Miners at Gold Hill Mines
Gold Hill Mail Carriers
Main Street Gold Hill 1900 Looking North
Main Street Gold Hill 1900 Looking South
Gold Hill Mining Office
Gold Hill Hotel
Chilean Ore Mill 1960
Chilean Ore Mill
Woman at the Log Rockers
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Miners at Gold Hill Mines
Miners posed at 'Roll-Call' at the beginning of their shift at the Gold Hill Mines c. 1890 -
Gold Hill Mail Carriers
Mail Carriers waiting for the daily mail c. 1900. William Vance Eller (far right) -
Main Street Gold Hill 1900 Looking North
Looking north from the intersection of Main Street(St. Stephens Church Road) and Old Beatty Ford Road. -
Main Street Gold Hill 1900 Looking South
Another photo of the mail carriers and post master, second from left, waiting for the mail to be delivered. -
Gold Hill Mining Office
Huge imposing structure was located on St. Stephens Church Road across from the rock wall. The structure burned to the ground in 1970. Wall Street Tycoon, Walter George Newman is in the white suit on the porch. -
Gold Hill Hotel
One of the fanciest hotels in the region. -
Chilean Ore Mill 1960
The mill dates to the 1840's and is thought to be the only Chilean Mill with all of the original gears intact, remaining in the United States. It's original location was behind Montgomery Store on the site which now the location of Southern Belles and Pearls and Key Cabin. -
Chilean Ore Mill
The mill still in operation around 1900. -
Woman at the Log Rockers
Women and children worked alongside the men on small family owned mining operations on their farms. -
Baseball Team at Gold Hill
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James Rufty Store
The store once sat beside E.H. Montgomery General Store. The store was a major supplier of farm tools and hardware as well as mining supplies, dry goods and other staples needed for day to day living in a rural community. -
Lee Shaw Blacksmith Shop
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E. H. Montgomery Store built c. 1840
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E. H. Montgomery General Store Built in 1840
Montgomery Store in a 1960 photo. -
Mauney Hedrick Home and Burt Shoe Co in Gold Hill
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Mauney Store Built c. 1840
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Sig Rosenblatt, owner, Union Copper Mine Gold Hill
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Cornish Pump at Gold Hill Mines
The knowledge of mining technology of the Cornish tin miners from Cornwall, England was critical to the success of gold mining industry in North Carolina. -
Cornish Pump at Gold Hill
The pumps ran continuous 24/7 to keep the mines free of water. This pump was pumping over 200 gallons per minute from the 850ft Randolph Shaft. -
Benny Martin
Washing dirt and rock debris from the mercury covered copper plates at the Stamp Mill. The gold was captured in the mercury on the plates. When the plates had a significant buildup of mercury/gold amalgam, the plates were removed and taken to the Smelter where this coating would then be scraped off and refined by evaporation to get rid of the mercury, leaving the gold to be poured off into a gold bar. No other metal does this. Just copper. -
Randolph Mine 850ft Deep
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Randolph Gold Mine
Smelter Building at the Randolph Gold Mine -
Barnhardt Gold Mine 435ft
A winter snow coats the ground at the Barnhardt Shaft. The small building in the foreground was called "The Calaboose". -
Mill House at Union Copper in Gold Hill
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Mill House Rear View at Union Copper Gold Hill
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Overview of Union Copper Gold Hill
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Documenting History
In 1960 the three man team of Glenn Isenhour, William (Bill) Russell and Hayden Moose collected over 250 photos from families having ties to the nineteenth century gold mining industry. They further documented through photos the historic sites, structures and original homes still standing in 1960. A set of the photos was donated to the Archives of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. In 1970 photos from the collection were used to create exhibits at Reed Gold Mine NC State Historic Site Museum in Midland, NC.