Collection of The Mint Museum, North Carolina mines in the second half of the 19th century, but to no long term avail. However, even in the 1900s some production continued, and Gold Hill was the state’ s largest 20th century mining operation. Gold production largely ceased in the 1910s, except for a brief flurry during the 1930s Depression, as investors still desired the mines, waiting for gold prices to rise enough to make production profitable again.
The estimated value of gold recovered from North Carolina since 1803 reached over $ 1 million a year at its peak, with production estimates fluctuating widely between $ 25 and $ 100 million. It is known that $ 17.5 million worth of North Carolina gold went to the three mints: Philadelphia, Charlotte and Bechtler. However, due to a number of factors— including theft and tax avoidance— the actual total of the state’ s gold production is unknown.
By 1849, many prospectors and their families involved in the North Carolina rush left the area to travel to California to participate in that gold rush. They brought with them many of the lessons learned and technologies developed in North Carolina.
Top: The Charlotte Mint, the first branch Mint to operate outside of Philadelphia. Construction began in 1836, and coinage began the following year. Bottom: The author standing on the historical façade of the original Charlotte Mint, now used for the Mint Museum Randolph in Charlotte, North Carolina.
begin operation. The New Orleans Mint was authorized to produce both gold and silver coins. The branch mints were placed“ under the control and regulation” of the director of the Mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. This was the first time Congress gave the Treasury Department supervisory authority over the Mint.
The cornerstone was laid for the Charlotte Mint building on January 8, 1836, and coining operations commenced on December 4, 1837. William A. Strickland, a noted Philadelphia architect who also designed the original Philadelphia Mint, designed the building in Federal architectural style. It originally stood on West Trade Street and cost $ 29,800. Between 1838 and 1861, the Charlotte Mint coined more than $ 5 million in gold coins.
When the Civil War commenced in 1861, the building was repurposed into a Confederate headquarters and hospital within 24 hours of North Carolina leaving the Union. After the war concluded, the building became a local assay office( 1867- 1913), as well as a headquarters for local organizations. In 1933, it was dismantled and rebuilt in Charlotte’ s Eastover neighborhood for use as the state’ s first art museum, which opened in 1936. It maintains this role today as Charlotte’ s Mint Museum Randolph.
The decline of North Carolina’ s gold production began in the 1830s. During the 1850s, the receipt of gold at the Charlotte Mint dropped by two thirds. The Civil War largely stopped the commercial production of gold. The mines were used in the war effort, largely as a source of sulfur and lead— materials that could be used for ammunitions and medicine. Post-war efforts failed to produce a profitable operation for the miners.
Although Gold Hill and other placer operations in the state re-started production in the 1870s, gold mining did not take hold as in the earlier days. New machinery and methods( e. g. chemical processes) were put into operation at some of the older
Andrew Schmidt is a volunteer docent at the Museum of American Finance. He visited the Reed Mine and the Mint Museum Randolph in Charlotte for this article, which is his first to be published in Financial History.
Author Acknowledgement: The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Evin Burleson of the Reed Gold Mine and Joyce Weaver, Director of Library and Archives for The Mint Museum( with two locations, one of which is The Mint Museum Randolph, located in the original 1836 US Mint at Charlotte), for their invaluable assistance and courtesies.
Sources
Crayon, Porte.“ North Carolina Illustrated.” Harpers New Monthly Magazine, No. LXXXVII, Vol. XV, page 289. August 1857.
Knapp, Richard. Gold Promise in the Piedmont: The Story of John Reed’ s Mine. North Carolina: Division of Archives and History. 1999.
Knapp, Richard and Brent D. Glass. Gold Mining in North Carolina: A Bicentennial History. North Carolina: Division of Archives and History. 1999.
16 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Summer 2016 | www. MoAF. org