North Carolina, the First Golden State

A must-have for young ones interested in history and geology alike. -Aaron Kepley Fifty years before the California Gold Rush, twelve-year-old Conrad Reed unearthed a shiny rock from a creek in North Carolina. Conrad had struck gold–but he had no idea. For three years, the Reed family unknowingly used a hunk of solid gold worth thousands of dollars as a doorstop. When news finally got out about Conrad’s discovery, the lives of the Reeds–and the history of the South–was changed forever. Their ordinary farm was transformed into a family-run business that launched a thriving economical shift for the state, attracting miners and investors from all over. Follow the explosive journey of this Southern state as it became the site of America’s first gold rush.