What Was the Gold Rush questions
Who was the Italian that started selling candy 1852 and is still selling candy today?
Domingo Ghirardelli
What was the list of rules in the newspaper called?
"The Miners' Ten Commandments"
How much could one man pay for a biscuit?
$10; $250 today
How many were killed by cholera?
1,500
How long did miners work?
12 to 16-hour days
Who first found the gold in 1799?
12 year old boy found a seventeen pound nugget in the creek
What did the population increase to in 1849?
150 to 6,000 in 6 months
When was the first United States Gold Rush?
1799 North Carolina
What was the Panama Canal?
1855 railroad was built across the Isthmus of Panama; 34 years to complete under Teddy Roosevelt; 27,000 died in construction; 52 miles long
What was the Pony Express?
1860 cross country mail service
What was the most famous Gold Rush?
California 1849
Who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869?
Chinese
Who found the gold in 1848?
James Marshall
When did the most famous Gold Rush happen?
January 24, 1848
What happened seven weeks after they discovered the gold?
San Francisco printed a story in the newspaper, "Gold Mine Found"
When did California become a state?
September 9, 1850
Why did John and James have to wait for a treaty to be signed by Mexico?
United States had just defeated Mexico in the Mexican-American War
Where did the most famous Gold Rush happen?
along American River in Coloma, California; foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains
How many Native American reservations are in the United States today?
around 300
How long was the trip?
at least 5 months; 2,000 miles
What did the skin cream sold by dishonest merchants supposedly do?
attracted gold flakes like a magnet
Who was Levi Strauss?
born in Bavaria, Germany; move to San Francisco 1850; metal rivets on jeans added strength
What is gold?
bright yellow metal; pure; not mixed with other minerals
What was carpenter James Marshall doing at the American River in 1848?
built a sawmill for John Sutter
What was the most serious crime?
claim jumping
What was true of most men who headed west for the gold rush?
didn't expect to stay long in California
What was yellow fever?
disease spread by mosquitoes
What did miners try when all the gold was gone?
dredging lakes & rivers, tunnel into rocky hillsides for ore, using high pressure water for hydraulic mining
What causes cholera?
drinking polluted (bacteria) water
How did the men check to see if it was really gold?
encyclopedia said gold is eight times heavier than a rock of the same size
What does "hitting pay dirt" mean?
finding gold
What are prospectors?
gold hunters; "forty-niners"; Argonauts
What did President James Polk announce on December 5, 1848?
gold rumors were true
What did hundreds of miners pay Thomas Stoddard to do?
guide them to the lake of gold he claimed to have found
What is true of San Francisco's first prison?
had been a ship that was abandoned in the harbor
Why was John Sutter worried?
he did not own the land where the gold was found
What happened to John Sutter?
his ranch fell apart, cattle was stolen, and farm was trampled
Why did the gold sink in the pans?
it is heavier than water, sand, and dirt
Why is Panama so humid and hot?
it is near the equator
What did John and James decide to do?
keep it a secret
What were the three ways to go to California in 1848 and 1849?
land, sea, and walk
Which way was the cheapest to go to California?
land; wagon trains
What job did Lotta Crabtree have during the gold rush that made her a millionaire?
little girl who sang and danced for miners who threw gold coins at her feet
What is placer gold?
loose gold washed by rain into rivers and streams
What was scurvy?
not getting enough vitamin C
When was electricity available?
not until the late 1800's
In 1802, the family sold the gold for $3.50. How much is that in today's money?
over $350,000
How many abandoned ships were in the harbor in 1850?
over 600
What did they not know about Quicksilver?
poisonous vapor made you sick
What is the difference between gold and pyrite?
pyrite is brittle and gold is not
What is fool's gold?
pyrite; worthless
What did almost everyone do when they learned about the gold?
quit their jobs to go hunt for gold
Why was gold worth so much?
rare;expensive to mine;doesn't corrode; not magnetic; heat & electricity conductor
How did they prevent people from hogging locations to search for gold?
search area of ten square feet
What did John Sutter do after he was convinced the gold nugget was real?
signed illegal treaty with Native Americans
How did one camp get its name?
so many were hanged for committing crimes; Hangtown
Why were the camp doctors not trusted?
some charged $100 for medicine that was just sugar and water
What did John and James do next?
stopped working at the sawmill to look for more gold
Why were the Native American tribes angry?
they didn't like how the land was being treated
What did his family do with the gold?
used as a doorstop because they did not know it was gold
What was the biggest nugget found?
weighed 195 lbs
When does a Gold Rush happen?
when a lot of people go to where the gold was discovered
What was San Francisco's first newspaper?
Sam Brannan started the California Star
When did people in the East catch gold fever?
President Polk announced rumor of gold in California were true
When was the next Gold Rush?
Appalachian mountains in Georgia; 30 years later
What was the biggest Silver Strike in the United States?
Nevada 1859
What were three popular wagon routes?
Oregon, California and Santa Fe
