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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Owle, post: 1147085, member: 22004&quot;]The US Mint reported gold production from North Carolina in 1793, but gave no further details.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Gold_Rush#cite_note-0" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Gold_Rush#cite_note-0" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #0645ad">[1]</span></a> In 1799 young <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Reed" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Reed" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #0645ad">Conrad Reed</span></a> found a 17-pound shiny rock while playing at a creek on his family farm in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabarrus_County,_North_Carolina" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabarrus_County,_North_Carolina" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #0645ad">Cabarrus County, North Carolina</span></a>. He and his family kept it as a doorstop until 1802. His father John Reed took the rock to a jeweler who recognized it as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #0645ad">gold</span></a> and bought it from the unaware Reed for $3.50 (a week&#039;s wages for farm labor.) A year later Peter, one of the slaves held by the Reed family, found a 28-pound nugget of gold on the property. John Reed started <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placer_mining" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placer_mining" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #0645ad">placer mining</span></a>, and later underground mining, on his property and became a wealthy man.</p><p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Gold_Mine" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Gold_Mine" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #0645ad">Reed Gold Mine</span></a> was designated a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Historic_Landmark" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Historic_Landmark" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #0645ad">National Historic Landmark</span></a>. Visitors can explore reconstructed underground mining tunnels[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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