similar rock, found in tho same crock, was
gold, and it brought him $3.50 from a Fayetto-
vile goldsmith. he became certain that the
one HIS forbear had disposed OF for q song
was an eighty pound lump Of gold-and the
family believe SO TO this day. Whether 1t was
or not, 1t is q fact that the first report Of the
United States Mint In 1893. records the receipt
of several thousand dollars worth OF gold from
North Carolina. No gold had been mined in
North Carolina or anywhere else in this country
then. II you should ask down In Cabarrus county
where they thought that gold could have come
from, they'll tell you pretty quick that It was
part OF that s%o.ponnd nugget old Farmer Reed
traded to the peddler for q few shillings' worth
of goods. And how are you going TO say that
1t wasn't3
But the Reed who sold the subsequent mug
get for $3.50 hadn't much reason to boast over
his ancestor of the traditional eighty-pound
nugget. The second nugget was the seventeen
| FOUNDER OF the Reed mine record. and was tho
first one Of that lot found. Reeds l2.year-old
boy luggcd it in from the creek one day, where
he had gone to shoot fish. 1t was shaped like n
/. A.
that account. 1t lay about the house four or
hSe years. ana by and by a fayettev'Ie gold.
fetch it with him SOME day when he was coming
70 town and Reed did an II , sthcn hc learned
70 own. ana leeu uu 3d. !, "as 'neh nc learned
it. It t was was worth worth " ~ iyA ten tines nTssp that. S''' ''f
IN scliins OF that husget was the beginning
or gold hunting in North Carolina, and it was
not many months before all the streams in that
par Tue State ~ere tiheu WIN prospectors
and 1t was there that tho race new to this coun-
1Ty-the frenzieo gold hunter-had Its origin
me placer mines were IN .aoarrus' Meckien'
into existence. Rich placer mines were subsc.
HSH nlKa f fS%n9 in ii IN shs so MfD0 Mornt ana
district. and repaid richly the diggcrs. many OF
" when Snr, Ters sr mHmsn wor The 20 P }nI IF and, and PITT Rit mines lines
supplied the the United States mints and the de-
mands OF trade in this country with the pre-,
cious metal until the discovery OF gold in Cali.
fornia. when the miners deserted the Carolina
fields and rushed wildly toward the new III DO.
RADIO, lust as people are pushing on to the Klon.
dixie now. The gold districts OF North Carolina
have furnished the United states minis alone
with S95. 600. 600 worth OF gold.
"The Reed plantation, with its yield OF nearly
800. 600 in big nuggets alone. and It's hundreds
and thousands of dollars in smaller nuggets and
dust, was not the only phenomenal producer OF
gold in the pioneer American digginRs. The
Beaver Dam mine, in Montgomery county, was
a wonder. This was the property OF a man
named Thomas Fancy, who, UP to the time OF
the discovery OF gold on il, was a thrifty and
stcndy.9oing citizen. When he began picking
up 800 worth OF gold a day, however'whic[
was the amount his diggings yielded for month,
his sudden riches turned his head. lie took Il
drink, and INDUCED in all sorts OF extrav
ngHnces. He was a great deer hunter
and 1t Is related of him that it be
came "A favorite pastime OF his to go hunting his
fayoritc game with bullets run from pur,
gold. Old residents of that locality tell Of tho
killing OF a buck by u hunter long after Fancy
death, In the shoulder Of which, when this dec
WAS dressed, he found n fnttcned piece of xold