What Was the Gold Rush questions

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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


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