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- First line: Uwharrie Gold Mines: Bald Mountain GC4ZM97
- From your observations at this site, what type of gold mine was here? Why do you say so?
- Observe the spoils at the site. What type of rock makes up the spoil?
- Does the spoil rock come from the surface or deep beneath the surface? What evidence do you find to support your findings?
In the early decades of the 1800s, the southern Piedmont's gold mines attracted prospectors, investors, and miners. Tar Heel gold had first been found in 1799 on John Reed’s farm in Cabarrus County, several miles west of the Uwharrie Mountains. A lot of gold was recovered from the Reed Gold Mine, making Reed a wealthy man. Gold fever set in, as others tried to make their fortunes through mining. North Carolina experienced a gold rush in the 1820s and 1830s, becoming the nation’s largest producer of gold before the great California gold rush of 1849.
By the 1830s, gold prospectors and miners had moved into the Uwharrie Mountain region, searching the hills and panning the streams. Companies formed to finance mining operations. At least fifteen mines, including the Russell Mine, opened in the Uwharries before the Civil War.
Gold mines were located where white quartz rock intersected the surface. Depending upon the way the quartz vein ran, different types of mines were created. Quartz rock was formed when hot fluid rich in quartz and metals forced the way to the surface through cracks in bedrock. As the quartz cooled, so did the metals. Fluids richer in metals formed veins of the metal in the quartz rock.
There were several types of mines in the Uwharries which included placer mines, where pressurized water was used to wash gold from hillsides. Even 180 years later, placer mines are recognized by huge cut away sections next to rivers and creeks. Steep sided valleys were created by the pressurized water.
shaft mines dug horizontal shafts into hillsides and made vertical shafts straight down. Shaft mines can be recognized by piles of quartz rock that may surround a central depression. If a horizontal shaft was used, the hand dug shaft can still be found, sometimes lined with timbers and rail cart lines for the ore carts. Vertical shafts are dangerous. False bottoms may be in the center of the depression. The quartz rock from deep beneath the surface typically is not stained with red mud.
Large, open pit mines. These open pit mines were many acres. If the open pit mine cut into the side of a mountain, then the sheer man made cliff walls are very evident. If the open pit mine was surrounded on all sides, then by now most of these mines have filled with water.
Workers dug quartz rock containing gold from the mine and carted it down the hill to a stamp mill next to a creek. There, crushers began the process of breaking the rock and getting gold from the ore. Steam engines powered the crushers and separators. The ruins of the brick stamp mill can still be seen today. Archaeological remains of homes, probably used by company supervisors, also have been found on nearby ridge tops. Only fireplaces remain visible above the ground.
Miners had to load rocks and ore into mining carts, operate hoists, keep steam engines stoked with wood, and—once gold was separated from rock—dispose of the rock (called spoil). They did much of the work by hand. For example, miners used sledgehammers to pound iron rods to bore small holes into the rock, which were then filled with dynamite used to blast rock loose.
Later in the century, miners even used dredges (machines that remove earth) to search the sands of the Uwharrie River. This is the most difficult mine to recognize today because only the sediments from the bottom of rivers and creeks were sorted for the placer gold.