In 1799, a boy found a big yellow rock in a North Carolina creek; it was used as a doorstep and his father sold it for $3.50 without knowing it was gold. What happened next changed the fate of one family and North Carolina forever

Just like Aladdin almost sold one dusty lamp which held the genie that later turned him from a pauper to a wealthy man, we sometimes almost let go of objects without knowing their inherent worth. For three years, a 17-pound yellow rock went unnoticed as a humble doorstop on a North Carolina farm. It was only after Conrad Reed’s father, John, sold the rock for a measly $3.5, that he came to know the stone’s worth. This discovery transformed the fortunes of the Reed family and sent farmers, miners and adventurers searching the creeks of the southern United States in a quest for gold.

The Discovery That Changed The Reeds’ Fate & Sharted The Gold Rush

According to the website North Carolina Historic Sites, the first known gold discovery in the United States occurred at Reed Gold Mine. Gold mining later expanded to neighbouring counties and other southern states as a result of this finding. The number of North Carolinians employed in gold mining during its heyday was second only to that of farming. The projected annual value of recovered gold exceeded one million dollars. Up until the Great Rush to California in 1848, North Carolina was the country's top producer of gold.

On a day in 1799, John Reed’s 12-year-old son Conrad came across a large yellow rock in Little Meadow Creek on the Reed farm in Cabarrus County. It was used as a doorstep at their house for three years.


In 1802, John, a Hessian soldier who served the British Army during the Revolutionary War, decided to sell the stone. A jeweller at Fayetteville identified the stone as a gold nugget – unaware of the value of the rock, Reed Sr decided to sell it for $3.5, which was a week’s worth of wages for a farmer at that time. He had sold it at one-tenth of one per cent of its true value. Once Reed realised what he’d given away, he started digging.

How The Reeds’ Fortunes Changed

John Reed partnered with three local men to start the Reed mining operation the following year. Reed furnished the land, while the partners provided tools and slaves to mine the creek bed for gold. The returns were to be split evenly. The men prioritised growing their crops over mining during the off-season. The largest known nugget discovered in the United States, weighing 28 pounds, was discovered by an enslaved kid named Peter before the conclusion of the first year. The largest gold nugget discovered east of the Mississippi River and at Reed Gold Mine is still Peter's Nugget.

Other Piedmont farmers started searching their waterways for gold after learning about Reed's fortunate success. The gold fields employed both young and old men and women. They were joined by foreigners, particularly the talented English Cornishmen. When it was discovered in 1825 that the metal was also present in veins of white quartz rock, placer, or creek, gold mining gave rise to underground mining. Much more money, labour, and equipment were needed in the hunt for "lode", or underground gold. At Reed, subterranean construction didn't start until 1831. A family dispute four years later led to a court order that shut down the mine for ten years.

When John Reed passed away in 1845, he was a prosperous man. The Reed mine was soon put up for public auction.

North Carolina was the top producer of gold in the United States by 1840, with mines producing more than $1 million worth of gold per year. Up until 1848, when the California Gold Rush started and swiftly surpassed it in overall production, North Carolina continued to be America's top producer of gold.

According to The Reserve Report, within a generation, there were 600 mines working from Greensborough to Rock Hill. Gold mining became the largest occupation in the state of North Carolina, second only to farming. North Carolina clawed roughly $60 million of gold out of its grounds during the 1800s that today would translate to over $10 billion dollars.

The Fate Of The Reed Mine

The mine was eventually purchased by Dr Justin D. Lisle, Oliver S. Kelly and his son, O. Warren Kelly, for $15,000. They began investigating Lower Hill's older workings before moving on to Upper Hill. By 1896, a 10-Stamp California-style mill was acquired from Charlotte's Mecklenburg Iron Works and positioned near Little Meadow Creek to expedite the crushing and processing of quartz. In search of quartz veins, the Upper Hill workings were first dug down to a depth of 100 feet and then 150 feet. Sadly, the Kelly family never found the gold they had hoped for, and in 1912 they stopped all underground mining and gave up on Reed.

Today, the Reed’s Gold Mine is a historic site. The tunnels have been restored, and visitors can visit Reed’s Farm and walk the tunnels the miners carved and pan gold out of the creek.

John Reed’s mindless sale of the yellow rock triggered America’s first gold rush. But it also serves as a cautionary tale – not to give away our possessions until we have ascertained their value. Any of us could have gold hiding in plain sight – right under our noses!