Gold Rush

1848-49
By Lucas Hurley

James A. Marshall was hired at a Californian mill in 1847 One day he saw something yellow in the ground. When he looked closer he saw that it was gold. Than over the next few days he saw more and more. Very soon the biggest gold rush in history would start.

James A. Marshall

An estimated 90,000 prospectors wanting gold came to Sutters Mill to search for the gold the next year. Then In 1849 people that were nicknamed the 49ers came. The 49ers were mainly women and African Americas.

In this picture you see a group of 49ers

6 years later there were 300,000 people in California. Not only did they want gold some of them wanted to make a living there. The entire amount of gold they found was about 28.4 million troy ounces, about 48.7 billion dollars on todays market.

Since there were so many people living in California at the time, the government decided to make California a national state. California was not the only state to have a gold rush; many other states in the west had gold rushes too.

There were many machines used to separate the precious gold from the dirt. One of the most famous machines was called a cradle. A cradle was a box with a strainer at the bottom and a small ramp coming out of it. To use it you would load dirt into the box and pour water into the box, this would wash out the dirt and leave the gold nuggets.

As you can see the cradle is usually made out of wood

One of the other most famous machines is called the long tom. The long tom was almost exactly a cradle. The only differences are that they have a much longer ramp and you can load much more dirt into it at the same time. The long tom was more famous to the rich people because it cost more.

There was also one other famous tool for finding gold, it is found all over the world, its called HUMANS, we would dig huge pits and send people down there to look for gold nuggets

Epilogue
Even though it wasnt the only gold rush in history it was most likely the most important gold rush. It also pulled the most gold out of the ground.

Glossary
Gold rush: a sudden rush of people wanting gold. 49ers: a group of people coming to find gold at California in 1869.

Prospector: someone looking for mineral deposits.

Index
Page 1 James A. Marshall Page 2 the 49ers Page 3 how much Page 4 California becomes a state Page 5 the cradle Page 6 the long tom Page 7 coyote hole Page 8 epilogue Page 9 about the author

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About the author

Rocky lives with his wife Adrian and his friend Paulie. Enjoys punching sides of beef and walking his dog Budkis.
Just joking :p

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Table of contents
1-2 James and the 49ers 2-4 the numbers and a new state 4-7 cool tools 6-8 epilogue and about the author