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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 15 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.Why did new towns spring up beside rivers in the Sierra Nevada foothills?
  • A.It never rained beside the rivers
  • B.The Spanish missions built them
  • C.Miners settled where gold could be found in the streams
2.Where did the gold seekers come from?
  • A.From across the United States and from countries such as Mexico, Chile and China
  • B.Only from California
  • C.Only from Spain
3.Why did California's population grow so quickly after 1848?
  • A.A railroad had just been built
  • B.Gold drew people hoping to get rich
  • C.Spain gave the land away
4.In the 1850s California made miners who were not US citizens pay special taxes. Who did this hurt most?
  • A.Mexican, Chilean and Chinese miners
  • B.Miners from New York
  • C.The governor
5.Why are the gold seekers called "forty-niners"?
  • A.Most of them arrived in 1849
  • B.They were all 49 years old
  • C.There were only 49 of them
6.Many people grew rich in the Gold Rush without finding gold. How?
  • A.By printing their own money
  • B.By staying at home in Europe
  • C.By selling food, tools and clothing to miners
7.How did most forty-niners from the East travel to California?
  • A.By train across the country
  • B.By airplane
  • C.By wagon across the country, or by ship around South America or across Panama
8.When did California become a state?
  • A.In 1850
  • B.In 1776
  • C.In 1959

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.6.3-5 · Set 15 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The California Gold Rush

Set 15. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Miners settled where gold could be found in the streams
  2. 2.From across the United States and from countries such as Mexico, Chile and China
  3. 3.Gold drew people hoping to get rich
  4. 4.Mexican, Chilean and Chinese miners
  5. 5.Most of them arrived in 1849
  6. 6.By selling food, tools and clothing to miners
  7. 7.By wagon across the country, or by ship around South America or across Panama
  8. 8.In 1850

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