Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Metaphorical Gold: Mining the Gold Rush for Stories

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this lesson plan, students will consider "Metaphorical Gold: Mining the Gold Rush for Stories." The plan includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
Handout
Other

Montana Junior College: Mining History and Geology of the California Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
The physical characteristics, history, and mining of gold in California are examined in this thorough site.
Interactive
Other

The California Gold Country: The Mining Camps

For Students 9th - 10th
This site is based on the book The California Gold Country: Highway 49 Revisited by Elliot H. Koeppel. This page provides an interactive map showing gold mining camps that have survived and exist as towns today. Most of the place names...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Postal Museum: As Precious as Gold

For Students 9th - 10th
"As Precious as Gold," is an online exhibit from the National Postal Museum which explores the rich history of the Alaskan/Klondike gold rushes. Find stories on extraordinary women, the trails, the Palm Sunday avalanche, the U.S. Postal...
Lesson Plan
Other

California State Parks: Gold Rush

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
The California State Parks presents a brief unit on the California Gold Rush including three lessons which begin with the westward movement to California for gold, the actual process of mining for gold, then the effects of the rush on...
Handout
US Geological Survey

U.s. Geological Survey: Prospecting for Gold in the United States

For Students 9th - 10th
This informative site delves into the difficulty of prospecting for gold. A detailed description of placer deposits and lode gold is included in this site.
Graphic
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum

Cprr History Museum: Hydraulic Gold Mining in the Sierra Nevada Mountains

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides pictures and information about hydraulic mining where jets of water were used to break down gold-laden gravel banks for gold.
Handout
Other

Newmont Mining Corporation: The Mining Process

For Students 9th - 10th
This site describes the process of mining for gold. Covers exploration, determining the mining method, analyzing the impact, building and operating the mine, ore processing, mine closure, and the reclamation process.
Handout
State Library of North Carolina

N Cpedia: Gold Mining in the Uwharries

For Students 9th - 10th
In the early decades of the 1800s, the southern Piedmont's gold mines attracted prospectors, investors, and miners. Tar Heel gold had first been found in 1799 on John Reed's farm in Cabarrus County, several miles west of the Uwharrie...
Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: Top 10 Gold Producing Countries in the World

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides information about the top ten gold-producing countries, including how much they produce and what percent of foreign currency reserves that is.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Mother Lode Now Strikes Gold in Tourism

For Students 9th - 10th
This CalGoldRush.com site contains an article on the effects that the California gold rush has on California's tourism. Many people still come from far lands to get a glimpse of what is was like to be a gold miner.
Website
Other

Golden Dreams: Silver Linings: History of Mining in Idaho

For Students 3rd - 8th
Read the exciting story of mining in Idaho, the state's first industry. Find out about the first discovery of gold and the migration that it set off soon after.
Article
US Geological Survey

U.s. Geological Survey: Gold

For Students 9th - 10th
Heinrich Schliemann is briefly mentioned as part of a larger discussion about the geology of gold. A brief history of the precious metal refers to the gravesites discovered by Schliemann at the ancient city of Mycenae in Greece.
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...
Unit Plan
Other

Southern Nevada: The Boomtown Years: Mining

For Students 9th - 10th
An explanation of the role speculation in both mining and railroads played in the financial panic of 1893. An interesting article from the University of Nevada.
Article
US Geological Survey

U.s. Geological Suvrvey: Gold

For Students 9th - 10th
General information about the consumption and mining of gold.
Website
Other

Alaska Department of Education: Alaska's Gold

For Students 3rd - 8th
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.
Handout
Other

California Gold Country: No Place for a Woman?

For Students 9th - 10th
Information about women in the California gold camps.
Primary
Duke University

California Gold: The Diary and Letters of James M. Burr

For Students 9th - 10th
Wonderful primary resource on the California Gold Rush. Read actual letters and a diary--with explanatory annotations--by a prospector from 1850-1853.
Graphic
Activity
Other

New York Public Library: Heading West: Mining the West

For Students 3rd - 8th
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.
Primary
Oakland Museum of California

California's Untold Stories: Silver and Gold

For Students 9th - 10th
This site provides a virtual tour of the mining of silver and gold in California through excellent photos and facts.
Website
Oakland Museum of California

Gold Rush: Gold Fever! Prospecting

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource presents information about prospecting. You will learn about the history and see pictures on how it was done.

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