Research Roadmap: Sifting for Stories

 

Throughout the 19th century, newly discovered gold deposits sent droves of our ancestors rushing to places from Georgia to Alaska. Although mining rendered little profit for most workers, the few lucky ones able to make their fortunes represented the potential to strike it big—luring a steady stream of hopeful prospectors. The biggest booms took place in California, Washington and Colorado, but even history’s lesser-reported rushes in states such as North Carolina and Idaho attracted more than 10,000 people to the respective areas. Read the account of an actual gold rush entrepreneur on the Family Tree Magazine website.