The California Gold Rush

The Secret Was Out

Within a few months, the secret was out. Hundreds of prospectors came in search of their own fortunes.

And within a year, nearly one hundred thousand people from the US and the world traveled to California with the hope of striking it rich.

Because it was 1849, they became known as the “Forty Niners”

Prospector

People who explore areas for gold or other minerals.

Watch this video to get a better understanding of the start of the Gold Rush.

Imagine that you just heard that there was free gold in the mountains of California. Would you go and seek a fortune? Why? Why not?

Add a new page to respond and use images if you would like. Be sure to include your name!

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Image References

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Historic Park, C. (2018, November 15). Smithsonian Learning Lab Resource: California Gold Rush Miner using Gold Pan. Retrieved March 6, 2023. https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/california-gold-rush-era-mining-technique-photos/hy6VPv8zt6wGWByy#r/520033

Historic Park, C. (2018, October 11). Smithsonian Learning Lab Resource: California Gold Rush Miners with Long Tom and Mining Tools. Retrieved March 6, 2023. https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/california-gold-rush-era-mining-technique-photos/hy6VPv8zt6wGWByy#r/498513

PBS (2001) ca_americanriver. Retrieved March 6, 2023. http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/weta/thewest/places/states/
california/ca_americanriver.htm

Pngimg.com (2023) Gold nugget PNG image image with transparent background | gold_PNG10995.png. Retrieved March 6, 2023. https://pngimg.com/image/10995

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In The Classroom

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I would use this book at the beginning of the Social Studies unit that covers The California Gold Rush. Putting some context to frame their work and incorporating aspects of ELA (Writing) to have a comprehensive book that includes the opinions and views of how students would approach life during the Gold Rush. This is more a pre-lesson exercise as students will predict what they think they would do if they were in a similar situation. It also allows for them to add images into their slides to add a level of creativity to their work.

As we learn more about the Gold Rush era, we can look back at everyone’s initial opinion to see if it has changed.

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