Advertisement Upgrade to remove ads

Why is gold a popular metal for making jewelry?

Beauty and softness

Why is gold valuable?

Scarce but desirable

What is the earliest record of cups and jewelry made from gold?

3500 B.C.

During the middle ages, what men tried to make gold?


When and where was the first American gold rush?

1828 in Georgia

What were two ways of getting to the gold fields?

Land and sea

What were two dangers of teh overland route to the gold fields?

Any two of the following: leaving at the wrong time of the year, disease, taking shortcuts, or poor planning

What was one danger of sea travel?

Either unsafe ships or rough seas

What was one disadvantage of the Panama route?

Any of these: disease, waiting too long for ships, unsafe ships

What stayed in teh miner's pan after sand, gravel, and water washed out?


How many men were needed to operate a cradle?


Name two of the three diffferent groups of African Americans in the gold fields.

Freeblacks, runaway slaves, slavws

About how much money did African-American slaves spend on buying freedom for themselves and their families?

Estimates go as high as $750,000

What was one of the highest paying jobs for African-Americans in the mining camps?


What law forced many Spanish-speaking miners to leave the gold fields?

Chinese ship owners

How did African-American miners protect themselves and their claims?

Formed mutual aid groups, joined white miners from New England, or isolated themselves from white miners.

Who made money taking the Chinese to the gold fields?

Chinese ship owners

How did the Americans treat the first Chinese miners to arrive in California?

With respect, as honest, hardworking and quiet good citiznes

Give two reasons for the anti-Chinese feelings in the mining camps.

Dramatic increase in the number of Chinese at a time when gold was hard to find, and resentmentt that the Chinese could find gold in places that other miners had abandoned.

Where were the Chinese alowed to mine?

In areas that had already been worked and abandoned by the white miners.

Give an example of how the Chinese miiners were treated

Any of the following: They were attacked and driven from their claims, their campesl were looted and burned, or their gold was stolen.

Name two kinds of work the Chinese did before mining.

Opened restaurants, stores, or laundries.

About what percent of the 49ers were women?

As many as 10 percent

Women worked along their husbands, but soon found they could make more money at other jobs. Name one of thoese other jobs.

Baking, cooking, performing ons tage.

How did woen help mining communites become better places to live?

They were active in starting schools, churches, hospitals, and social events.

About how many countries were represented in teh gold fields?

About 25 different countries

Name two minorities in teh gold fields who were not from a foreign country.

Women, indians, or blacks

At first the white American miners got along with the foreign miners. What happened to change this?

Gold got scarce and teh gold fields were more crowded.

What was the foreign miner's tax?

A monthly tax each foreign miner had to pay

Name two kinds of businesses minority group members had in mining camps.

Restaurants, laundries, stores, or boarding houses

What happened to the Indians whn gold was found on their land?

they were driven from and forced to leave their land.

Who used Indians as laborers to help them find gold?


How much gold did Indians discover while working for others?


Which group of miners named the California gold fiels the Mother Lode?

Mexican miners

Name a group of miners who were experts at removing gold from hard rock quartz.

Chileans or Mexicans

About how mcuh gold did the Spanish-speaking miners take out of the California gold fields by July of 1849?

More than 15 million

What mining device was 12-25 feet long and could trap more gold than a cradle?

Long tom

What is coyote mining?

Sing shafts into the ground to get gold that has settled on bedrock

What mining techinque used high-powered hoses to wash off the mountain sides?

Hydraulic mining

What mining method was eventually banned because of its damage to teh environment?

Hydraulic mining

When was gold discovered in California?

January 24, 1848

Who discovered gold in California?

James Marshall

What nickname was given to the men who rushed to California in 1849?

Forty Niners

What were miners forced to create when they arrived in California

Government and laws

What is the Mother Lode?

Name for California gold fields

What happened to California's population as a result of the gold rush?

Population increase

What could a miner do if he felt mistreated by a group of miners?

Call a camp meeting

How was a camp justice administered?

Rough and quick

How did a miner stake a claim?

Mark the land, drive stake into land, file claim with camp recorder

How did the miners govern themselves?

Democratic camp meetings

What were two non-white groups that worked in teh gold fields?

Any two of the following: Indians, Chinese, Mexicans, Latin Americans

Why did the Indians dislike the miners?

They ruined the land and scared away game

How were the Chinese treated in teh mining camps?

Poorly - beaten, robbed and swindled

Who were the "Chilenos?"

Mexicans or Latin Americans

Justice was fair to everyone except what race?

Non-white, non-English speaking

Why was the gold and silver discovery in Nevada called teh Comstock Lode?

Comstock bragged about his new mine so much that the whole area was named after him

Who made the Comstock discovery?

Patrick McLaughlin and Peter O'Riley

Where was the gold and silver in Nevada discovered?

Virginia City

What was the dollar value of the gold and silver mined from teh Comstock?

$400 million

How was mining the Comstock different from earlier gold rushes?

Mines were underground and large companies owned them

When was gold discovered in Colorado?


What did the early Colorado gold rushers paint on their wagons?

Pike's Peak or Bust

What kind of books were first written about the Colorado gold rush?

Guide books

What happened to Colorado as a result of the gold rush?

Colorado became a territory in 1861 and a state in 1876

Where was gold discovered in 1859?

Colorado and/or Nevada

What was the basic food in the prospectors' diet?

Port, beans, coffee, flour

What were prices like in mining towns?

Prices were very high

What did the miners do for entertainment?

Danced, gambled, drank, played sports

What were living conditions like in a mining camp?

Harsh and unsanitary

What two diseases did miners contract?

Scurvy and cholera

Why did Hargraves name the site of his gold discovery "Ophir?"

Named after California mine camp

Who discovered gold in Australia?


How was Australia's government different from California?

Australia: English colony with government/California: no government

What is the "Welcome Stranger?"

A gold nugget that weighed 140 pounds

When was most of the alaskan gold found?

Spring/summer of 1897

What hardships did the Alaskan gold rushers face?

Extreme cold, disease, starvation

What special people were aboard the Portland and teh Excelsior when they steamed inot San Francisco Bay?

Miners with gold from Alaska

What is special about the Homestake Mine?

One of the world's largest gold mines

Where was gold discovered in South Dakota?

Black Hills

Who owned the Black Hills when gold was discovered there?

Sioux Indians

In what three states - other than Alaska, California, Nevada, or Colorado - was gold discovered late in teh 19th century?

South Dakota, Montana, and Idaho

Please allow access to your computer’s microphone to use Voice Recording.

Having trouble? Click here for help.

We can’t access your microphone!



Reload the page to try again!


Press Cmd-0 to reset your zoom

Press Ctrl-0 to reset your zoom


Please upgrade Flash or install Chrome
to use Voice Recording.

For more help, see our troubleshooting page.

Your microphone is muted

For help fixing this issue, see this FAQ.

Star this term

You can study starred terms together

NEW! Voice Recording

Create Set