An independent history project
The story of gold, from the rush to the vault.
A plain-language reference on the great gold rushes, the methods used to mine gold, and how the modern gold market works.
Gold has driven exploration, migration, conflict and finance for thousands of years. Gold Rush 21 tells that story in four parts: the American rush of 1849, the methods used to pull gold from the earth, the workings of the modern gold market, and the great rushes that reshaped Australia, the Klondike and South Africa.
The American Rush
The 1849 California Gold Rush and its long shadow.
The California Gold Rush of 1849
Sutter’s Mill, the forty-niners, and the rush that built a state.
The Discovery at Sutter’s Mill
The January 1848 morning that lit the fuse.
Life in the Mining Camps
Mud, inflation and gold dust in the diggings.
What the Rush Left Behind
Statehood, dispossession, and a scarred landscape.
Gold Mining
How gold is found and pulled from the earth.
Gold Markets
What sets the price, and how gold is owned.
Other Gold Rushes
The rushes that reshaped Australia, Canada and South Africa.
The Klondike Gold Rush
The stampede to the Yukon over the Chilkoot Pass.
The Australian Gold Rushes
Ballarat, Bendigo and the Eureka Stockade of 1854.
The Witwatersrand
The reef that yielded a large share of all gold ever mined.
Other Historic Rushes
Brazil, the Black Hills, and British Columbia.