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What if someone told you that you were sitting on a gold mine? Most of us would likely think we were somehow not aware of some extra value in our property or business. At least that’s how the expression is intended and usually used. But many of the urban areas of Charlotte could give a more literal meaning to the old saying. Bank of America Corporate Center, the 50-yard line of Bank of America Stadium, parts of the Wilmore neighborhood, and the new Beazer project along Morehead are all sitting on that proverbial gold mine. Summit Avenue, where it winds from Tryon Street to I-277, even used to be named Gold Street.
Gold mines once dotted the landscape of many parts of center city Charlotte in the early 1800’s, pre-dating the California gold rush. Major gold discoveries and major mines were found right here in Charlotte, so much so that the federal government found the need to open a branch of the U.S. Mint here. The effect of that can still be felt, as Charlotte remains one of only a few dozen cities in the country with a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.
As Charlotte is the 2nd-largest banking center in the country, it is ironic that gold was discovered (though not widely announced to the general public) during the construction of the Bank of America Corporate Center. What they uncovered were small flakes of gold in quartz stones, not enough to be considered a significant find, but they did make interesting and exciting souvenirs for some of those doing the groundwork for the building. It is still interesting to think that the headquarters for Charlotte’s largest bank literally sits on a foundation of gold.
The Carolina Gold Rush began in 1799, when Conrad Reed found a 17-pound stone while fishing in a creek on his father John’s land. For three years the Reeds kept the stone as a doorstop until learning that it was gold. John Reed began panning Little Meadow Creek regularly and found many other nuggets, not knowing a vein of quartz-filled gold lay below his farm. Many Charlotteans have taken school field trips to Reed Gold Mine, in nearby Cabarrus County. The small museum and visitor center and tour of the original tunnels and mines make for a very nice day trip. Discovering that North Carolina had its own small gold rush before the big one out west is fairly well-known and taught in our schools, but I find it surprising that it is unusual to hear about the mines that were right here in the city and in other surrounding counties. By late 1830, there were 56 mines in operation in North Carolina, and by some counts, at its peak, the state was home to as many as 100 gold mines. According to Doug Smith, in a Charlotte Observer article dated June 8, 1979, “For the first 50 years of gold mining in the United States, North Carolina was the leading gold-producing state and Charlotte was at the hub of the most productive gold mining area.”
Before the mid-1830’s mining in the region consisted primarily of farmers panning and prospecting in streams and creeks in the off-season. Through the 1830’s, prospecting in some areas had turned to deep-mining operations, and mining companies began to replace the small operations in the area. By 1834 nine mining companies had received charters to operate in Mecklenburg County, and an influx of new business and people created the first wave of rapid development in Charlotte. Hundreds of the workers for the mines began arriving from as far away as Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. One of the employers, the London Mining Company, brought mining expert Count Chevalier Vincent de Rivafinoli from Italy to oversee their operations. Rivafinoli also founded the Mecklenburg Gold Mining Company, which at its apex employed over 600 workers. Two of the largest and most profitable of the local mines were the St. Catherine mine and the Rudisill mine. Both were located less than a mile from The Square of what is now central Charlotte.
St. Catherine mine was located at what is now the junction of I-277 and north of the Carson Boulevard exit ramp. Beazer Homes is currently clearing land at the site for their town home project along Morehead Street, across from the Bank of America Stadium. During a recent drive past the site, we could clearly see large outcroppings of granite and other stone being exposed by the site work being done. St. Catherine was started in 1825 by Samuel McComb and is known as the first deep mine that followed a vein of gold underground.
The Rudisill Mine, best known as the only local mine still in operation after the Civil War, was located at the other end of the vein of gold that the St. Catherine mined. Its main shaft was located near what is now the intersection of Mint Street and Summit Avenue. A concrete cap that was used to seal the entrance can still be seen on the vacant lot at the top of the hill. Numerous shafts and tunnels for the Rudisill Mine were located under what is now the commercial corridor of Mint Street between Summit Avenue and Park Avenue, as well as the blocks of the Wilmore neighborhood along Westwood, Southwood, and Wickford Avenues. Gray Little, of Little Hardware, tells of a time when the bathroom in their original building collapsed, the result of an old mine tunnel collapsing far below ground. Little’s Mint Street location is directly above one of the subsidiary mines that went up and down Mint Street, and many of the buildings on that strip have had structural issues in the past as a result of the tunnels and shafts below them. Little even tells of locations where evidence of the old mines can easily be seen, as well as locations that have been covered up over time.
Though many mines in the region were little more than deep pits or open pit mines, others, like St. Catherine and Rudisill, had tunnels and shafts that went as deep as 300 to 600 feet. Geological maps of center city show areas of excavation open-pit mining, shaft and tunnel locations, and even pinpoint locations where active mining in the city took place. The various mines in and around the city produced large quantities of gold until the mid-1800’s. At that point, the cost to obtain what could still be mined outweighed the value of the ore. A resurgence of prospecting and mining occurred around the turn of the century and again during the depression, but no significant veins were ever uncovered, and in the late 1930’s the shafts and tunnels were closed and covered for good.
In the early 1800’s most of the gold mined in Charlotte was shipped to Philadelphia to be minted, and for many years gold from North Carolina was the only native gold minted there. So much gold was being shipped out of the state that the federal government was successfully lobbied to open a mint in Charlotte. The Charlotte Mint was opened in 1837, and from its opening until 1861, more than $5 million in gold pieces were minted in the city. Prior to the establishment of the mint, private enterprise had stepped in to mint coins. Christopher Bechtler, a European Immigrant, opened his own mint in 1831, and it remained in business until 1857. [If the name Bechtler rings a bell, it should. His descendant Andreas Bechtler is donating an extensive collection of fine art for the establishment of the Bechtler Museum of Art being planned for the Wachovia tower which is being built on South Tryon – about 5 blocks from the city’s two largest extinct mines!]
Interest in mining in Charlotte mines has waxed and waned at different points in history. In the 1970’s many articles were written about the mines in central Charlotte. This coincided with the restoration and opening of the Reed Gold Mine museum. A study was even commissioned by Charlotte to determine the cost and feasibility of reopening either the Rudisill or St. Catherine mine as an attraction similar to Reed. The cost of reopening one of these mines, combined with the uncertainty of the condition of the tunnels, caused the idea to be shelved. The city also considered the placement of surface markers and the creation of a visitor center or park commemorating Charlotte’s role in the first gold rush. Those never seemed to have gained ground, so today the existence and location of these mines is as much of a mystery to most Charlotteans as they were 30 years ago.
This significant part of Charlotte history shouldn’t simply fade away because of a lack of interest. When talking with various old Charlotte families and those who own property in the vicinity of the mines, knowledge of the history is evident. I’ve heard tales of shaft openings that were once located under or in the basements of many older buildings, most of which are long gone. When these folks and the remaining old buildings are no longer around, and when the city has continued to grow and cover any of the remnants of these mines, we could lose our connection to this rich history. It seems that a city with a history of gold mining and a wealth of banking headquarters should build a museum and visitors center to honor this past. Maybe it isn’t too late to commemorate and showcase this significant era. And next time someone around town says you’re sitting on a gold mine, they might just be telling the truth.
~ Scott Lindsley
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