The discovery of gold in California in 1848 prompted thousands of Americans to leave their homes and travel long distances seeking their fortunes. The lure of making a quick buck, coupled with the lawlessness of California in the 1840s, meant prospectors competed with each other while fending for themselves and their families. Along the way, fortunes were made, lives were lost, and new communities sprung up as the "Forty-niners" settled into life on the coast.

In addition, many Americans traversed the isthmus of Panama enroute to California in search of gold, and a new ear in diplomacy was born. From 1848 until 1900, U.S. soldiers invaded Panamanian soil more than ten times in defense of the Panama Railroad, which was constructed by American financiers during the 1840s and 1850s to facilitate easier passage by the Forty-niners.

These materials consider the gold strike and the rush that it triggered. Using these documents, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:

• Who were these "Forty-niners," and what drove them to head west?
• What type of social and political structure did they encounter when they arrived?
• What were conditions like in the mining camps?

1. View: Sutter's Mill, American River (submerged), Coloma vicinity, El Dorado County, CA.
2. View: Gold Fever. Prospectors going to the new Gold Field.
3. View: Packers on trail, gold rush in the Yukon Territory.
4. View: Defense of the California Bank.
5. View: Sutter's Creek, Amador County, from the South.
6. View: The way they go to California.
7. View: Gold Hill City.
8. View: Hoisting works of the Bullion Mine, Gold Hill.
9. View: Bullion mine, Gold Hill, Nevada.
10. View: Gold Dust.
11. View: "We have it rich." Washing and panning gold, Rockerville, Dak. Old timers, Spriggs, Lamb and Dillon at work.
12. View: "Gold Dust." Placer mining at Rockerville, Dak. Old timers, Spriggs, Lamb and Dillon at work.
13. View: Miners of the Comstock, as they work under ground. Ophir mine. Gould & Curry mine. Three Bickell brothers who lost their lives in the fire in Gold Hill mine, April 7th, 1869. Savage mine. Chollar mine.
14. View: Mining life in California--Chinese miners.
15. View: Empire, Imperial, Challenge, and other Mining Works at Gold Hill.
16. View: Mouth of Sutro tunnel.
17. View: Mining on the Comstock.
18. View: Hydraulic placer mining.
19. View: Three men in gulch with a sluice, placer mining for gold.
20. View: I'm off for California. Air -- Oh! Susannah.
21. View: Cisco, 1860.
22. View: Lease agreement between John A. Sutter & James Wilson Marshall and the Yalesummi Tribe.
23. View: The Miners' Ten Commandments.
24. View: John A. Sutter "Captain Sutter's Account of the First Discovery of Gold."

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1. Read: From Gold Rush to Golden State.
2. Read: California Gold Narrative.
3. Read: Personal adventures in Upper and Lower California, in 1848-9.
4. Read: The diary of a forty-niner. Edited by Chauncey L. Canfield.
5. Read: Condensed History of the Comstock Lode.
6. Read: The gold seekers of California.

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