Keeping a Secret
What did James Marshall find after inspecting a ditch connected to the American River?
gold
True or False?
California's gold wasn't locked deep under the ground.
True!
What can be defined as "the greed and contagious excitement brought on by the discovery of gold"?
gold fever
What year did California become a state?
1850
Who were the biggest winners of the Gold Rush?
White settlers, U.S. government, and wealthy investors
What country did John Sutter purchase forty-eight thousand acres of land from?
Mexico
Name the process that helped wash gold down the mountains and into rivers.
What 3 things did people traveling by boat suffer from on their journey to California?
shipwrecks, seasickness, and disease
True or False:
For Native peoples, the Gold Rush was exciting and prosperous.
False!
About how many settlers swarmed California?
300,000 or three hundred thousand
True or False?
"Sutter kept his promise to the Mexican government that he would not harm any of the Native people in the area around the mill."
False!
Sutter, "trained many Native people to become part of his own private army and kidnapped and enslaved other Native people to work the land," (page 4).
When using the technique placer mining, what did miners use to sift gold out of the riverbed?
a shallow, flat pan
True or False:
Taking a shortcut through Panama guaranteed that forty-niners would make it to California quicker.
False!
"If they made it across, there was still a risk that they would have to wait weeks or months to catch a ship on the other side."
How were Native peoples expected to pay fines for minor wrongdoings?
Native people were forced, "to pay their fines by working on ranches," (page 12).
What technological change helped people travel from the East Coast to the West Coast?
the transcontinental railway
What was the result of Mexico signing the treaty that ended the Mexican-American war?
California was given to the United States.
Why does placer mining work?
Gold is much heavier than gravel.
Why were settlers moving out West by wagon viewed with hostility by Native peoples?
They, "often hunted without permission, stole from Native peoples, and attacked them," (page 10).
About what fraction of Native people were dead twenty years after the Gold Rush began?
1/3 or one third
True or False:
California has more people than any other state.
True!
How did Sam Brannan find success as a businessman at the beginning of the Gold Rush?
Brannan bought all the shovels in San Francisco and sold gold-finding tools to people in the city.
Fill in the missing step of placer mining:
1. Prospectors shovel gravel into the pan.
2. They remove large rocks.
3. __________________________
4. The dirt and gravel spill over the edges.
5. Shiny flakes of gold stay at the bottom of the pan.
3. They carefully swirl the pan.
Name 3 "natural" obstacles wagon travelers faced on their journey to California.
Tough Landscape: rivers, mountains, cliffs, deserts
Harsh Weather: rain, wind, snow
Other: disease, starvation, accidents
How did white prospectors typically react to other groups hunting for gold, such as Chinese miners?
What is California's nickname?
The Golden State