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The CaliforniaGold Rush


by Peggy Bresnick Kendler

Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA,™ Lexile,® and Reading Recovery™ are provided in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.

GenreComprehension

Skills and StrategyText Features

Expository nonfi ction

• Generalize

• Main Idea and Details

• Questioning

• Table of Contents

• Captions

• Maps

• Glossary

Scott Foresman Reading Street 5.5.5

ISBN-13:ISBN-10:

978-0-328-52537-90-328-52537-5

9 7 8 0 3 2 8 5 2 5 3 7 9

9 0 0 0 0

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Note: The total word count includes words in the running text and headings only. Numerals and words in chapter titles, captions, labels, diagrams, charts, graphs, sidebars, and extra features are not included.

by Peggy Bresnick Kendler



The California Gold Rush started in 1849.

Chapter 1The Gold Rush

The race for gold changed America’s history and its landscape. During this time, many people traveled to the California area. These pioneers dreamed of finding gold and becoming rich.

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People traveled to the American River to find gold.

California was controlled by Mexico in the early 1840s. In 1848, Mexico gave up its claim. The area now had its independence from Mexico, but it was not yet a state. More and more people ventured west to California. Some made the journey by boat and others by land.

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Chapter 2They Found Gold!

John Sutter was one of the richest people

in California in the 1840s. Sutter came from

Germany in 1839 to make his fortune. He dreamed of

building a large farming empire.The Mexican government gave a land grant to

Sutter. In return, Sutter had to keep order among the people and keep the land safe for Mexico. Sutter began to build his farming empire on 48,827 acres of land near the Sierra Nevada. He soon had more than 12,000 cattle and sheep on his farm.

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Gold was first found on John Sutter’s land in 1848.

Sutter built a huge complex. His head office was in the three-story Central Building. It was surrounded by the other buildings in the complex.

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In 1840, Sutter built a huge fort on the Sacramento River. It had sleeping quarters for some of his workers. It also had a bakery, a blanket factory, a blacksmith shop, a carpenter shop, and other workshops.

Six years later, Sutter hired James Marshall to build a sawmill on the American River. On January 24, 1848, Marshall saw something shiny in the water. He picked up the piece of sparkling metal. It was half the size of a pea. He had found gold!

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James Marshall found gold in the water near Sutter’s Mill.

Marshall and his workers found more bits of gold near the sawmill. Sutter was worried about it. He wanted to keep building his farming empire for economic gain. He didn’t want a lot of people coming to his land to look for gold.

Sutter and Marshall wanted to keep the gold a secret. They were not successful. A merchant named Sam Brannan spread the word and the Gold Rush began.

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Sam Brannan was a San Francisco merchant. He had a plan to spread the word about the gold discovery and make himself rich. First, he bought every shovel, pan, and pickaxe he could find. Then he ran through the streets with a small pot of gold dust screaming about the gold. He sold his gold mining tools for a lot of money. Before gold was discovered, a metal pan cost just twenty cents. He sold the same type of pan for $15. Brannan made more than $36,000 in just nine weeks.

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Sam Brannan spread the word and started the Gold Rush.

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The area was soon overrun by people looking for gold. Sutter could not keep his land from being crowded with so many people. By the end of 1849, Sutter’s farming empire was ruined. The people seeking gold destroyed his fort and crops.


Chapter 3The Long Journey West

Soon after gold was discovered, prospectors rushed to California. They would be gone from their families and homes for a long time. Still, they thought it would be worth the difficult trip. They thought their lives would be much better if they could come home with enough gold to make them rich.

People from the East had only two ways to get to California: the Oregon-California trail or an ocean voyage. Either way, the trip was very long. To get to the West Coast, people drove wagons, rode horses, or traveled by ship.

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Gold seekers suffered a long, hard journey to the West.

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By seaOverland

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Many people from the East chose to travel by ship to California. The route around the southern part of South America could take more than six months.


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The trip was miserable. Many travelers got seasick. Their food became rotten and full of bugs, and there was little fresh drinking water. Once they reached California, many had to wait to be taken to the American River. Some waited many months in small coastal towns. These towns were overcrowded and many people became ill.


People from the Midwest most often traveled to California by land. They went by foot, wagon, or horse and had to watch out for bandits. So many wagons used the Oregon-California trail that the wheels wore deep ruts in places.

In 1848, there were about 5,000 miners in California looking for gold. In 1849, there were tens of thousands of miners. Unfortunately, most miners found very little gold or none at all.

Although many people gave up and left California, thousands stayed. They were upset that they had traveled so far and had nothing to show for it. Many of the men were homesick when they recalled the life they had before they came west.

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Many miners gave up their dream of striking it rich and went back home.

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Chapter 4Failure and Frustration

At first, gold was easy to find in the waters of the American River. Many of the first people to reach the gold fields became rich. However, not all of the miners were as lucky. In time, there was very little gold left.

People who managed to find gold didn’t find enough to make them rich. They had to use their gold to pay for food and shelter. The men who made the most money were those who sold supplies and services to the miners.

We are lucky to know a lot about the lives of these miners. Many of them scrawled notes in diaries and sent letters home to their families.

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The people who stayed in California after the Gold Rush needed to earn a living. They became farmers, merchants, and ranchers.

California was not the only place in the west where gold was discovered. There were other gold rushes in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

The discovery of gold in the American River was one of history’s greatest events. The Gold Rush of 1849 became one of America’s greatest adventure stories.

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Glossaryeconomic adj. related to money, business, and trade

independence n.condition of being free from the control of others

overrun v. to spread through quickly

scrawled v. wrote quickly and sloppily

vacant adj. empty

Reader Response1. People came to the American River to find gold and

become rich. Were most people successful? Why or why not?

2. In a graphic organizer like this one, list all the questions you had while reading the book and all the questions you had after you finished reading it.

3. The words independence and recalled both have prefixes. Write the prefix of each word. Then tell how the prefix changes the base word’s meaning. Use each word in a sentence.

4. If you were alive in 1849, would you have traveled to California to make your fortune? Explain your answer.

Questions WhileReading

Questions After Reading

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