A long time ago, people found shiny gold in California! This happened in 1848, and it changed everything. Thousands of people packed up their things and rushed to California hoping to find gold and get rich. This exciting time is called the California Gold Rush.
A man named James Marshall was building a sawmill by a river for his boss, John Sutter. One morning, he looked down into the water and saw something sparkling. It was gold! He tried to keep it a secret, but word spread fast. Soon, people from all over the world heard about the gold and wanted to find some too.
- About 300,000 people came to California during the Gold Rush!
- A pair of pants cost a gold miner about $200 in today’s money because everything was so expensive.
- The biggest gold nugget found during the Gold Rush weighed about 54 pounds. That is heavier than a big dog!
- San Francisco grew from a tiny village of about 200 people to a big city of 36,000 in just a few years.
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