Oakland Museum of California
Gold Rush: Prospecting Coyote Hole
This resource presents information on African American miners during the California Gold Rush.
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: Rivals in the Newspaper Field
This article from the Sacramento Bee discusses the rise of journalism during the California gold rush. Many journalists left their jobs and headed west to cover this great event.
Other
The Gold Rush: Gold Country
A great look at the people who made money providing services for the miners in the California Gold Rush.
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: Some Found Riches, Many Found Themselves
This site discusses how many miners never made it rich, but had an adventure of a lifetime during the California gold rush.
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.
The History Cat
The History Cat: Westward Expansion
Here you can learn about the Oregon Trail, Donner Party, the California Gold Rush, and life as a pioneer through text, images, video, and quotes.
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...
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: The Gold Discovery
This site contains information on the dramatic impact of the California Gold Rush. From "The History of California," published in 1897.
Museum of the City of San Francisco
Virtual Museum of San Francisco: African American Rights Gold Rush Era
Provides information concerning African American rights in the California gold country before the Civil War.
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: Boring Diet Gave Miners Appetite for Dining
This site discusses the eating habits of many of the miners during the California gold rush.
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: Sacramento Was Gateway to Gold
Read about the growth and importance of Sacramento as a mining town in the California Gold Rush. From a larger site from the Sacramento Bee.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Death Valley National Park
Death Valley acquired its name during the California Gold Rush, but the Timbisha Shoshone inhabited the region long before. The severely hot and dry national park is packed with history, culture, incredible geology, and, believe it or...
Curated OER
National Park Service: Death Valley National Park
Death Valley acquired its name during the California Gold Rush, but the Timbisha Shoshone inhabited the region long before. The severely hot and dry national park is packed with history, culture, incredible geology, and, believe it or...
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...
PBS
Pbs: New Perspectives on the West
This in-depth resource presents a history of the American West from pre-Columbian times until World War I with profiles, documents, and images. It encourages visitors to link these into patterns of historical meaning for themselves....
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: His Path Back to Japan Was Paved With Gold
This CalGoldRush.com site discusses the life of Manjiro Nakahama, a Japanese immigrant who made enough money during the gold rush in California that he was able to return home to Japan.
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: 'Real Women' Who Defied Stereotype
This CalGoldRush.com site discusses the role of the women during the gold rush in California. They served in a variety of roles and many made more than miners. This page tells their stories.
Sacramento Bee
Gold Rush: Justice Wasn't Pretty but It Was Quick
This CalGoldRush.com site contains information on justice and law in California during the gold rush. Many felons lost their lives at the end of a rope.
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 learners simulate the Gold Rush by panning for gold in the classroom.
PBS
New Perspectives on the West: James Wilson Marshall (1810 1885)
A brief biography of James Marshall who discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848, which led to the California Gold Rush.
Sacramento Bee
The Sacramento Bee: Timeline of John Sutter
John Sutter was the unwitting lynchpin in the California Gold Rush. Read the time line of events that show how he suffered for that discovery.