Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era: Environmental Impact
Original photographs depicting scenes from California during the Gold Rush. Illustrations of mines, miners at work, and the tools they used as well as the effect of the mining industry on California's landscape.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Making a Living in Gold and Cattle
In this section, students will learn about the major discoveries and developments in western gold, silver, and copper mining in the mid-nineteenth century. They will be able to explain why the cattle industry was paramount to the...
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: Staking Claims: The Gold Rush in Nineteenth Century America
This exhibition explores the Gold Rush, a group of related gold rushes to Western territories in the second half of the nineteenth century, and its impact on American history and culture.
Ducksters
Ducksters: History: California Gold Rush for Kids
Kids learn about the California Gold Rush from the Old West on this site. Thousands of people move to the west to search for gold and strike it rich.
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era, 1848 1865: Growth of Cities
Primary source images depicting the rapid growth of small settlements into big cities as people continued to come to California from all over the world during the Gold Rush.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Van Valen's Gold Rush Journey
In this superb interactive exhibition, students explore primary resources and learn about the reasons people left their homes to search for wealth during the California Gold Rush. Van Valen, along with four other men, set out in 1849 to...
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.
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: Fortune Smiled on Many Black Miners
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.
Oakland Museum of California
Gold Rush: Curriculum
A great site to find lesson plans, connections to state standards, and curriculum links to the California Gold Rush. Offered by the Oakland Museum of California.
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: On Your Mark, Get Set, Gold
This CalGoldRush.com site is an article that discusses where people came from, as well as the number of people involved in the California gold rush. The article focuses on the massive migration to California.
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: California Gold Rush
The sources in this primary set document the broad "forty-niner" experience. Includes teaching guide.
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush
A four part analysis of the California Gold Rush: Gold! An Era Remembered, At Work & Play, Chasing a Dream, and A Lasting Impact.
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: Gold Rush Chronology 1846 1849
A nice timeline of events that occurred from 1846 to 1849 in the California Gold Rush. Hyperlinks to additional information. From the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco.
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: Earth Science Week: Gold Panning
Have students simulate the Gold Rush by panning for gold in the classroom.
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: The Gold Discovery
This site contains information on the dramatic impact of the California Gold Rush. From "The History of California," published in 1897.
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
Univ. Of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era: Diversity in the Changing State
Explore original images depicting scenes of ethnic diversity in California during the Gold Rush years.
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...
University of California
The Bancroft Library: Italian Americans in California
An introduction to the history and culture of Italian immigrants and their descendants in California from 1687 to the present. Shows how the people, industries, and neighborhoods of an area change over time. Includes a virtual exhibit...
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: Chinese Exclusion Act
Primary source images that highlight Chinese immigrants to California, the perceptions held about them and the sentiment leading to the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Other
California State Parks: Gold Rush Overview
Get basic facts about the 1848 discovery of gold by John Marshall at Sutter's Mill and the subsequent Gold Rush in California and American history.
Sacramento Bee
Sacramento Bee: Gold Rush Cost in Environmental Damage
This site discusses how the California gold rush left lasting damage of the California environment. Read how the state's environment has been forever changed.
Other
The Gold Rush: Gold Country
A great look at the people who made money providing services for the miners in the California Gold Rush.
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: Some Found Riches, Many Found Themselves
This site discusses how many miners never made it rich, but had an adventure of a lifetime during the California gold rush.
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