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- The
Topic:
- Gold
Rush
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- Easier - A gold
rush happens when people hear that gold has been
found. They then rush to seek their fortune. Gold
is a soft, yellow precious metal that is very
valuable. Some people use gold as money. The
California Gold Rush is very famous. Thousands of
people moved to California after gold was found by
James Marshall at Sutter's Mill on January 24,
1848. Although it took a year for the news to reach
the east coast, by 1849 thousands of 'forty-niners'
were mining for gold. Most miners used a shallow
pan to find flakes of gold in streams.
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- Harder - Although
there have been many gold rushes, the California
Gold Rush brought over 200,000 new people to
California in just a few years. Most miners went
home broke. The real money was made by freighters
and merchants who brought and marketed supplies.
Levi Straus 'struck it rich' by making and selling
durable pants.
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- Many novice prospectors mistake pyrite for real
gold. Pyrite is often called 'fools gold.'
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- "Gold Fever" has happened around the world. The
British immigrants who came to Australia for the
1851 gold rush were called 'diggers.' In 1886, a
part-time prospector in South Africa named George
Walker started one of the world's biggest gold
rushes. Another well-known gold rush occurred in
the the Klondike and Alaska.
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- Although most people think of Fort Knox,
Kentucky as the storage place for gold, there's
actually more gold at the Federal Reserve Bank in
New York. This gold is owned by individuals and
nations from around the world.
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- Discovery
of Gold by John A. Sutter
- http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist2/gold.html
- This website provides a firsthand account of
when gold was first found in California. It
includes many links to other sources from the
Museum of San Francisco, including a detailed
timeline.
- Related Website:
- 2) James Marshall: California's Gold
Discoverer
- http://www.thehistorynet.com/WildWest/articles/1997/1297_text.htm
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- Gold
Rush! - California's Untold
Stories
- http://www.museumca.org/goldrush/
- Take a virtual tour of the Oakland Museum of
California's excellent exhibit.
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- Gold
Rush (PBS)
- http://www.pbs.org/goldrush/
- Explore the gold rush through the PBS series.
This site includes lots of classroom
resources.
- Related Website:
- 2) Gold Rush http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/home.html
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- Gold
Rush
- http://www.calgoldrush.com/
- Explore the Sacramento Bee's celebration of the
150th anniversary of the gold rush.
- Similar Websites:
- 2) And The Rush Was On (San Jose Mercury
News)
- http://www0.mercurycenter.com/goldrush/
- 3) Gold Rush Sesquicentennial (The Sacramento
Bee) http://www.sacbee.com/goldrush/
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- Choose a role and use the links below
to solve the problem or create a
project.
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- Key Events. Create a short skit
that highlights the key events of the
California Gold Rush. You might find some
good ideas by reading the historical
overview at the The
Discovery of Gold in California
website.
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- Art of the Gold Rush. Explore
the Art
of the Gold Rush pages. Copy and paste
a picture into your word processor and
write a short story that could go with the
painting. Include facts from the time
period. Harry
Fonseca is also a well-known artist
who creates abstract paintings about the
gold rush. Create your own abstract about
the gold rush using Adobe Photoshop or
another paint program.
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- Letter Writing. Most of the
forty-niners were many miles from home.
They used letters to communicate with
their families. After reading some of
their letters,
create your own gold rush family and write
a letter.
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- Traveling. If you lived in New
York and wanted to seek your fortune in
1849 California, would you take the land
route or the water route? Why? Trace the
routes on a map and hold a debate about
the pros and cons of each route.
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- The Untold Stories. Many gold
rush stories ended in sorrow. Many people
went home with empty pockets. Even worse,
some people died. The lives of the Native
Americans living in the area changed
forever, and the life of new immigrants
such as the Chinese was difficult. Women,
African Americans, Mexicans, and Japanese
also had stories to tell. Examine the
"untold
stories" and "people
stories" of the California Gold Rush.
Create a poster that highlights an
individual or group.
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- Virtual Trip. Plan a trip to
California Gold Country. Use MapQuest
to plan a trip from your home to
Sacramento, California, then into the gold
mining areas.
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- Complete a Gold Rush WebQuest.
Select or adapt the procedures from one of
these webQuest sites:
- 1) Eureka! Journals of a Gold Rush!
(Australian Gold Rush) by J. Clark
(Grade 5)
- http://www.sunnhillss.qld.edu.au/WebQuests/gold/top.htm
- 2)Gold: All That Glitters (Grades
3-5) by K. Pegors
- http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us/hschool/webq/webq41/gold1.htm
- 3) Gold Rush Players! (Grade 4)
http://students.itec.sfsu.edu/edt628/ouray/index.html
- 4) Gold Rush WebQuest by M.
R.Rebtoy http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~mrebtoy/goldrush.html
- 5) Front Page News: The Oregon
Trail and the California Gold Rush
(Grade 5) http://php.ucs.indiana.edu/~skammeye/webquest.html
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- Website By Kids For Kids
- By
the Great Horn Spoon! (1999 ThinkQuest
Project)
- http://library.thinkquest.org/50048/
- Dig into an exciting learning exploration of
the California Gold Rush through Sid
- Fleischman's historical novel, By the Great
Horn Spoon! Explore all answers to get the most
out of your gold rush adventure. 4th grade
bilingual students are encouraged to read the
Spanish text.
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- California
Gold Rush (1999 ThinkQuest Junior
Project)
- http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5706/
- The whole thing started when some workers at
Sutter's fort, found some gold back in 1848. Click
and explore.
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- Carcross
Community School's Web Site
- http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/carcross/welcome.html
- This site includes pictures and information on
the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush.
- Not To Be Missed Sections:
- 2) Chilkoot Pass http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/carcross/chilkoot/chilkoot.htm
- 3) Dawson City http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/carcross/dawsoncity/dawsoncity.htm
- 4) 1898 Gold Rush http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/carcross/pictjourney/pictorial.htm
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- Great
Rush (2000 ThinkQuest Junior Project)
- http://library.thinkquest.org/J001616F/
- Learn about the Gold Rush and how the miners
traveled to California.
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- Klondike
Gold Rush (1999 ThinkQuest Junior
Project)
- http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5181/
- 100,000 people left for the Klondike. 40,000
people made it to Dawson City. 4,000 people found
gold. Learn more here.
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- Our
Gold Country Community (Deer Creek School's
Gold Rush Project, Nevada City, CA)
- http://www.ncgold.com/goldrushtown/
- This school site traces its roots in the Gold
Rush and has pictures, timelines, biographies of
significant people, and lots of other Gold Rush
information.
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- Several More Websites
- California
God Rush
- http://www.jlhs.nhusd.k12.ca.us/Classes/Social_Science/Gold_Rush/California.Gold.Rush.html
- This homepage was created for the students of
Mrs. Atkinson-Adams Introduction to U.S. History
class. It provides an overview to the gold rush and
its effects.
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- California,
1948 by P. J. Kiger (Discovery Online's
Wayback Machine)
- http://www.discovery.com/stories/wayback/980323/wayback.html
- Travel back in time and be there to see the
beginnings of the gold rush. Read about John
Sutter, James Marshall, and Samuel Brannan.
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- California's
Gold Rush Country
- http://www.goldrush1849.com/
- Here you find a brief history and great
pictures of Gold Rush country, as well as a map
which shows the way many people took west.
- Related Websites:
- 2) The California Gold Rush (California Natural
Resources) http://ceres.ca.gov/ceres/calweb/geology/goldrush.html
- 3) California Gold Rush Country http://2getgold.com/folklore/index.htm
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- Comstock
Lode by E. Gibson at Suite 101
- http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/old_west/18259
- Learn about the silver strike on Mount Davidson
in western Nevada. The Comstock Lode was not a
single mine but a huge geological formation of ore
which many shafts sunk into it.
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- Gold
Fever in the Desert at DesertUSA
- http://www.desertusa.com/magnov97/gold/nov_gold2.html
- This site describes the lure of gold and
introduces the lost mines of Pegleg Smith and Jacob
Waltz, 'the Dutchman.'
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- Gold
Rush Chronicles at the Goldminer Mall,
Placerville. CA
- http://www.comspark.com/goldminer-mall/chronicles/index.html
- This site provides a compilation of historical
information on the California Gold Rush Era, c. mid
to late 1800's.
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- Gold
Rush to British Columbia (Part 1) by E.
Gibson at Suite 101
- http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/old_west/30772
- By 1858 the California gold rush was about
played out and prospectors were ready to move on to
the next big strike.
- Related Websites:
- 2) Gold Rush to British Columbia (Part 2) by E.
Gibson
- http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/old_west/30773
- 3) Mining in Montana by L. Principato
- http://www.thehistorynet.com/WildWest/articles/1998/06982_text.htm
- 4) Striking It Rich in Leadville
- http://www.thehistorynet.com/WildWest/articles/06964_text.htm
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- Gold
Rush Trail
- http://www.sfgate.com/news/special/pages/1998/08/goldtrail/
- This site contains a special report from the
San Francisco Chronicle by a reporter and
photographer who are retracing the steps of many
people along the Gold Rush Trail.
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- Great
American Gold Rush
- http://www.acusd.edu/~jross/goldrush.html
- This site has pictures and comments to go along
with the timeline of events during the Gold
Rush.
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- Ghosts
of the Klondike Gold Rush
- http://www.gold-rush.org/
- Pan for nuggets of fascinating information
about the Klondike gold rush here. You'll find a
time line, a photo gallery, lots of interviews and
anecdotes, and even a calendar of commemorative
celebrations that reaches into the next
century.
- Related Website:
- 2) Klondike Fever http://www.thehistorynet.com/WildWest/articles/1997/0897_text.htm
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- Land
of Glittering Dreams
- http://www.glittering.com/home.html
- This site contains letters and photographs from
life during the gold rush.
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- Marshall
Gold Discovery State Historic Park
- http://www.windjammer.net/coloma/mindex.htm
- Here you can read about the history and examine
photographs of the gold rush.
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- Primary
Gold
- http://www.matsu.alaska.edu/pnsgs/Readings/reading14.html
- This site explains that gold is found in
primary and secondary deposits.
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- Virtual
California Gold Country
- http://www.malakoff.com/vcgc.htm
- Travel along Highway 49 and visit the old
mining camps, see the sights, and learn their
history,
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- Women
in the Gold Rush
- http://claim.goldrush.com/~joann/
- This page is sponsored by award-winning author
and recognized authority on women in the gold rush,
J. Levy. Here you find diaries and more.
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- Website For Teachers
- California
Gold Rush (Grade 4)
- http://students.itec.sfsu.edu/edad728/dangelo/grpages.html
- The class is divided into four cooperative
learning groups (teacher directed). The four
sections / groups are: life before the gold rush,
the discovery of gold, the key people, and the
actual mining for gold. Students will reenact and
explore various parts of the gold rush in a video,
hands-on activities, and the publication of a
magazine from the 'Gold Rush Era.'
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- Gold
Rush by B. Barnes (Grade 4)
- http://www.centerx.gseis.ucla.edu/outreach/projects/chssp/BPSources/Gold_rush/goldrush1.html
- This unit plan covers the effects the
California Gold Rush had on settlements, daily
life, politics, and the physical environment.
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- Klondike
Gold Rush (Center for the Study of the
Pacific Northwest)
- http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/curklon/main.html
- These curriculum materials consist of a variety
of original documents related to the Klondike gold
rush and Seattle and a set of maps of the Pacific
Northwest and Alaska.
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- Klondike
Fever (Grade 6-8)
- http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/rediscoveringamerica%2Dklondikefever/index.html
- Lesson plans for studying the Klondike.
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- Oh,
California: Traveling to the Gold Rush
(Houghton Mifflin Social Studies)
- http://www.eduplace.com/ss/hmss/4/unit/act3.2.html
- Students research the experiences of those who
traveled to California during the Gold Rush by land
and sea, then create an annotated map showing what
they have learned about each route.
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gold
|
silver
|
mining
|
prospector
|
shaft
|
claim jumper
|
panning
|
California
|
Alaska
|
pyrite
|
pack train
|
hydraulic
|
Klondike
|
Cape Horn
|
merchant
|
Levi
Strauss
|
sluice
|
lode
|
"gold fever"
|
placer
|
vein
|
'eureka'
|
grubstake
|
mine
|
John
A. Sutter
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'saw the elephant'
|
Yerba Buena
|
James
W. Marshall
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'fools gold'
|
'White
Fan
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Chinese
|
'Call
of the Wild'
|
'boomtown'
|
Oregon
Trail
|
ore
|
tailing
|
Chilkoot Pass
|
freighter
|
Dawson City
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Sacramento
|
- Isthmus of
- Panama
|
Dead Horse Trail
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-
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- Created by
Annette
Lamb and
Larry
Johnson. Updated by
Nancy
Smith
6/01.
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