Reed Gold Mine State Historic Park Midland, North Carolina June 28, 2022
Mike and Pat Kaas
PHOTO GALLERY 2 CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
Leaving the Reed Mine Visitor Center, visitors follow a self-guided walking tour which takes them to the Linker Adit, the entrance to the underground mine.
The horizontal drift from the Linker Adit contains timbers and lagging used to support the rock.
A stope along the drift gives us the first look at the quartz veins that contained the gold.
Quartz veins could reach several feet in width.These thin veins were probably sampled but left behind because of their size or low gold content.
(Left) The Linker Shaft was sunk on the Number 4 vein.It reached a depth of only 50 feet below surface. (Above) At this depth the water table is visible.As mines advanced below the water table, Cornish pumps powered by steam engines were used to remove mine water.
(Left) Being so close to the water table, green algae is visible on the walls of some of the drifts and crosscuts.The solid rock in this tunnel required no timber supports.
(Above) Further along the drift one enters another section of the mine where timbering was required.
The base of the Morgan Shaft.It was used for ore hoisting.
A view looking up the 50 foot deep Morgan Shaft.
The miners used ladders to reach the stopes in the steeply dipping veins.
In this stope one can see that that, whenever possible, the miners only mined the quartz vein material containing the gold. Barren rock was not mined.
A mine car for hauling ore or rock to the shaft sits at the end of a drift.Note how small this drift is.Openings where ore was not present were kept to the smallest size possible.
The early miners used rods of drill steel with a forged bit on the end, sledge hammers called single and double jacks, plus muscle power to drill holes for explosives.Compressed air pneumatic drills were not introduced in North Carolina until the 1880s.
An interesting set of thin stringer veins was probably too small to mine.
The stairway to the surface is a recent addition that provides a convenient exit at the end of the mine tour.
(Above) A view of the exit of the mine.
(Right) A reconstructed headframe at the top of the Morgan Shaft holds a Cornish kibble (bucket) used for hoisting ore, waste rock, and sometimes, water.
Unless Otherwise Noted, Photos Courtesy of Mike and Pat Kaas
