The Washington herald., 1907-09-08

Charlotte. n C, Sept For the first
three-quarters Of century of our na-
tional life. the gold supply of the United
States came from the mines In North and
South Carolina and Georgia. Since the
discovery Of gold in California. in iS47
these Southern mines have not attracted
much notice. although they still produce
as much gold every year as the whole
country did in tie days Of the first Amer
lean money panic in the thirties. As an
instance Of the way things move in these
stirring times ii may be stated that the
gold production Of the world since 1897
the year Mckinley became President. has
been more than the total gold production
Of the entire world from 1892. when Co
lumbus discovered America, down 10 1859
when California gold first began to reach
the mints In large quantities.
There are two gold mines within the
city limits Of the municipality Of Char
lotte, one Of which is now being operated
/ profltably. A few miles south Of here. in
South Carolina, the Halo mine is pro-
ducing gold every day, and has been prof
itably operated for over twenty years. II
was at this mine that the chlorination
process Of reducing refractory gold ore
was first employed on large scale by
Mr. A, Thies a hale old man Of eighty
years. now living in Charlotte
An excellent prospect was found a few
years ago just north OF Charlotte The
land was bought by northern syndicste
/ and local miner was put IN charge.
! Much gold went into the hill. very
little came out Of it. Then capitalists
| though to employ an expert miner. They
imported one from Colorado. a man who
knew how 10 operate a gold mine
He had an unlimited expense account.
He hired large gang Of workmen and
began digging. Two kegs Of whiskey
/ were sent out every Saturday. The boss
miner rode over the country behind a
spanking span. Still there were % re-
/ sults-all going in and nothing coming
4 out
Finally he reported that the mine was
a failure, and II was abandoned. About
a year after that little girl was playing
/ around the dump where the supposedly
worthless rock and dirt had been piled.
I She picked up little nugget and ran
/ home 10 tell her father, a veteran miner.
4 The old man came back with her and that
/ afternoon picked up a tin bucket full OF
nuggets which assayed N,7O0
/ Although the presence OF gold IN the
Southern Appalachians was known 10 the
J Spaniards before the settlement at James
/ town, the. English eolonists paid little at
/ tention 10 searching for the glorious
+ metal. The discovery Of the Carolina field
was made IN l7s9. when a little son OF
/ Conrad Reed. OF Cabarrus County found
a very heavy rock He took il 10 the
house and it was used as a weight 10 prop
/ the door open. One day a visitor noticed
what il was-a chunk OF almost pure
/ gold Weighing twenty-five pounds. one
nugget of about the same size has been
found in that county. Road makers dug
/ up a nugget Weighing over five pounds
while grading a road near Concord a few
years ago. Negroes digging for the
foundation Of cotton mill in Charlotte
/ two years ago. found three nuggets worth
l from S to S24 each. Gold mining was be-
/ gun on a considerable scale in this section
I years
/ II had become the leading industry. and
/ there was large class of professional
gold hunters and miners. The production
+ became so large that Congress in 1875 es-
I tablished two mints in the South. one here
al Charlotte and the other at Dahlonega.
/ Ga. Both were operated until the civil
/ war; neither was reopened after the end
Of the war. The Charlotte mint was
I burned in 1874, but was Immediately re-
built The building is still standing: is
stlll known as the mint" and is
occupied by the United States ASSAY
Office. Through this Office each year
comes the production Of precious
metals from the southern Appa-
! lachian mines. except that portion
which is shipped to the Northern re-
hneries IS the crude ore The mines in
( the city Of Charlotte, for instance. shin
the ore 70 New Jersey 10 be refined. and
( hence their product does not go through
the local assay Office
The annual production Of gold in the
Southern States Is now S500.Oo0 and
shows a slight increase from year 10
year. This is a small amount when com
pared to the production of the Western
States. Of course. but as the mines have
! rarely been worked properly or syste-
matically the Importance Of the southern
field cannot be estimated by its pro
duction. The application Of improved
methods Of mining have made the gold
mines Of the Western States yield much
metal that was entirely lost under the
Older systems. and there are geologists
and miners who believe that the intro
duction Of modern scientific methods in
the Southern States would greatly in
crease the yield Of gold and would re-
turn good profit on the investment.
Placer mining has not been carried on
here TO any extent, although the geo
logical survey experts think it could be
done at a profit. The sands from the
bottom Of the Catawba river are now
being raised by dredges and washed for
gold. While some metal is being re-
covered, II is doubtful if the experiment
will pay. on account OF the heavy ex-
pense. The bottom OF the river Is very
rough and rocky, and it is exceedingly
difficult TO get at the sands.
When the great gold discoveries were
made in California in 1SE there was a
large gold mining population in this sec
tion. The new FL Dorado tempted them
and the exodus was well-nigh complete
For a time the local mines were para
lized, but the news OF the discoveries in
the West eventually aided the mines
here and work was begun with renewed
yigor, not 10 be stopped until the war
came on and interferred with everything
in the South Among the forty miners"
who left this county was a miner named
Smith. lie persuaded his sweetheart a
Miss Bell, TO go with him to the golden
West. She left a younger brother here
The families ceased to correspond when
the older members died. and the North
Carolina branch hardly knew that the
cousins In tbe West axis+aS ta,,+-;-~ f-,,s