Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era: Environmental Impact

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: Making a Living in Gold and Cattle

For Students 11th - 12th
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...
Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: Staking Claims: The Gold Rush in Nineteenth Century America

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: History: California Gold Rush for Kids

For Students 1st - 9th
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.
Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era, 1848 1865: Growth of Cities

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Van Valen's Gold Rush Journey

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Website
Oakland Museum of California

California's Untold Stories: Natives and Immigrants

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Fortune Smiled on Many Black Miners

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Lesson Plan
Oakland Museum of California

Gold Rush: Curriculum

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: On Your Mark, Get Set, Gold

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: California Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
The sources in this primary set document the broad "forty-niner" experience. Includes teaching guide.
Website
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
A four part analysis of the California Gold Rush: Gold! An Era Remembered, At Work & Play, Chasing a Dream, and A Lasting Impact.
Handout
Museum of the City of San Francisco

Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: Gold Rush Chronology 1846 1849

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Lesson Plan
American Geosciences Institute

American Geosciences Institute: Earth Science Week: Gold Panning

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Have students simulate the Gold Rush by panning for gold in the classroom.
Primary
Museum of the City of San Francisco

Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: The Gold Discovery

For Students 9th - 10th
This site contains information on the dramatic impact of the California Gold Rush. From "The History of California," published in 1897.
Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

Univ. Of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era: Diversity in the Changing State

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore original images depicting scenes of ethnic diversity in California during the Gold Rush years.
Interactive
Huntington Library

Huntington Library: Land of Golden Dreams: Li's Journey: China to California

For Students Pre-K - 1st
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...
Website
University of California

The Bancroft Library: Italian Americans in California

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

University of California: Calisphere: Chinese Exclusion Act

For Students 9th - 10th
Primary source images that highlight Chinese immigrants to California, the perceptions held about them and the sentiment leading to the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Handout
Other

California State Parks: Gold Rush Overview

For Students 3rd - 8th
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.
Handout
Other

The Gold Rush: Fantastic Facts

For Students 3rd - 8th
This resource provides information about the Gold Rush.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Sacramento Bee: Gold Rush Cost in Environmental Damage

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Handout
Other

The Gold Rush: Gold Country

For Students 9th - 10th
A great look at the people who made money providing services for the miners in the California Gold Rush.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Some Found Riches, Many Found Themselves

For Students 9th - 10th
This site discusses how many miners never made it rich, but had an adventure of a lifetime during the California gold rush.

Other popular searches