Paul Messino graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2004 with a double major in English and Philosophy. His article on the current status of the Barringer Goldmine, “The Tyranny of Local Government,” was published in The Freeman. His recent report on the constitutionality of current drug tax legislation, “Taxing Illegal Drugs: How States Dabble in Drugs and Why They Shouldn’t,” will be published by the Reason Foundation.
Historians claim the opening of Barringer Gold Mine was a watershed event. Formerly one of the most important gold mines in 1800s North Carolina, the Barringer Gold Mine is remembered now mostly for being the first gold mine in the Southern Piedmont to use lode mining (pure mining from mineral deposits).