BrainPOP Gold Rush

What was 'gold fever?'

• a disease caused by exposure to radioactive gold

• a sudden rise in gold prices caused by the discovery of gold in California

• a mental illness that caused people to mistake worthless metals for gold

• the desire to get rich quickly by acquiring California gold

Which of the following people was most likely to be a '49er?'

• a 50-year-old man who was a college professor of geology

• a 30-year-old female farmer from Oklahoma

• a 40-year-old man who was born and raised in California gold country

• a 20-year-old farmer from Missouri

Place the following events in sequence: A) Gold is discovered in California; B) California becomes a state; C) The Alaska gold rush begins

• A, B,C

• B, A, C

• C, B, A

• A, C, B

What can you infer about California from the information presented in the movie?

• Before 1849, its capital city was San Francisco

• Before 1849, relatively few people lived there

• Before 1849, it was impossible to reach by land or sea

• Before 1849, it had a reputation for being lawless and violent

Which of the following California towns most likely began as a gold rush town?

• Santa Rosa

• Red Dog

• Fullerton

• Pasadena

You were most likely to strike it rich in the California Gold Rush if you:

• Got to California very quickly after gold had been discovered

• Used devices like the long tom and the cradle

• Avoided mining camps

• Took the sea route to California instead of the land route

If you wanted to go from New York to California by ship, you would:

• Travel through the Panama Canal

• Sail northward to the Arctic Ocean, head west, and then go south past Alaska

• Sail through the Great Lakes, and then travel west along the Missouri River

• Sail south all the way around the tip of South America, and then go north again

What people traveled to California in hopes of getting rich with gold?

• only Americans

• Europeans

• Mexicans

• all of the above

Which word best describes mining camps?

• Wealthy

• Placid

• Rowdy

• Large

Why did the Gold Rush end?

• California passed a law against gold prospecting

• Most of the land in California was bought up by fortune-seekers

• All the easy-to-find gold was quickly taken

• The Civil War broke out, and prospectors had to go and fight