|
|
Introduction If you had the chance to mine for gold, would you know what to do? In this web quest, you will learn how the Forty-niners found gold. What were the different means they used to find gold? On January 24 th , 1848 a glint in James Marshall's eye was to forever change the history of California . James Marshall was building Sutter's lumber mill in Coloma when he picked up the shiny rock that caught his eye. John Sutter realized that a gold discovery would change California . Both he and James Marshall tried to keep it a secret, and at first rumors of gold seemed to most to be too good to be true. A businessman in San Francisco decided the news needed to be made public, but not before purchasing every shovel and pick he could lay his hands on. Sam Brannan hired men to run through the streets yelling about the gold discovery. Within a few weeks, San Francisco almost became a ghost town, but not before Sam Brannan became rich selling supplies to the fortune seekers. How did the miners find the gold? It is your job to discover those ways as we journey through the gold fields of old California together. |
