Skip to content
LessonPrint

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

Next set

One paper per student

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425

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 Plymouth Rock
  • B.At Sutter's Mill, on the American River
  • C.At the Alamo
2.What happened to California's Native peoples during the Gold Rush?
  • A.They became the richest people in the state
  • B.Many thousands died from violence, disease and the loss of their land
  • C.Nothing changed for them
3.How did San Francisco change after gold was found?
  • A.It grew from a small town to a city of tens of thousands
  • B.It stayed the same size
  • C.Everyone left it
4.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
5.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
6.When did California become a state?
  • A.In 1959
  • B.In 1850
  • C.In 1776
7.Many people grew rich in the Gold Rush without finding gold. How?
  • A.By selling food, tools and clothing to miners
  • B.By printing their own money
  • C.By staying at home in Europe
8.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

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.6.3-5 · Set 8 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The California Gold Rush

Set 8. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.At Sutter's Mill, on the American River
  2. 2.Many thousands died from violence, disease and the loss of their land
  3. 3.It grew from a small town to a city of tens of thousands
  4. 4.Most of them arrived in 1849
  5. 5.By wagon across the country, or by ship around South America or across Panama
  6. 6.In 1850
  7. 7.By selling food, tools and clothing to miners
  8. 8.From across the United States and from countries such as Mexico, Chile and China

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