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Gold Rush for Teachers and Parents

The Gold Rush site offers lots of information about this fascinating moment in American history, looking at the Californios, the Spanish-speaking community that had been in California since the mid-1700s; the various routes Forty-Niners took to reach the gold fields, with mixed success; and the overall history of the Gold Rush.

Visitors can also read an interview with the project director for Gold Fever!, the biggest Gold Rush exhibit ever produced, and find out about people connected to this period, from the landowner on whose land gold was originally found to the many people who benefited from the Gold Rush without ever entering a mine.

For Teachers:

1. Explore the Journey of the Forty-Niners feature on this site. Then have students locate the various routes the Forty-Niners took to reach California on a topographical map. They can add the various other overland trails west taken to Santa Fe, Oregon, Salt Lake, and other parts of the West. They might even want to add the little-known Death Valley route of the Forty-Niners (read about it in Lost in Death Valley: The True Story of Four Families in California's Gold Rush by Connie Goldsmith). Then have students choose one of these trails to research, drawing upon primary sources, newspaper advertisements, reference books, and literature in order to write a diary as one of the Forty-Niners coming west or a western settler coming in pursuit of another goal.
   
2. After students read the interview with Tom Frye, take the virtual tour of the Gold Fever! museum exhibit on the Web site of the Oakland Museum of California. You may want to develop a scavenger hunt to help guide their explorations. After they have finished the tour, have them write about one object in the exhibit that they found particularly interesting. They should describe it and then talk about its use or relevance in the Gold Rush.
   
3. Have students read Gold Fever -- Story of the California Gold Rush, People to Know, and the interview with Tom Frye. As a class, list all the types of people you can think of who benefited from the Gold Rush. What types of jobs were necessary to support all the miners that came west? Have students design a new town during the time of the Gold Rush. Things they should consider include the types of stores they need, access to transportation, where their food would come from, supplies the miners would need, etc.
   
4. The popular story of the Gold Rush generally focuses on white characters, primarily male. Help students gain a broader perspective of life in the old West, by reading the article on the Californios, perusing the People to Know section, and reading books like Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California by Jerry Stanley. Then have students choose the role of one group in California during the mid 1800s to research: women, Californios and newly arrived Mexicans, Asian immigrants, African Americans, and Native Americans. Students can present their findings to the class or work together to create a mural that depicts all the inhabitants of Gold Rush California.
   

For Parents:

1. The Gold Rush is a very exciting episode in American history. You can explore this site together and then visit the biggest Gold Rush exhibit ever produced online together, at the Web site presented by the Oakland Museum of California, Gold Fever! The Lure and Legacy of the California Gold Rush. Would your child like to have been alive for the Gold Rush? What does he or she think would be the best part about being there (beyond getting rich with gold!)? What does he or she think would have been the hardest? You can visit old mines throughout the west, some of which are still working, others of which have been preserved. Some, like the Phoenix Gold Mine west of Denver, Colorado, let you pan for gold in their streams -- and keep whatever you find!
   
2. Read more about it! Dozens of books have been written about the Gold Rush. If this period has captured your child's imagination, it could provide a wonderful opportunity to visit the library together and encourage our child's interest in history. Look for a range of books, starting with an introduction like California Gold Rush: A Guide to California in the 1850s by Julie Ferris, and then learning about different aspects of this period from books like Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California by Jerry Stanley, Seeds of Hope: The California Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild by Kristiana Gregory, and Lost in Death Valley: The True Story of Four Families in California's Gold Rush by Connie Goldsmith. Your child might also enjoy Jack London's tales of the Alaskan Gold Rush of 1896, like White Fang and Call of the Wild.