Other
California State Parks: Gold Rush
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...
Read Works
Read Works: Westward Expansion the California Gold Rush
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the discovery of gold along the West Coast. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Duke University
California Gold: The Diary and Letters of James M. Burr
Wonderful primary resource on the California Gold Rush. Read actual letters and a diary--with explanatory annotations--by a prospector from 1850-1853.
Kidport
Kidport: The California Gold Rush (1848 to 1859)
From here, access simple write-ups on the San Francisco Gold Rush. Topics covered include: "Life of a 49er," "Foreign Miners," "Law and Order," and "After the Gold Rush."
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: Land of Golden Dreams: California in the Gold Rush
A rich site on the California gold rush, 1848-1858. An online exhibit traces the gold rush using primary sources, a teacher page gives lesson plans from 4-12 and a kid's page offers further online adventures. Takes a long time to load.
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...
Henry J. Sage
Sage American History: California and the Gold Rush
Article by Henry Sage explaining the history of California, how it became a state, and how President Polks desire to acquire California contributed to the Mexican-American War.
Oakland Museum of California
Oakland Museum of California: Gold Rush! California's Untold Stories
View a virtual tour of a real exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California that commemorates the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848, and the frenzied rush to California of gold seekers from...
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.
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.
Other
California Gold Country: No Place for a Woman?
Information about women in the California gold camps.
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.
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...
Vocabulary University
My vocabulary.com: Gold Rush California
This page has a variety of vocabulary puzzles and activities using 19 words pertaining to the Gold Rush in California. It also offers an extensive Vocabulary Word List of 286 words, and ideas for lesson plans on the topic.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: The Gold Rush
This comprehensive site from American Experience examines many facets of the Gold Rush in California. Read a transcript of the film, find out about the many individuals and groups of people who arrived in California to try to strike it...
Other
Object of History: The Gold Nugget
Audio-pictorial overview of the story of the California gold rush.
Other
The Object of History: Behind the Scenes With Curators of the Nmah: Gold Nugget
Take a look at and lend an ear for primary sources featuring the California Gold Rush. Men and women from around the world landed in the United States and flocked to the west coast in search of nuggets of gold.
Oakland Museum of California
Gold Rush: Stories of the Lure and Legacy
Experience the Gold Rush through this multimedia presentation. See the art that reflects the environment, characters, and the role of women in the gold rush. Listen to an overview of the gold rush and its impact.
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.
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...
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.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1865 1898: The Gold Rush
The 1848 discovery of gold in the territory of California prompted 300,000 hopeful prospectors to flood into the region, altering it forever.
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: Earth Science Week: Gold Panning
Have students simulate the Gold Rush by panning for gold in the classroom.