Task for Students

You will create a non-fiction book for young people explaining what happened in the gold rush in the mid-nineteenth century.

Preview: Would you go?

Read the lyrics to a song from the 1850s. Decide whether you would join the gold rush.

Step 1: What's going on out there?

Click on links to read and gather information on the gold rush in California in the mid-1800s. You will collect general facts about the discovery of gold, the ways men mined, and how cities and camps grew and changed.

Step 2: Meet a miner.

You will read the letters and diaries of men who hope to strike it rich in the gold fields of California as well as the diary of John Sutter whose mill was the first discovery site.

Step 3: Tell me a story.

You will tell the story of the gold rush by writing one of three styles of non-fiction books. When the books are complete, they will be shared with classmates or young children in your neighborhood.