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44-661: The Carolina gold rush , the first gold rush in the United States , followed the discovery of a large gold nugget in North Carolina in 1799 , by a 12-year-old boy named Conrad Reed . He spotted the nugget while playing in Meadow Creek on his family's farm in Cabarrus County, North Carolina . Conrad took the 17-pound (7.7 kg) gold nugget home to show his father. However, gold was not commonly seen in their community and

88-504: A farm laborer at that time). The large nugget's true value was around $ 3,600. After learning of the value of the resource on his land, John Reed entered into a partnership with Federick Kisor, James Love, and Martin Phifer. In the year 1803, the men found a nugget weighing 28 pounds (13 kg). News of the discovery was quickly spread by regional newspapers, and land owners across the area began to search for gold on their property. Nearly all of

132-456: A gold-bearing vein may be oxidized, so that the gold occurs as native gold, and the ore needs only to be crushed and washed (free milling ore). The first miners may at first build a simple arrastra to crush their ore; later, they may build stamp mills to crush ore at greater speed. As the miners venture downwards, they may find that the deeper part of vein contains gold locked in sulfide or telluride minerals , which will require smelting . If

176-495: A love affair with an idea, a marriage to a myth" Observers report a common stereotyped perception that people are happier in California. This perception is anchored in the perceived superiority of the California climate, and is justified to some extent by the fact that Californians are indeed more satisfied with their climate than are Midwesterners, with much of California enjoying a Mediterranean climate . Surveys of students show

220-405: A new world became known as the "California Dream", while others claim this concept did not emerge until the 1960s. California was perceived as a place of new beginnings, where great wealth could reward hard work and good luck. The notion inspired the idea of an American Dream . California was seen as a lucky place, a land of opportunity and good fortune. It was a powerful belief, underlying many of

264-407: A transition through progressively higher capital expenditures, larger organizations, and more specialized knowledge. A rush typically begins with the discovery of placer gold made by an individual. At first the gold may be washed from the sand and gravel by individual miners with little training, using a gold pan or similar simple instrument. Once it is clear that the volume of gold-bearing sediment

308-522: A year or so pined for home. The term has been referenced in numerous media, most notably in the song title California Dreamin' , with "California dreaming" used in book and film titles that reference some aspect of the California Dream, such as the 2007 film California Dreaming , and the 2005 UK reality TV series California Dreaming . Lawrence Donegan 's California Dreaming: A Smooth-running, Low-mileage, Cut-price American Adventure references

352-414: Is larger than a few cubic metres, the placer miners will build rockers or sluice boxes, with which a small group can wash gold from the sediment many times faster than using gold pans. Winning the gold in this manner requires almost no capital investment, only a simple pan or equipment that may be built on the spot, and only simple organisation. The low investment, the high value per unit weight of gold, and

396-568: The California Dream . Gold rushes helped spur waves of immigration that often led to the permanent settlement of new regions. Activities propelled by gold rushes define significant aspects of the culture of the Australian and North American frontiers . At a time when the world's money supply was based on gold , the newly-mined gold provided economic stimulus far beyond the goldfields, feeding into local and wider economic booms . The Gold Rush

440-663: The Cariboo district and other parts of British Columbia, in Nevada , in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado , Idaho , Montana , eastern Oregon , and western New Mexico Territory and along the lower Colorado River . There was a gold rush in Nova Scotia (1861–1876) which produced nearly 210,000 ounces of gold. Resurrection Creek , near Hope, Alaska was the site of Alaska's first gold rush in

484-709: The Hollywood film industry, Silicon Valley , California's aerospace industry, the California wine industry and the Dotcom boom . The phrase has been used in describing Californian's struggles to find a suitable location in the state to achieve success, in 2017, when the cost of living in places like the San Francisco Bay Area were prohibitive. The phrase "Taking the Cure" has been used to describe 1950s "u-haul" migrants who, after

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528-559: The copper and tin from their deep mines until, by the early 19th century, those deposits became exhausted. Learning of new opportunity in North Carolina many of these miners immigrated in pursuit of work and brought their expertise with them. Some of the ore mills built in the Carolinas can be seen to resemble the design of the old mines in Cornwall. The expertise that these miners taught to

572-577: The African states, which means a huge volume of gold imports were carried out with no taxes paid to the states producing it. California Dream The California Dream is the psychological motivation to gain fast wealth or fame in a new land. Some argue that, as a result of the California Gold Rush after 1849, California's name became indelibly connected with the Gold Rush, and fast success in

616-656: The Carolina men spread throughout the region as men sought gold across the Carolina terrane . According to writer Joshua D Glawson, by the height of the Carolina Gold Rush, as many as 600 gold mines were operating in North Carolina. The establishment of a skilled and experienced workforce from this Carolina gold rush can be directly credited for the success of the much larger gold rush of 1849 in California, which drew many of these now skilled miners West. D Over 2,500 ounces of gold

660-455: The UAE with the exports affirmed by the African states. According to Africa's industrial mining firms, they have not exported any amount of gold to the UAE – confirming that the imports come from other, illegal sources. As per customs data, the UAE imported gold worth $ 15.1 billion from Africa in 2016, with a total weight of 446 tons, in variable degrees of purity. Much of the exports were not recorded in

704-671: The United States was in Cabarrus County, North Carolina (east of Charlotte), in 1799 at today's Reed's Gold Mine . Thirty years later, in 1829, the Georgia Gold Rush in the southern Appalachians occurred. It was followed by the California Gold Rush of 1848–55 in the Sierra Nevada , which captured the popular imagination. The California Gold Rush led to an influx of gold miners and newfound gold wealth, which led to California's rapid industrialization, as businesses sprung up to serve

748-658: The ability of gold dust and gold nuggets to serve as a medium of exchange, allow placer gold rushes to occur even in remote locations. After the sluice-box stage, placer mining may become increasingly large scale, requiring larger organisations and higher capital expenditures. Small claims owned and mined by individuals may need to be merged into larger tracts. Difficult-to-reach placer deposits may be mined by tunnels. Water may be diverted by dams and canals to placer mine active river beds or to deliver water needed to wash dry placers. The more advanced techniques of ground sluicing , hydraulic mining and dredging may be used. Typically

792-519: The accomplishments of the state, and equally potent when threatened. Historian H. W. Brands noted that in the years after the Gold Rush, the California Dream spread across the nation: The old American Dream . . . was the dream of the Puritans , of Benjamin Franklin 's " Poor Richard " . . . of men and women content to accumulate their modest fortunes a little at a time, year by year by year. The new dream

836-527: The advantages of life in California were not reflected in differences in the self-reported overall life satisfaction of those who live there. Historian Kevin Starr in his seven-volume history of the state has explored in great depth the "California Dream"—the realization by ordinary Californians of the American Dream . California starting in the late 19th century promised the highest possible standard of life for

880-401: The decades after the Gold Rush. Part of the "California Dream" was "that every family could have its own private home." As historian Kevin Starr has pointed out, for many if not most migrants to the golden state, "the dream outran the reality." The Okies of the 1930s "found their California dream transformed into a nightmare,' notes Walter Stein. As a result, "the California Dream is

924-524: The dream too. It was not so much the upper class (who preferred to live in New York and Boston). The California Dream meant an improved and more affordable family life: a small but stylish and airy house marked by a fluidity of indoor and outdoor space, such as the ubiquitous California bungalow and a lush backyard —the stage, that is, for quiet family life in a sunny climate. It meant very good jobs, excellent roads, plentiful facilities for outdoor recreation, and

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968-474: The focus may change progressively from gold to silver to base metals. In this way, Leadville, Colorado started as a placer gold discovery, achieved fame as a silver-mining district, then relied on lead and zinc in its later days. Butte, Montana began mining placer gold, then became a silver-mining district, then became for a time the world's largest copper producer. Various gold rushes occurred in Australia over

1012-437: The heyday of a placer gold rush would last only a few years. The free gold supply in stream beds would become depleted somewhat quickly, and the initial phase would be followed by prospecting for veins of lode gold that were the original source of the placer gold. Hard rock mining, like placer mining, may evolve from low capital investment and simple technology to progressively higher capital and technology. The surface outcrop of

1056-536: The increased population and financial and political institutions to handle the increased wealth. One of these political institutions was statehood; the need for new laws in a sparsely-governed land led to the state's rapid entry into the Union in 1850. The gold rush in 1849 also stimulated worldwide interest in prospecting for gold, leading to further rushes in Australia, South Africa, Wales and Scotland. Successive gold rushes occurred in western North America: Fraser Canyon ,

1100-627: The land was privately owned and the beginning of the Carolina gold rush was largely conducted by farmers at the end of the growing season each year. These farmers were capable of conducting shallow surface mining of the stream-beds known as placer mining . However, by the late 1820s these placer deposits had been exhausted and the first lode mine shaft was excavated in pursuit of a gold-containing quartz vein in 1825 by Matthias Barringer in Montgomery County, North Carolina (now Montgomery and Stanly counties). With this progression of mining technique,

1144-598: The middle classes, and indeed for the skilled blue collar workers and farm owners as well. Poverty existed, but was concentrated among the migrant farm workers made famous in The Grapes of Wrath , where the Joad family, driven out of the Dust Bowl , searches for the California Dream. By the 1950s the Joads and the other "Okies" and "Arkies" (migrants from Oklahoma and Arkansas) were achieving

1188-615: The mid–1890s. Other notable Alaska Gold Rushes were Nome , Fairbanks , and the Fortymile River . One of the last "great gold rushes" was the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon Territory (1896–99). This gold rush is featured in the novels of Jack London , and Charlie Chaplin 's film The Gold Rush . Robert William Service depicted in his poetries the Gold Rush, especially in the book The Trail of '98 . The main goldfield

1232-610: The new arrivals who came looking for gold. While some found their fortune, those who did not often remained in the colonies and took advantage of extremely liberal land laws to take up farming. Gold rushes happened at or around: In New Zealand the Otago gold rush from 1861 attracted prospectors from the California gold rush and the Victorian gold rush and many moved on to the West Coast gold rush from 1864. The first significant gold rush in

1276-465: The ore is still sufficiently rich, it may be worth shipping to a distant smelter (direct shipping ore). Lower-grade ore may require on-site treatment to either recover the gold or to produce a concentrate sufficiently rich for transport to the smelter. As the district turns to lower-grade ore, the mining may change from underground mining to large open-pit mining . Many silver rushes followed upon gold rushes. As transportation and infrastructure improve,

1320-457: The profession of mining became a necessity as tunnels and ventilation issues were outside the skill set of land owning farmers. By the 1830s placer mining had been nearly entirely replaced by the more technical lode mining, including at the Reed mine; with this development came opportunity for immigrants from southern England. The region of Cornwall had bred miners for decades, who skillfully extracted

1364-644: The region. The gold deposits in this area are identified as one of the largest in the world. In South Africa, the Witwatersrand Gold Rush in the Transvaal was important to that country's history, leading to the founding of Johannesburg and tensions between the Boers and British settlers as well as the Chinese miners. South African gold production went from zero in 1886 to 23% of the total world output in 1896. At

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1408-461: The schools and universities that were the best in the world by the 1940s. James M. Cain, an eastern writer who visited the Golden State, reported in 1933 that the archetypal Californian "addresses you in easy grammar, completes his sentences, shows familiarity with good manners, and in addition gives you a pleasant smile." Cultural phenomena which have fed into the California Dream include the rise of

1452-537: The second half of the 19th century. The most significant of these, although not the only ones, were the New South Wales gold rush and Victorian gold rush in 1851, and the Western Australian gold rushes of the 1890s. They were highly significant to their respective colonies' political and economic development as they brought many immigrants, and promoted massive government spending on infrastructure to support

1496-520: The smuggling of billions of dollars' worth of gold out of Africa through the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East , which further acts as a gateway to the markets in the United States , Europe and more. The news agency evaluated the worth and magnitude of illegal gold trade occurring in African nations like Ghana , Tanzania , and Zambia , by comparing the total gold imports recorded into

1540-546: The time of the South African rush, gold production benefited from the newly discovered techniques by Scottish chemists, the MacArthur-Forrest process , of using potassium cyanide to extract gold from low-grade ore. The gold mine at El Callao (Venezuela), started in 1871, was for a time one of the richest in the world, and the goldfields as a whole saw over a million ounces exported between 1860 and 1883. The gold mining

1584-400: The value of the nugget was not understood. The nugget was used as a door stop in the family's home for several years. In 1802, Conrad's father, John Reed, showed the rock to a jeweler, who recognized it as gold and offered to buy it. Reed, still unaware of the real value of his "doorstop," sold it to the jeweler for US$ 3.50 (equivalent to $ 74.53 in 2023) (approximately one week's pay for

1628-406: The world's gold supply stimulated global trade and investment. Historians have written extensively about the mass migration, trade, colonization, and environmental history associated with gold rushes. Gold rushes were typically marked by a general buoyant feeling of a "free-for-all" in income mobility , in which any single individual might become abundantly wealthy almost instantly, as expressed in

1672-575: The world, according to Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM). Approximately 100 million people are directly or indirectly dependent on small-scale mining. For example, there are 800,000 to 1.5 million artisanal miners in Democratic Republic of Congo , 350,000 to 650,000 in Sierra Leone , and 150,000 to 250,000 in Ghana , with millions more across Africa. In an exclusive report, Reuters accounted

1716-506: Was a topic that inspired many TV shows and books considering it was a very important topic at the time. During the time, many books were published including The Call of the Wild , which had much success during the period. Gold rushes occurred as early as the times of ancient Greece , whose gold mining was described by Diodarus Sicules and Pliny the Elder . Within each mining rush there is typically

1760-764: Was along the south flank of the Klondike River near its confluence with the Yukon River near what was to become Dawson City in Yukon Territory, but it also helped open up the relatively new US possession of Alaska to exploration and settlement, and promoted the discovery of other gold finds. The most successful of the North American gold rushes was the Porcupine Gold Rush in Timmins, Ontario area. This gold rush

1804-717: Was deposited in the Philadelphia Mint by 1824.Due to the bountiful gold production in the Carolinas, the Charlotte Mint was built in Charlotte and opened for business on July 27, 1837. Gold rush In the 19th century, the wealth that resulted was distributed widely because of reduced migration costs and low barriers to entry. While gold mining itself proved unprofitable for most diggers and mine owners, some people made large fortunes, and merchants and transportation facilities made large profits. The resulting increase in

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1848-661: Was dominated by immigrants from the British Isles and the British West Indies, giving an appearance of almost creating an English colony on Venezuelan territory. Between 1883 and 1906 Tierra del Fuego experienced a gold rush attracting many Chileans, Argentines and Europeans to the archipelago. The gold rush began in 1884 following discovery of gold during the rescue of the French steamship Arctique near Cape Virgenes . There are about 10 to 30 million small-scale miners around

1892-573: Was the dream of instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck. [This] golden dream . . . became a prominent part of the American psyche only after Sutter's Mill . Overnight, California gained the international reputation as the "golden state"—with gold and lawlessness the main themes. Generations of immigrants have been attracted by the California Dream. California farmers, oil drillers, movie makers , aerospace corporations and "dot-com" entrepreneurs have each had their boom times in

1936-493: Was unique compared to others by the method of extraction of the gold. Placer mining techniques were not able to be used to access the gold in the area due to it being embedded into the Canadian Shield , so larger mining operations involving significantly more expensive equipment was required. While this gold rush peaked in the 1940s and 1950s, it is still active today with over 200 million ounces of gold having been produced from

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