Gold Mines

This information was first published in 1888:

THE GOLD MINES.

MECKLENBURG County is not only one of the most favored agricultural counties in the State, but is perhaps the richest of any county in mineral wealth. The county is fairly dotted with gold mines, some of which have been worked for fifty or seventy-five years past with varied success. There are about sixty gold mines in the county, four of which are located in the very suburbs of Charlotte. The Rudisill mine, the largest and most extensively operated mine in the State, is located near the southern terminus of Church street, and the St. Catherine, another large mine, is located within a stone's throw of the Trade street station of the Richmond & Danville Railroad Company. From Independ­ence square the steam from the exhaust pipes of the Point mine, located at the western terminus of Trade street, can be seen, while a drive to the fair grounds will reveal the works of the Summit Hill mine.

The Rudisill is now worked by Northern parties; indeed, nearly all the mines of Mecklenburg county are worked by Northern capital. The main shaft of the Rudisill is 360 feet deep, while there are 3,000 feet of tunnels.

The St. Catherine mine is down 400 feet. The Capps Hill and the Dunn mine, located about ten miles irom the city, are among the richest mines in the county. In addition to these mines, the Hopewell, McGinn, Arlington Guarantee, Clark, Baltimore and North Carolina, Ferris, Black, Stephen Wilson and Simpson mines are being worked.

The smaller and less important mines are too numerous to mention in our lim­ited space. There are at least twenty mines in the county which are being con­stantly worked, and forty which are worked at irregular intervals. This repre­sents Mecklenburg's gold mining interests, but the mining industry is not con­fined alone to this county. There are some extensively developed and prosper­ous mines in the adjoining counties of Rowan, Cabarrus and Union. The ores vary considerably in quality, the lowest grade being about $40 per ton and the highest $180 per ton. The Rudisill mine has produced since it was first worked, $2,500,000 in gold, and the Capp's Hill about $2,000,000. It is estimated that $1,000,000 of Northern capital is now invested in the gold mining industry of Mecklenburg.

It is a historical fact that the first discovery of gold in this section was made at what is now known as the Reed mine, in the adjoining county, of Cabarrus, in the year 1799, by Conrad Reed, a twelve year old son of John Reed, the owner of the land. One Sunday while strolling along a branch the boy's eye was attracted by a pretty yellow rock. He carried it home and his father used it for three years as a weight to keep the door of his shanty from slamming shut. In 1802, he took it to Fayetteville and sold it to a jeweler for $3.50. He did not then know the character of the yellow lump. It proved to be a nugget of virgin gold, weighing twenty-eight pounds.