-
The CaliforniaGold Rush
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
52537_CVR_FSD.indd A-B 2/27/09 10:15:53 PM
-
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 CaliforniaGold Rush
The CaliforniaGold Rush
-
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.
4
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 413574_001-024_FSD.indd 4 11/4/05
10:32:01 AM11/4/05 10:32:01 AM
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.
5
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 513574_001-024_FSD.indd 5 11/4/05
10:32:14 AM11/4/05 10:32:14 AM
-
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.
6
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 613574_001-024_FSD.indd 6 11/14/05
12:50:09 PM11/14/05 12:50:09 PM
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.
7
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 713574_001-024_FSD.indd 7 11/4/05
10:33:07 AM11/4/05 10:33:07 AM
-
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!
8
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 813574_001-024_FSD.indd 8 11/4/05
10:33:10 AM11/4/05 10:33:10 AM
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.
9
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 913574_001-024_FSD.indd 9 11/4/05
10:33:14 AM11/4/05 10:33:14 AM
-
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.
10
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 1013574_001-024_FSD.indd 10 11/4/05
10:33:17 AM11/4/05 10:33:17 AM
Sam Brannan spread the word and started the Gold Rush.
11
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.
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 1113574_001-024_FSD.indd 11 11/4/05
10:33:30 AM11/4/05 10:33:30 AM
-
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.
12
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 1213574_001-024_FSD.indd 12 11/4/05
10:33:40 AM11/4/05 10:33:40 AM
Gold seekers suffered a long, hard journey to the West.
13
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 1313574_001-024_FSD.indd 13 11/4/05
10:33:55 AM11/4/05 10:33:55 AM
-
By seaOverland
14
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.
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 1413574_001-024_FSD.indd 14 11/4/05
10:34:47 AM11/4/05 10:34:47 AM
15
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.
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 1513574_001-024_FSD.indd 15 11/4/05
10:35:15 AM11/4/05 10:35:15 AM
-
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.
16
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 1613574_001-024_FSD.indd 16 11/4/05
10:35:26 AM11/4/05 10:35:26 AM
Many miners gave up their dream of striking it rich and went
back home.
17
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 1713574_001-024_FSD.indd 17 11/4/05
10:35:40 AM11/4/05 10:35:40 AM
-
18
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 1813574_001-024_FSD.indd 18 11/4/05
10:35:55 AM11/4/05 10:35:55 AM
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.
19
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 1913574_001-024_FSD.indd 19 11/4/05
10:36:03 AM11/4/05 10:36:03 AM
-
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.
22
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 2213574_001-024_FSD.indd 22 11/4/05
10:36:43 AM11/4/05 10:36:43 AM
23
13574_001-024_FSD.indd 2313574_001-024_FSD.indd 23 11/4/05
10:36:49 AM11/4/05 10:36:49 AM
-
24
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
previous: next: Button5: Button3: Button2: