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The California Gold Rush is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on how gold changed where people lived, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.Geo.6.3-5. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 13 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

The California Gold Rush

D2.Geo.6.3-5

NameDate

Choose the best answer.

1.Where was gold found in California in January 1848?
  • A.At the Alamo
  • B.At Sutter's Mill, on the American River
  • C.At Plymouth Rock
2.How did San Francisco change after gold was found?
  • A.It stayed the same size
  • B.It grew from a small town to a city of tens of thousands
  • C.Everyone left it
3.Where did the gold seekers come from?
  • A.Only from California
  • B.Only from Spain
  • C.From across the United States and from countries such as Mexico, Chile and China
4.In the 1850s California made miners who were not US citizens pay special taxes. Who did this hurt most?
  • A.The governor
  • B.Miners from New York
  • C.Mexican, Chilean and Chinese miners
5.Why did California's population grow so quickly after 1848?
  • A.Gold drew people hoping to get rich
  • B.Spain gave the land away
  • C.A railroad had just been built
6.Why are the gold seekers called "forty-niners"?
  • A.There were only 49 of them
  • B.They were all 49 years old
  • C.Most of them arrived in 1849
7.Many people grew rich in the Gold Rush without finding gold. How?
  • A.By staying at home in Europe
  • B.By selling food, tools and clothing to miners
  • C.By printing their own money
8.Why did new towns spring up beside rivers in the Sierra Nevada foothills?
  • A.It never rained beside the rivers
  • B.Miners settled where gold could be found in the streams
  • C.The Spanish missions built them

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.6.3-5 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The California Gold Rush

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.At Sutter's Mill, on the American River
  2. 2.It grew from a small town to a city of tens of thousands
  3. 3.From across the United States and from countries such as Mexico, Chile and China
  4. 4.Mexican, Chilean and Chinese miners
  5. 5.Gold drew people hoping to get rich
  6. 6.Most of them arrived in 1849
  7. 7.By selling food, tools and clothing to miners
  8. 8.Miners settled where gold could be found in the streams

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Geo.6.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.