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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 9 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.Chinese immigrants came to California in large numbers in the 1850s. Which is true?
  • A.None of them stayed in America
  • B.They were welcomed by every law
  • C.They worked hard as miners and in businesses but faced unfair laws and violence
2.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
3.Why did new towns spring up beside rivers in the Sierra Nevada foothills?
  • A.Miners settled where gold could be found in the streams
  • B.The Spanish missions built them
  • C.It never rained beside the rivers
4.Why did California's population grow so quickly after 1848?
  • A.Spain gave the land away
  • B.Gold drew people hoping to get rich
  • C.A railroad had just been built
5.When did California become a state?
  • A.In 1850
  • B.In 1959
  • C.In 1776
6.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
7.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
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 9 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The California Gold Rush

Set 9. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.They worked hard as miners and in businesses but faced unfair laws and violence
  2. 2.By wagon across the country, or by ship around South America or across Panama
  3. 3.Miners settled where gold could be found in the streams
  4. 4.Gold drew people hoping to get rich
  5. 5.In 1850
  6. 6.From across the United States and from countries such as Mexico, Chile and China
  7. 7.By selling food, tools and clothing to 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.