US Gold Rush Trivia

1. In what mountain group, that sounds like it would be located in the eastern United States, was the Comstock Lode discovered?

From Quiz Tales of the Lode

Answer: Virginia Range

Located in western present-day Nevada, the Virginia Range is said to be named after James Finney, who was born in Virginia sometime around 1817. Nicknamed "Old Virginny", he was one of the first people to find gold at the Comstock Lode, in an area named Gold Hill. It is said that he ultimately gave away some of his claims or sold them for very little money. The highest peak of the Virginia Range, Mount Davidson at 7864 ft, was the location of the vein of silver ore that was found during the "Lode Rush".

From Quiz Tales of Gold 4

Answer: Georgia

The first gold rush in the United States was in 1799 at Reeds Gold Mine near Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1828, gold was discovered in Georgia in the southern Appalachians in Lumpkin County near Dahlonega; although there are several stories concerning who found the gold and how, there is no factual source that supports any of them. Nevertheless, gold was discovered and much of it was on land controlled by the Cherokee, which provided one of the excuses that led to the Trail of Tears, the forced migration of the Cherokee from their ancestral lands. It is estimated that from 1830-1837 the Philadelphia Mint received $1,098,900 in gold from Georgia, with some sources claiming is was more like $2 million; by the 1840s many left the area to find their fortune elsewhere, however, the discovery of new mining techniques meant that gold was mined in Georgia even during the Great Depression.

From Quiz Tales of Gold 3

Answer: Dakota Territory

Originally the northernmost part of the Louisiana Purchase and the southernmost part of Rupert's Land, the Dakota Territory was named for the Native Americans who lived in the region. The Territory of Dakota was organized on March 2, 1861, and was dissolved in 1889 when North (39th state) and South Dakota (40th state) both were admitted into the United States. Originally it was the fur trade and the growth of the Northern Pacific Railroad that attracted settlers to the area; in 1874 it was the discovery of gold.

From Quiz The California Gold Rush of 1849

Answer: Switzerland

Sutter arrived in California in 1839 (California was then owned by Mexico), and he initially called his 48,827-acre land grant New Helvetia (Latin for New Switzerland). He later built Sutter's Fort on a part of New Helvetia (he also had a penchant for wearing military uniforms). After the discovery of gold, he swore his workmen to secrecy to prevent being overrun by gold prospectors, but it was hard to contain that kind of news. The secrecy lasted about a week! Historical note: Thousands of prospectors did get rich in the California Gold Rush, but John Sutter wasn't one of them. After the news got out, his property was indeed overrun by prospectors, just as he had feared. He had to abandon his land, and then began a decades-long campaign to have the US government reimburse him for his financial losses. He was unsuccessful in that and died in Washington D.C. a man of modest means. (He is buried in Lititz, Pennsylvania, his last home). Kind of ironic end for a man who owned the land where gold was discovered!

From Quiz Gold Rush Basic Knowledge

Answer: James K. Polk

On December 5, Polk confirmed the discovery of gold in an address to Congress which sent waves of immigrants to California from around the world.

From Quiz Gold Rush

Answer: January 24,1848

Gold was discovered in 1848, and later miners that came to California were called 'forty-niners' because most of them came in 1849. Miners came to California from all over the world. The Chinese called California the 'gold mountain'.

From Quiz Gold Mining in the U.S.

Answer: 1803

North Carolina (not California) was the site of the United States' first gold rush. In 1799, 12-year-old Conrad Reed discovered a large, glittering rock in Little Meadow Creek on his father's farm in Cabarrus County, N.C. The boy lugged the curiosity home to show his family, not realizing that he had discovered a 17-pound gold nugget. They kept the nugget until 1802 when they sold it to a jeweler for $3.50.

From Quiz California Gold Rush

Answer: James Marshall

James Marshall, whose discovery began the gold rush, never made the fortune he expected. John Sutter owned Sutter's Mill, where the first gold was found. John Marhall was a Supreme Court Justice. Joe Montana took gold out of California by throwing a football.

From Quiz Tales of the Lode

Answer: Utah Territory

Utah Territory, which existed from September 9, 1850-January 4, 1896, was established by an act of Congress at about the same time that California gained statehood and the New Mexico Territory was formed. Although Utah Territory was largely settled by Mormons, the discovery at the Comstock Lode attracted many other types of settlers and led to the creation of the Nevada Territory out of the western part of the Utah Territory. The eastern part was reorganized as the Colorado Territory after gold was discovered at Pikes Peak.

From Quiz Tales of Gold 4

Answer: California

James W. Marshall's discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California, on January 24, 1848, triggered the California Gold Rush of the Forty-niners. An estimated 300,000 people flocked to California, and California became a state in 1850, one of the few to reach statehood before becoming a territory of the United States. By that time, however, the gold rush was already over for the most part; although people continued to arrive, it reached its peak by 1852. It is estimated that more than 750,000 pounds of gold were found during the first years of the gold rush, leaving California with a heritage connected to the gold rush - "The Golden State" and "Eureka". The state also became synonymous with the American Dream of instant wealth and success.

From Quiz Tales of Gold 3

Answer: Black Hills

A small mountain range that is located in parts of South Dakota and Wyoming today, the Black Hills gained its name because, covered with tress, the hills did appear to be dark. Modern scientists believe that the area has been occupied by Native Americans for hundreds of years - perhaps as far back as 11,500 BC. The stories of gold in the Black Hills had been told since the 1860s, when Father De Smet, a Catholic missionary, said that he saw the native peoples with gold; they told him that it had come from the Black Hills.

From Quiz Tales of Gold 2

Answer: Seward Peninsula

The people who live in the area of Seward Peninsula today say that they live on the world's largest gold pan, however, there are people from Quesnel, British Columbia, who have also claimed the honor. Part of the ancient Bering land bridge, the peninsula has been populated by humans for thousands of years. It was believed to be a camping site, called Sitnasuak, for the Inupiat Eskimos for hundreds of years before Russia claimed Alaska. During the Alaskan gold rush of 1899, the Snake River and tributary creeks on the peninsula were the site of many of the gold mining claims. The peninsula was named for William Seward, Secretary of State for President Lincoln, who was instrumental in arranging the purchase of Alaska from Russia.

From Quiz The California Gold Rush of 1849

Answer: Saw mill

Marshall's description of the find: "I reached my hand down and picked it up; it made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold. The piece was about half the size and shape of a pea. Then I saw another." Historical note: The initial rush of prospectors to the area from the eastern U.S. and numerous foreign countries is generally considered to have occurred during the years approximately late 1848 to 1855, but gold prospecting continued for many years after that initial rush. The early prospectors made most of the strikes.

From Quiz Gold Rush Basic Knowledge

Answer: By panning

Gold was extracted or found by filling the plate or bowl with the sand found in the river and shaking it to see if there is a nugget of gold.

From Quiz Gold Mining in the U.S.

Answer: North Carolina

It started in 1803.

From Quiz Tales of Gold 4

Answer: British Columbia

Beginning in 1857, the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush began after gold was discovered on the Thompson River. Now the provincial capital of British Columbia, Victoria, the nearby settlement of about 500 people, had a population of 30,000 people within a month, and served as a port for those coming into Fraser Canyon. Although the rush was over by 1860, miners migrated to other gold rush sites in British Columbia, founding more gold rush towns and establishing the infrastructure that would lead to the area becoming a Canadian province in 1871. As was the case in many of the mining areas, there were conflicts with native people already living in the region who were displaced by those participating in the gold rush.

From Quiz Tales of Gold 2

Answer: Three Lucky Swedes

Jafet Lindeberg, who had unsuccessfully tried to search for gold in Norway, originally had been signed on to serve as a reindeer keeper in Canada to help with the gold rush there, however, the Canadian gold stampede ended almost as quickly as it started. Ending up on the Snake River in Alaska, he met two men from Sweden - Erik Lindblom, who had already been prospecting for gold in different areas, and John Brynteson, who had worked in iron and copper mines. Together they formed the Pioneer Mining and Ditch Company. Also considered to be founders of of a new city, all three men are listed in the Alaskan Mining Hall of Fame for the discovery they made on Anvil Creek; they made a fortune during the gold rush - an estimated $20,000,000 by 1920.

From Quiz The California Gold Rush of 1849

Answer: More than 145 pounds

Gold nuggets were something I always thought you could hold in the palm of your hand, so researching this question was a real eye opener for me! Sources differ on how much this nugget weighed, but I'd be satisfied with any of them. As hard as it may be to imagine, most sources say it weighed 195 pounds (for the one nugget)! They all do agree it was found in 1854 at Carson Hill in Calaveras County, California. Historical note: Another huge gold nugget was the "Welcome Stranger" nugget found near the town of Dunolly in Victoria, Australia in 1869. Most sources say that find was by two Cornish immigrant prospectors working near the roots of a tree when a mining pick struck what was thought to be a rock. The "rock" turned out to be a gold nugget that weighed about 71-72 kilograms (about 156-158 pounds)! The "Holtermann" mass of gold (also found in Australia, in 1872) was even larger, but it can't really be called a nugget. Technically, it is what is called a matrix, sometimes called reef gold.

From Quiz North American Gold Rushes

Answer: carpenter and sawmill operator

James W. Marshall, a native of New Jersey, had been employed by Johann (John) Sutter to construct a sawmill for him. In exchange for constructing this mill, Marshall was to receive a portion of the lumber produced. Late one night, in an effort to divert water away from the waterwheel of the mill, this was accomplished, and on the following morning, January 24, 1848, Marshall discovered gold deposits in the channel bed below the mill. The end result of this discovery was that word of the discovery got out, and people arrived in the thousands to search for more. Marshall grew penniless, and eventually had to file for bankruptcy, since all the workers on the mill had left to find their own gold, and neither he nor John Sutter ever derived any benefit from California's Gold Rush.

From Quiz Gold Rush

Answer: Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss jeans were liked by miners because they were tough, long-lasting and had metal rivets. Some people came to California in search of gold but instead opened new businesses. Levi Strauss jeans are still popular today.

From Quiz Gold Mining in the U.S.

Answer: 1896

It started in the Klondike.

From Quiz Tales of the Lode

Answer: It was the first significant discovery of silver ore in the United States.

Although Nevada became known as the "Silver State" after the discovery at Comstock Lode, the truth of the matter is that since 1878, sites in Nevada have really produced more gold than silver, and the amount of silver discovered has been relatively insignificant. Silver was found at Tonopah, Nevada, in 1900, however, by then the "Lode Rush" was over. Nevada had achieved statehood in 1864, however, by the turn of the century there was serious debate over whether Nevada should remain a state and much resentment over the fact that a state with a third fewer people than Wyoming should have two senators. As of 2017, Alaska is the largest producer of silver in the U.S. at the Greens Creek Mine, with Nevada ranking second with the current output from the Rochester Mine.

From Quiz Tales of Gold 4

Answer: Colorado

Interestingly, the gold rush of the Fifty-niners was quite a distance - eighty-five miles - from Pikes Peak in the Southern Rocky Mountains! Choosing an already-known landmark, however, meant that miners had a guide to follow - at least until the last leg of their journey to an area, which today is a suburb of Denver called Englewood. Originally a part of the Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory, the Pikes Peak Gold Rush quickly led to an increase in population of the area and the creation of the Colorado Territory in 1861. It is estimated that 1.25 million ounces of gold had been found in Colorado by 1865. The find was considered to be so significant that the United States Congress established the Denver Mint, which made its first coins in 1906.

From Quiz Tales of Gold 2

Answer: Klondike

By 1899 the Klondike gold rush was over. News of the discovery in Alaska made its way to the miners in Canada very quickly, and within a few months, the population of in the gold field area there had swelled to 10,000 people; many of those first people had arrived from the Klondike area. A year later, steamships arrived from San Francisco and Seattle, and in 1902 adventurers left from Adelaide, Australia, on a ship called the Inca. The rush was on!

From Quiz North American Gold Rushes

Answer: Klondike region of Yukon, Canada

Once gold was discovered in the Klondike region of the Yukon Territory (now simply, Yukon), a virtual stampede of gold prospectors arrived or at least attempted to arrive. Many of them didn't quite make it, as the climate and living conditions were not conducive to survival. Many who did make it to the gold-laden areas later gave up, due to unsuccessful ventures. The rush was essentially over by 1899, but after heavy equipment had been brought to the fore, operations continued until the output of the mines peaked in 1903.

From Quiz Gold Rush Basic Knowledge

Answer: An increase in the population

The Gold Rush caused a huge and cosmopolitan expansion of population in San Francisco because of the news about gold. It soon became the leading city on the West Coast of the U.S. and held this position for well over fifty years.

From Quiz Gold Rush

Answer: Sierra Nevada

Miners would stand in the melted snow (water) from the Sierra Nevada all day panning for gold. It was said by one miner "when I take my legs out of the water I can hardly feel them any more".

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