174 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



HISTOEY OF GOLD MINING IK THE UNITED STATES 



By Professor R. A. F. PENROSE, Jr. 



PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



Period from 1800-1848 



/^ OLD was known by the Indians to exist in the United States long 

 ^^-^ before the white people discovered it, but unlike the Indians of 

 Mexico, the more northern natives did not make elaborate use of it, and 

 it did not seriously attract the attention of the settlers until shortly be- 

 fore the beginning of the nineteenth century. No very important min- 

 ing, however, was done until after 1800, when a little gold began to be 

 obtained in North Carolina. Long before that time the gold of Cali- 

 fornia had also been known to the natives and to the Franciscan monks, 

 but that country then belonged to Mexico and was not taken by the 

 United States until 1846. 



The first important gold mining, therefore, in the United States 

 was in North Carolina, when shortly after 1800 the auriferous gravels 

 of Cabarrus and Montgomery counties were worked in a small way. 

 From that time until 1827 small quantities of gold were produced in 

 these and other parts of North Carolina, though not enough to cause 

 much excitement; but the discoveries then spread into the adjoining 

 states, and in the next two or three years South Carolina, Georgia and 

 Virginia began to produce important quantities of gold, while Ala- 

 bama and Tennessee also soon began to supply a small amount. In the 

 meantime gold-bearing veins had been discovered in addition to the 

 gravels, and from the two sources the production of gold grew consid- 

 erably. A great excitement followed and many thousands of people 

 rushed to the gold diggings. 



Later discoveries extended the area in which gold was found until 

 it had been traced from Alabama northeastward to the Canadian 

 border, but very little was discovered beyond Virginia. The gold de- 

 posits characterize certain geologic horizons which flank the east slope 

 of the Appalachian Mountains, and the most productive part of this 

 belt has so far proved to be in western North Carolina, the adjoining 

 part of South Carolina and northern Georgia, while Virginia and Ala- 

 bama have been smaller producers and Tennessee has supplied a little. 

 In the states north of Virginia small quantities of gold have occasion- 

 ally been found, but not enough to be of much commercial importance,^ 



* Exception to this must be made where small quantities of gold are produced 

 as a by-product from copper ores in Tennessee, Maryland and New Hampshire, 

 and from iron ores at Lebanon, Pennsylvania. 



