Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: Streams Poisoned by Mercury
This CalGoldRush site discusses the damage mercury used in gold mining has done to California's environment
Sacramento Bee
The Sacramento Bee: Polk Is Caught in the Rush
This site discusses James K. Polk's place in the gold rush of California in the 1840's.
PBS
New Perspectives on the West: John Augustus Sutter (1803 1880)
Biography of John Sutter, a Swiss settler who helped to develop Californian and saw his fortunes dwindle after the California Gold Rush.
Other
Ailello Studios: The Land of Glittering Dreams
Learn some interesting facts about the California Gold Rush through images, personal stories and other writings.
Other
Klondike Kate
Biographical information on "Klondike Kate" Ryan who played a role in Canadian history by becoming the first female gold inspector during the Klondike gold rush. She was also a nurse, political figure, and business woman.
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: Samuel Brannan's Bank
This site contains a poster of a new bank started by Sam Brannen in San Francisco during the gold rush.
Other
Yuba City: John Augustus Sutter
This article traces the career of the Swiss American pioneer, John Sutter. The discovery of gold in 1848 at his lumber mill led to the California Gold Rush.
Other
Boulder History: A Timeline
This resource presents a chronological timeline of events that helped to shape Boulder, Colorado history starting with the Pikes Peak Gold Rush in 1858.
Oakland Museum of California
Giant Gold Machines Gold Dredges
This page gives a brief explanation of extracting minerals by the use of gold dredges. This was a process that sped up the process of finding gold.
Oakland Museum of California
Giant Gold Machines Hard Rock Mining
This page gives a brief explanation of extracting hard rock quartz. This was a labor intensive process that was often dangerous, but necessary to find gold.
Sacramento Bee
The Sacramento Bee: Merchant Digs More Than Gold
This short article discusses Heinrich Schliemann's gold mining experience, including the death of his brother, before discovering the lost city of Troy during his archeological period.
Other
Virginia City Preservation Alliance: Virginia City History
The gold rush in Montana centered around Virginia City. Find out about the riches found there and the development of Virginia City as a prominent Rocky Mountain town.
Other
New York Public Library: Heading West: Mining the West
A short page on the discovery of gold at Sutter's Fort as well as the impact of mining in the west on relations with Native Americans.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Mining Boom
The allure of getting rich quick by finding gold or silver was just a dream for most prospectors. Read about the gold and silver rushes that usually ended up enriching the mining industry, not the miner. Find out about the make-up of the...
Oakland Museum of California
Gold Rush: Miners and Sluice Boxes
This resource provides a picture and short description of the miners' use of the sluice box.
Varsity Tutors
Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Will Hobbs
Resources for teaching four of Will Hobbs's novels: Bearstone, Downriver, Jason's Gold, and River Thunder.
Read Works
Read Works: Panning for History
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read about a Boy Scout trip that goes panning for rocks, minerals, and gold to learn more about history. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
CommonLit
Common Lit: A Woman Who Went to Alaska by Mary Kellogg Sullivan
In Mary Kellogg Sullivan's book A Woman Who Went to Alaska, Sullivan describes her adventures in Alaska during her search for riches. Between 1896 and 1899, an estimated 100,000 people migrated to the Klondike region of the Yukon in...
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: The Diary of Johann August Sutter
In an book by Douglas S. Watson published in 1932, you can read the introduction which tells about the life of Johann August Sutter, who emigrated to California, built a mill where gold was found, and suffered for that discovery....
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses by Robert Service
This is the full text of the poetry collection The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses by Robert Service. This collection includes 34 poems most about the Yukon Gold Rush and life in the Yukon.
Curated OER
Chinese Laborers Build Central Pacific Railroad Trestle in the Sierra
Published in 1924, the book, "The Story of California from the Earliest Days to the Present," by Henry K. Norton, relates the lives of the Chinese who immigrated to California to participate in the gold rush. He also recounts the...
Curated OER
Black Miner
This CalGoldRush.com site discusses the triumphs African American's had during the California gold rush. Many blacks were able to purchase their freedom and the freedom of their families back home.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Wind Cave National Park: History of the Black Hills
Story of the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota and resulting violations of 1868 treaty with Lakota Indians.
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: The Miner's Song
Published in "Hutching's California Magazine" in 1857 was a song expressing the hopes and dreams of those suffering from gold fever.
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