It was January 1848. A man was . near the small village of San Francisco, California. Suddenly, he saw something shiny—gold!
By the next year, the California gold rush had begun. . came to California. They were called “forty-niners,” after the year 1849. The forty-niners came from all around the United States. They even came from other countries, including Mexico, Australia, China, France, and England. They left their families and jobs and made the difficult trip to California. They all shared a dream. They all wanted to make a fortune in gold.
Towns and camps grew quickly wherever gold was found. These towns were rough places. There was almost always a saloon, where the men drank and gambled for money with cards. In mining towns, men stole and sometimes killed for gold.
Did . make their fortunes? Some did, especially those who came early and were lucky. In 1848, miners usually made about $20 a day. In 1852, miners made about $6 a day. Many other people came to California to make money from the miners. Prices were very high. A loaf of bread, which cost 50 in New York, cost almost $1 in San Francisco.
In ., San Francisco was a village. Six years later, it was a city with a population of 50,000. In 1850, California had enough to become a state.
