Booker T. Washington was the first African American to appear on a coin. | |||
Read this brief article about the discovery, mining and coinage of gold in North Carolina; then, find the names of the important people and places bolded below in the puzzle above.
Gold was first discovered in North Carolina by a young boy named Conrad Reed (sometimes spelled Reid) in the autumn of 1799. The seventeen pound nugget he found was but the tip of the iceberg of what would be found on his father John Reed's farm. The Reed mine as it became known was a partnership between John and his friends and relatives - Frederick Kisor, James Love, and Mathew Phifer and is now a state historical site.
Other mines such as the Gold Hill, the McComb and the Rudisill (operated by the flamboyant Italian Count Ravafonoli) soon dotted the gold region of North Carolina. However, with all the gold there was still a problem. There was an acute shortage of hard money. The money situation in North Carolina was so bad that State Secretary of the Treasury John Haywood eventually had to authorize an illegal issue of state currency.
In the early 1830s a German immigrant family relocated to North Carolina and opened a private mint. The Bechtler family, Christopher, Christopher, Jr. and August, coined $1, $2.5 and $5 coins in Rutherford, North Carolina. Today, these simple coins are highly sought after by collectors today.
In 1838, the federal government opened a Branch Mint at Charlotte, North Carolina. The "Mint" as it was called locally would produce $1, $2.5 and $5 coins until it was forced to close by the Civil War. During its operation the position of Superintendent was part of the political spoils system which resulted in changes nearly every election cycle. As such, John H. Wheeler was the first Superintendent of the Charlotte Branch Mint, Burgess S. Gaither the second, Green W. Caldwell the third and sixth, William J. Alexander the forth, and James W. Osborne the fifth.
The mint reopened as an Assay Office after the war and Frank P. Drane was the last of a long line of post war assayers serving from 1911 until the Charlotte Branch Mint Building closed its doors on July 31, 1913. The Mint would eventually be moved to a new location and operate as an art museum to this day.