"Go West, Young Man!"

The California Gold Rush was not just an opportunity for the male gold miners sifting for shiny nuggets. Small groups read accounts of the ways women took advantage of the influx of workers to run hotels, bake pies, and wading out into...

Students compare contemporary cultural differences with historical differences based on population percentage. In this cross-curriculum Gold Rush/math lesson, students analyze aspects of California's Gold Rush population and diversity...

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.

Upon hearing of the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill in California in the 1840s, a flood of migrants went West in search of wealth and fame. Others, such as Chinese workers, came from farther away. Using video clips from historians and...

A collection of primary source materials that highlight the risks of natural disasters associated with the California Gold Rush as people rushed in to seek their fortunes.

"Go West, young man!" is a familiar refrain in American history. But why did people leave their homes in the East to travel westward and what impact did that movement have on people already living in the American West? By examining...

Explore original images depicting scenes of ethnic diversity in California during the Gold Rush years.

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...

Describes the events that led to the California Gold Rush, the lives of the miners, the discrimination faced by Chinese immigrant miners and African Americans, the women who mostly stayed behind when their husbands went west as well as...

Describes the impact of the California Gold Rush of 1848 which brought hundreds of thousands of gold-seeking migrants to the region. This massive influx of people to a place with little law enforcement and no infrastructure led to...