Jacob Shinn’s optimism was rewarded when he hit something hard while digging on April 9, 1896. The big “rock” — later ...

A gold mine was running dry — but a North Carolina man held onto hope when ... the focus of the nation’s first gold rush. It operated decades before people flocked to California for that ...

It operated decades before people flocked to California for that state’s gold rush, according to the ... Jacob Shinn held onto hope when he visited a North Carolina gold mine 129 years ago ...