U.S. GOLD COINS

Discovering Gold in America

Contrary to popular belief, the first significant discovery of gold in America was not in California in 1848, but in the lower Piedmont area of North Carolina in 1799. Conrad Reed, the son of a local farmer, found a 17-pound, yellow-colored rock that later turned out to be gold (after it served a three-year stint as a doorstop!}. By the early 1830s the Bechtler family had established a private mint at Rutherford, North Carolina. Sufficient gold was found in the area to justify the opening of an official U.S. branch mint at Charlotte, North Carolina in 1838.

Around 1828, another gold rush began when gold was discovered in an obscure area of northern Georgia (once part of the Cherokee nation). By 1830, an average of 300 ounces of gold a day was being produced in the area. Private minters such as Templeton Reid and the Bechtler family produced their own coins from locally mined gold. In response, the U.S. Mint established a branch mint at nearby Dahlonega, Georgia to convert the raw gold into standardized coins.

Thousands of Americans rushed to California in 1849 to try to make their fortunes.
However, the really big discovery of gold (and the one with which most schoolkids are familiar) occurred in 1848. John Marshall, a contractor, discovered gold at the site of a mill he was building on behalf of John Sut-ter. Despite instructions to keep the discovery a secret, word soon got out and prospectors and miners seeking their fortunes overran the area. Sutter himself decried the discovery, claiming that the lure of gold took all his employees and laborers, leaving his businesses in ruin.

The influx of gold-seekers was immense, turning San Francisco from a sleepy hamlet to a bulging metropolis in only two years. Hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of gold flowed through the city, passing from the miners to businesses, hotels, gambling establishments, and restaurants. Private minters turned the gold dust, flakes, and nuggets into gold coins, often of questionable quality and fineness, thus providing a necessary medium of exchange. In response to the hue and cry for standardized coins of good quality, the U.S. government established an assay office at San Francisco, followed by an official U.S. mint in 1854.

Circa 1859, a huge deposit of silver and gold ore was found near Virginia City, Nevada. Known as the Comstock Lode, the area produced more than $300 million worth of gold and silver, some of which ended up going to a new mint at Carson City, Nevada.

By 1863, silver and gold were so plentiful in the area around Denver, Colorado, that an assay office was established in that place. In 1906, the Denver operation became an official U.S. branch mint.

Clearly, these discoveries of gold (and to a lesser degree, silver) impacted the history and economy of America in significant ways. Because of gold, populations shifted, fortunes were made, great cities sprang up, and mints created glittering yellow coins that served people back then and which entice collectors today.

Courtesy Garrett and Guth: Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins

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