Slavery involved working on and inside the earth. For example, the first gold mine in the United States opened in Cabarrus County. When gold was discovered by a 12-year-old named Conrad Reed, the son of John Reed, it kicked off a gold rush. Between 1804 and 1827, all the gold produced in the United States was derived from the earth in North Carolina. 

In the early stages of finding gold, enslaved people participated in place-mining, which meant they looked for gold on the earth's surface, mainly on streambeds [bottom of the stream]. Laborers using this method had to wait until the streams were at their lowest to search. Thus, enslaved people did not initially search for gold full-time. Instead, they toggled between searching for gold and agricultural work. 

North Carolina Mining companies, such as the one established by John Reed and his partners, were extremely successful at finding gold because of their enslaved laborers. For instance, Peter, an enslaved man, found "a 28 point nugget worth $8,000 in 1804," which is worth about $170,000 in today's money. With the help of enslaved labor, such as the labor expended by Peter, an estimated one million dollars in gold was taken from Reed's property between 1804 and 1847. 

The finding of gold and the increased interest in gold attracted more slaveholders and, in turn, more enslaved people searching for gold. The slave population in the western part of the state was relatively small and mainly comprised of small slaveholders. Nonetheless, the North Carolina gold rush not only drew in more small planters who used their slaves in the offseason to search for gold but also "full-time prospectors from the eastern part of the state as well as others state brought their slaves into the piedmont and mountain region of North Carolina" to counties such as Burke, Lincoln, Rutherford, Wilkes, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, and McDowell. 

"Virginia slaveholders, who brought nearly three hundred slaves to work the placer operations, were among those who rushed to Burke county." 

So many slaves mined for gold that many thought it to be a slave-dominated industry. One writer noted, "A contemporary visitor estimated that five thousand slaves were employed in Burke County's gold mines." 

Underground mining accelerated in 1825. Underground mining was done to increase the profits and accelerate the rate of extracting the gold. 

As gold became a bigger industry in the western counties such as Burke and Rutherford and piedmont counties such as Mecklenburg, it was common to see blacks and whites working side by side. Some feared that the working relations would erode racial differences because it "blurred the color divide between slaves and freedmen, for they performed tasks identical to those of the slaves."

Leaders of the gold mining industry also feared foreign workers, as they opposed slavery, believing every person had the right to their own labor. 

Like the enslaved people that placed mines (on the surface), slaves were just as essential to the mining inside the earth. For instance, on Major Jonathan Harris' plantation, "four slaves mined approximately one hundred dollars worth of gold per day." 

Despite the profits that industry leaders gained from gold, they were often forced to buy slaves or make contracts with slaveholders to hire slaves. However, slaveholders were not keen on hiring out slaves to mine gold in the earth (within tunnels). 

Slaveholders feared that their slaves might be mistreated. When the enslaved were under someone else's authority, it was feared they could be overworked, underfed, under-clothed, and/or face general harsh treatment from managers, which would not be beneficial to their long-term gains or the plans of slaveholders. They also knew that the mines were dangerous and feared losing their slaves. 

Mining required explosions, which could maim or kill, could and sometimes did result in the injury or death of enslaved persons. Digging and climbing up and down mine shafts, which sometimes resulted in falls, could either cripple slaves permanently or long-term, and a server fall could also result in death. Nevertheless, seasonal work such as mining offered owners a way to make capital from surplus labor, and several slaveholders were hired out to the mines. 

Like enslaved people in agricultural work, Enslaved miners found ways to deal with mistreatment, which they considered a breach of contract. To counter this, enslaved persons stole gold, buried gold, and adopted other methods of resistance. 

As slaves were relied upon for the mining of gold, they could interrupt the production process. To avoid giving the enslaved the power to disrupt productivity significantly, "gold miners usually showed slaves how to perform physical tasks only and did not share their mining knowledge and expertise with the slaves."

In addition to withholding knowledge, gold mining managers also provided incentives to inspire efficiency and productivity. For example, some managers incentivized slaves by providing extra wages to those that worked well. Other managers allowed slaves to keep a percentage of the gold mined. 

Enslaved people that wanted to earn money could do so by working overtime. In some cases, slaves earned an extra $30 a month. With the extra money many earned, some used it to buy freedom for themselves or family members. In contrast, some others sought to have a good time or cope with the misery of slavery by buying delicacies such as clothing, meats, and alcohol. Slaves usually had Sundays and holidays off. Often, with their free time, they would go and seek gold for themselves. 

Gold mining also provided enslaved people with new ways of escape. Abandoned underground tunnels offered new hiding places or new ways to travel within the earth for a short time. "North Carolina's network of gold mines served as valuable depots of a literal underground railroad." Moreover, blacks sometimes used the gold they found to procure help from whites in their escape.

Read more about gold mines underneath Charlotte, NC HERE