Pryor

=__ **The American Gold Rush: An American Experience** __=

__Objective:__ The students will be able to generate ideas on how the American Gold Rush happened, and compile information on how it had to do with the theme, expansion.
**__Objective Answer:__** ====The American Gold Rush occurred on January 24th, 1848. It first began when gold was first discovered byJames Marshall. He was the first person to find gold in a nearby ditch while building a sawmill on John Sutter’s land. John Sutter came from California with the idea of building a vast empire. At the end of 1848, John Sutter and a group of men along with James Marshall built another sawmill near a river. The mill was completed in 1848, when Marshall spotted something shinning on the river bed. He and the others tested it for gold, and the result came back that it actually was gold. At first, James Marshall wanted to keep his discovery a secret, but soon after it leaked out into the city, and California soon became the richest state in America. The gold rush greatly impacted the American lifestyle because it expanded the lives of many people, helped with many new jobs, and continued to succeed in the future. The American Gold Rush has to do with the theme expansion because expansion means the act or process of expanding…so the gold rush goes along with the theme of expansion because it brought the economic prosperity to California. Stores, restaurants, and other businesses that grew to serve the miners continued to take advantage of California’s rich agriculture, thriving industry, and commerce. It also has to do with the theme because it made people want to move westward, and it expanded the land, and people’s interests throughout America.====

Link to Website:
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The first picture is of miners searching for gold near river beds. This is the main part where the miners would try and strike gold. The person in the red/orange shirt is using the technique which is the most common for miners to use. Since gold now is heavier than sand or gravel, the miners swirl around the sediment form a river in a pan of water to search for the gold. The sand and dirt would float in the water, leaving heavy rocks, hopefully gold. The second image is of map where the gold rush took place. Near the dot named # 1 on the map, is Sutter’s Mill, where gold was first discovered by James Marshall and John Sutter. All the other numbers on the map is also where gold was found. Although gold first started in Sutter’s Mill, California was still famous for it being discovered throughout the state.

Citation for Images:
The American Gold Rush.” //Public Broadcast System//. Liberty Mutual, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org