Other
An Exploration of Historic Prejudice: The Chinese
The Chinese began coming to British Columbia in the mid-1800's. They suffered terrible abuse during their voyages to get there and much discrimination afterwards, often forced to work in dangerous conditions. Many of them sought gold...
Library of Congress
Loc: "California as I Saw It"
Digital collection features first-person accounts from the time of the Gold Rush and California statehood through the turn of the twentieth century. Presents detailed information about localities and people important to the state during...
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: Land of Golden Dreams: Li's Journey: China to California
Li is a 14-year-old boy from Guangdong, China, who travels to California during the Gold Rush. Read about his journey on a sailing ship from Southern China to San Francisco. Along the way experience, the sights and sounds of sea travel...
Harvard University
Harvard University Library: Open Collections: Immigration to the u.s.,1789 1930
Find books, pamphlets, photographs, maps, and manuscripts about immigration to the United States, principally nineteenth-century immigration. With a timeline of key dates in U.S. immigration history and a browsable list of search themes...
OpenStax
Open Stax: The Mexican American War, 1846 1848
After reading this section of a chapter on "Westward Expansion," students will be able to identify the causes of the Mexican-American War and describe the outcomes of the war in 1848 and the effect of the California Gold Rush on westward...
Other
California Historical Society: California History Online
With over four hundred original images, this site covers periods in California's history from 1600 to the 1930s. Topics covered include the geography and climate of California, early aboriginal groups, the first European explorers, the...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Cherokee Nation: Virtual Field Trip
An in-depth look at the lives of the Cherokee Indians, from their first encounters with Europeans to events, such as the Gold Rush and the signing of the Indian Removal Act by Andrew Jackson, that led to their forced relocation to Indian...
Other
The Gold Rush: Changes
Read about the environmental impact the changing technology of gold mining inflicted on California and the economic impact on the miners.
Other
Gold Rush Players: James Wilson Marshall
This article provides a brief overview of the life of James Marshall, who discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848.
Other
The Gold Rush: Despair
This page discusses what happened to many of the gold miners when the gold ran out in California.
Oakland Museum of California
Oakland Museum of California: Gold Rush and Hydraulic Mining
This page gives a brief explanation of extracting minerals by means of hydraulic mining. This was a labor intensive process that was often dangerous but necessary to find gold.
Other
Gold Rush Players: Johann Augustus Sutter
Chronicles the life of John Sutter who immigrated to America to find his fortune and then saw it crumble away after the discovery of gold at his mill.
Digital History
Digital History: The Gold Rush
See how the discovery of gold changed California and introduced lawlessness, violence, and vigilantism.
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: A Gold Rush Poem
A poem written in England but certainly expressing the hopes and dreams of those seeking gold in California. Included in the San Francisco Business Directory of 1864-65.
Oakland Museum of California
Gold Rush: Gold Fever! Prospecting
This resource presents information about prospecting. You will learn about the history and see pictures on how it was done.
Other
Alaska Department of Education: Alaska's Gold
This comprehensive resource looks at the discovery of gold through the use of nonconventional means. Students read diaries, newspapers, maps, photographs, and government documents and view things people used in their everyday lives.
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: Sherman and the Discovery of Gold
An account by William Tecumseh Sherman about the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill.
Library of Congress
Loc: California History Collection: The Discovery of Gold
Contains an article on the discovery of gold in California at Sutter's Mill that resulted in the California Gold Rush.
Oakland Museum of California
Gold Rush: Entertainment
Many individuals made money during the gold rush without finding any gold. This resource dicusses how many actors and musicians made money entertaining lonely miners. There is also an audio version.
Oakland Museum of California
California's Untold Stories: Silver and Gold
This site provides a virtual tour of the mining of silver and gold in California through excellent photos and facts.
Oakland Museum of California
California's Untold Stories: Natives and Immigrants
This site provides a tour through the history of natives and immigrants to the California Gold Rush area, including African American, California Indian, Chinese, and Latino.
Books in the Classroom
Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site: In Plain Sight
Carol Hurst uses one of her own books, "In Plain Sight," as a basis for this lesson plan on the California gold rush. In addition to discussion questions about the book, Hurst provides ten activities designed to help students explore...
Other popular searches
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