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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 24 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 did the gold seekers come from?
  • A.Only from Spain
  • B.From across the United States and from countries such as Mexico, Chile and China
  • C.Only from California
2.Many people grew rich in the Gold Rush without finding gold. How?
  • A.By selling food, tools and clothing to miners
  • B.By staying at home in Europe
  • C.By printing their own money
3.How did San Francisco change after gold was found?
  • A.It stayed the same size
  • B.Everyone left it
  • C.It grew from a small town to a city of tens of thousands
4.Why did new towns spring up beside rivers in the Sierra Nevada foothills?
  • A.The Spanish missions built them
  • B.It never rained beside the rivers
  • C.Miners settled where gold could be found in the streams
5.Where was gold found in California in January 1848?
  • A.At Sutter's Mill, on the American River
  • B.At Plymouth Rock
  • C.At the Alamo
6.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
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.In the 1850s California made miners who were not US citizens pay special taxes. Who did this hurt most?
  • A.The governor
  • B.Mexican, Chilean and Chinese miners
  • C.Miners from New York

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.6.3-5 · Set 24 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The California Gold Rush

Set 24. Prints on its own sheet.

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

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