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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 22 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.How did most forty-niners from the East travel to California?
  • A.By wagon across the country, or by ship around South America or across Panama
  • B.By airplane
  • C.By train across the country
2.Where did the gold seekers come from?
  • A.Only from Spain
  • B.Only from California
  • C.From across the United States and from countries such as Mexico, Chile and China
3.Why did new towns spring up beside rivers in the Sierra Nevada foothills?
  • A.The Spanish missions built them
  • B.Miners settled where gold could be found in the streams
  • C.It never rained beside the rivers
4.Why did California's population grow so quickly after 1848?
  • A.A railroad had just been built
  • B.Spain gave the land away
  • C.Gold drew people hoping to get rich
5.What happened to California's Native peoples during the Gold Rush?
  • A.Many thousands died from violence, disease and the loss of their land
  • B.Nothing changed for them
  • C.They became the richest people in the state
6.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
7.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
8.Why are the gold seekers called "forty-niners"?
  • A.They were all 49 years old
  • B.Most of them arrived in 1849
  • C.There were only 49 of them

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.6.3-5 · Set 22 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The California Gold Rush

Set 22. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.By wagon across the country, or by ship around South America or across Panama
  2. 2.From across the United States and from countries such as Mexico, Chile and China
  3. 3.Miners settled where gold could be found in the streams
  4. 4.Gold drew people hoping to get rich
  5. 5.Many thousands died from violence, disease and the loss of their land
  6. 6.At Sutter's Mill, on the American River
  7. 7.Mexican, Chilean and Chinese miners
  8. 8.Most of them arrived in 1849

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