During its operation, it produced eight different coin denominations. The Carson City Mint opened in 1870 to accept deposits from the Comstock Lode and to mint coins. Congress authorized a branch Mint in nearby Carson City. The country’s largest silver strike, referred to as the Comstock Lode, started in Nevada in 1859. Congress gave the building to the state in 1875 to use for educational purposes. However, no minting or assaying duties were ever performed. In 1864, in response to Oregon’s own gold rush, Congress authorized a branch Mint in Dalles City, Oregon and constructed a building. In 1895, Congress converted the Denver facility back to a Mint, and in 1906 it produced its first gold and silver coins. It didn’t produce any gold coins, as was originally intended. The following year, the Denver facility opened as an assay office for miners to bring gold to be melted, assayed, and cast into bars. In 1862, Congress approved a branch Mint in Denver and bought the building of Clark, Gruber and Company, a private mint. Gold fever spread to Colorado in 1858, bringing hundreds of people to settle around the new city of Denver. By the end of that year, the San Francisco Mint produced $4,084,207 in gold coins. In 1854, a branch Mint opened in San Francisco to convert the miners’ gold into coins. Transporting the gold east all the way to the Philadelphia Mint was time-consuming and fraught with risk. In 1849, the California Gold Rush brought a flood of people west for the chance to get rich. The New Orleans Mint opened in 1879 to produce silver and gold coins until it stopped coining operations in 1909. Dahlonega never reopened, and Charlotte opened briefly in the 1870s as an assay office. regained possession of the facilities in 1862. In 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War, the Confederacy gained control of these three facilities, sporadically making Confederate coinage before converting all of them to assay offices. Charlotte and Dahlonega concentrated on processing the miners’ gold into coins, while New Orleans minted both gold and silver coins to keep up with a growing America. In 1835, Congress passed legislation to establish three new branch Mints located in Charlotte, NC Dahlonega, GA and New Orleans, LA. Demand on the Philadelphia Mint to melt, refine, and produce coins from this gold pushed the Mint to its limits. In the early 1800s, America experienced its first two gold rushes: first in North Carolina and then in Georgia. Learn about their contribution to the Mint’s history and about other trailblazing women at Women at Work. In 1795, the Mint became the first federal agency to employ women: Sarah Waldrake and Rachael Summers were hired as adjusters. In March 1793, the Mint delivered its first circulating coins: 11,178 copper cents. In gold: quarter eagle ($2.50), half eagle ($5), and eagle ($10) In silver: half dime, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar The Act specified the following coinage denominations: Artist’s rendition of the first Mint in PhiladelphiaĬoin production began immediately. It was the first federal building erected under the Constitution. Rittenhouse bought two lots at 7th and Arch Streets to build a three-story facility, the tallest building in Philadelphia at the time. President George Washington appointed a leading scientist, David Rittenhouse, as the first director. In 1788, the Constitution was ratified by a majority of states and discussions soon began about the need for a national mint.Ĭongress chose Philadelphia, what was then the nation’s capital, as the site of our first Mint. was governed by the Articles of Confederation, which authorized states to mint their own coins. During the Colonial Period, monetary transactions were handled using foreign or colonial currency, livestock, or produce. On ApCongress passed the Coinage Act, establishing the first national mint in the United States.
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