The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-08-14

In view of the tireless search for gold
which the Spaniards instituted in theil
American possessions, and the numer-
Gus expeditions undertaken during the
first century Of the New Worlds his
tory for the avowed object of finding
the precious metal, it is a remarkable
fact that gold was not discovered with
in the boundaries of the present United
States, nor even anywhere north of the
lumbus' travels.
The lust for gold-the same gold feve
that reigns again among us-drove hun
dreds of adventures across the Allan
tic to brave the dangers of the I'M
known wildS in their attempts to find
the land of gold, the E1dorado of which
the Indians had told and of which the
most romantic tales were being circu-
lated in Europe. The adventures were
Of all the seafaring nations of the civ
ilized world. The Spaniards, on the
| whole, were the most fortunate in find
ing gold. They nassacred the savages
and plundered their temples and pal
aces, securing vast masses of the pre-
c1ous metal. The English, on the other
hand, were unsuccessful throughout
Sir Walter Raleigh's expeditions were
dismal failures. He suffered with his
life for his i'll fortune The Eldorado
which had been sought in South Amer
lea had not been found. The attention of
adventures was now turned to the OPP
posite direction, and the imaginary land
of gold was placed in the north of
America. This idea became so strong
that, in 1876, Martin Forbisher set out
from England for the northwest, seek
ing passage to India north of Hud-
sons strait. He came to an island
which he named Meta Incognita and on
his return took with him a stone which
the English refiners declared to contain
gold. London was greatly excited. But
when second expedition returned and
brought with it a lot of valueless dirt,
the disappointment set the populace
wild with rage. But the public was
ready to be imposed upon again. As
early as $685. Captain John Smith heard
from the Indians reports of rich gold
mines in Virginia The same state
ments were repeated by other explorers
after him, and soon adventures f1ocked
TO the new settlements on the Virginia
coast. The second lot of emigrants to
jamestown consisted chiefly of -vaga-
bond gentlemen and goldsmiths who, in
spite of the remonstranceS of Smith,
believed they had discovered grains of
now nothing done but digging for gold,
washing gold, refining gold. Newport,
the commander, believed himself i'm
measureably rich as he embarked for
England with a freight of worthless
earth.
Gradually the hope of ever finding Ell
dorado vanished, and for 200 years the
golden phantom did not reappear. Not
till this century were the golden trea-
of Ar0,a r.,l-
bosom of the earth. They We're found
primarily, as the result of accident, not
of mad, thoughtless quest.
9 g O.
1t was in the second IA Of this cen
fury. when the report 80 ad IS .Apidly
as was possible in tir6se early days,
through the eastern states, thai gold.
real gold. had been discovered in North
Carolina. AT first people shook their
heads and doubted the news. Had not
the discoveries of the country ram
sacked every nook and corner for the
precious metal and not found as much
as an ounce? But the report was soon
verified and, before long, nuggets of
bright gold reached the larger towns
and were seen, wondered at, by the
curious people. With the gold came
the story of the discovery, and the
wiSeacres nodded their heads and said:
How simple And when it became
known that the owner of the gold mine
was one of those HeSSians who mad
fought against the patriots the gossip
mongers remarked, with sneer of dis
gust: The ignorant Dutchman." This
is the story which was soon told all
over the land:
Jchn Reed, one OF the unfortunates
whom the elector of Hesse had pressed
into service to fight for the English in
America, had, after the war, settled on
a farm IN Cabarrus county, North
Carolina, where the German element
dominated. He was said to be grossly
ignorant, having been but a poor
peasant boy when forcibly transported
to America. One sunGy summer day,
in the year 1893, Conrad Reed. Johns
12-year-old son, accompanied by
a small stream, called Meadow creek,
for the purpose of shooting fish With
bow and arrow. as the Indians were
won't TO do. While bending over the
waters brink, Conrad spied a yellow
substance glistening in the creek. He
waded into the water, picked it up and
found it to be some kind of metals
unconscious of its nature and
value but with the curiosity of a child,
the youngster carried his find home and
showed il 10 his father, who had just
returned from church. The parent ex-
amined the piece Of metal, but was as
ignorant as to its character as the boy.
The next time he brought vegetables
to market at Conrad, he took the yellow
stone, which was about the size of a
small smoothing iron, with him to town
and showed it to William Atkinson, a
This worthy, whose ex-
perience seems to have been sadly
limited, knew not what 10 call it. So
Reed, who unknowingly seems to have
suspected the value of his sons find, 1
carried the piece OF metal home again. !
For three years it lay ON the floor of
the farm house, used for the purpose of
keeping the door from shutting. In the
wear 1902 the old farmer had occasion !
to go to market at Fayetteville. He !
took the piece of metal with him and |
showed it to a jeweler. The latter i'm
med:ately recognized it as gold and
asked Reed to leave it with him, saying |
that he would fix it.
The old farmer did accordingly. On |
his next visit to town the jeweler (
showed him large bar of gold, six or
eight inches long, and asked him at |
what price he would let him have IL. |
Reed, not knowing the value Of gold. |
but still DESTROYS of Drofting as much |
as possible by his sons find, named |
what he thought a big price" namely /
So. 80. The jeweier paid him the price /
named and chuckled over his bargain. |
After returning hime, Reed looked over
the ground where the gold had been
picked up and found nuggets of the |
precious metal all along the brink of
the creek He associated with him /
self three of his neighbors. also Ger
mans, Frederick Kisor (Kaiser), James
Love (Loew) and Martin Phifer
(Pfeifer), and in the 1903 they found a !
piece of gold that weighed 2S pounds.