4th Grade Home

Useful websites to find subtopics on the Gold Rush:

Oakland Museum has lots of articles to read!

Eyewitness - look at the subheadings to get ideas or to find what you are looking for

General information on the Gold Rush - good place to start to look at subtopics

Kidport Social Studies site divides up the learning by subtopics like Law and Order

Sacramento Bee site divides up into subtopics with lots about travel by overland trails and sea routes

2nd part of Sacramento Bee site includes info on mining camp law and order, food, and life in 1849

3rd part of Sacramento Bee site goes into experiences of Chinese, Japanese, Black, Indian and Women during this time/highlights famous individuals

4th part of Sacramento Bee site goes into subtopics like mercury still in water from Gold Rush, great description of mining techniques and which cultural groups used most used those techniques, how CA became a state, and mining that still happens today in CA

Journal of a man who formed a mining company and left his family to go to the gold fields

PBS - click on the subtopic that is interesting to you, also have videos, primary sources, violence, experiences of different groups,and a Strike It Rich Game you can play at home or in your free time

Common foods people ate during Gold Rush

Foods that became popular in Gold Rush

History of African-American miners who tried to buy their freedom from gold found in the Gold Rush (Stephen Spencer Hill and Daniel Rodgers)

History of African-American Stephen Spencer Hill and how he escaped slavery, was captured, then escaped

Session 7 - look at primary sources (first-hand evidence, writing, art done in that historical time) on the Gold Rush

       * California State Library has many primary sources

       * A book written by a man investigating what Northern California was like in August 1848 - he was trying to see what was true and what had been exaggerated, look at page 9

       * Collection of primary sources (15 +) like art and cartoons about Chinese, Native Californians, and letters from pioneers

       * Drawings of daily life of a miner - look closely to learn from them

       *Cartoons drawn to show the exaggerations of what life was like, how huge the gold was, and how other countries made fun of the gold miners in California - Click on the section Gold Mania Satirized

       * Diary of a man travelling on the overland trail - it is his writing about Devil's Gate, notice his cursive!

       * Look at the section called the World Rushed In II to see actual papers of sale where slaves bought their freedom from the gold they found at the diggings

       * picture of an African-American miner working a Long Tom

       * pictures of the primary sources at the Oakland Museum - scroll through to see artwork, artifacts like gold pans, portraits of miners, sluice box scraper, cartoon images

       *Mormon Trail diary entries

       * Diary entry of a man in 1850

       * California Government attempts to murder Indians during the Gold Rush

       * A journal from a man in a newly formed gold mining company, about his travels from New York, around Cape Horn and ending inGold Country - look on page 15 for his writing about Cholera

After Session 8 - Prepare to teach the class about your subtopic

                         - You can make a good Power Point or Google Slide by following these rules