The California Gold Rush

by Daniel Errico

The richest story ever told,

Is California’s rush for gold.

At Sutter’s Mill the gold was found.

The masses came from all around.

As rumors first started the skeptics all laughed,

Until confirmation from President Taft.

Word spread out quickly of bona fide gold.

The families packed up, and the east wagons rolled.

They left lives at home, to try out being miners.

Named for the year, they were called forty-niners.

Hundreds of thousands had rushed to the site,

They all saw gold nuggets, and wanted a bite!

Half came by the land, and the rest came by sea,

For riches untold and some pros-per-ity.

From countries like Mexico, Chile, Peru.

Then China and Britain and even France too.

At first they were profiting, fortunes galore.

Compared to back east they made fifteen times more!

The economy saw what was known as a boom.

There was wealth to be found in a shop or saloon.

But as the time passed gold was harder to find.

More people had come, and more land had been mined.

The average prospector did not make out well.

Living was costly without gold to sell.

Gold mining companies learned to survive,

And only they stood by eighteen fifty-five.

Gold is worth money, and it’s fine decoration,

But during the gold rush, it helped shape a nation.