USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The forty-niners definition encompasses anyone who left their lives, property, and homes to travel to California in 1848-1849 in search of gold. Gold prospectors, most of them men, had the plan to go to California, find gold, become rich from selling the gold, then return home.

Detailed explanation-2: -"Forty-niners” flocked to California during the Gold Rush. Pioneers came to California by land and by sea from other parts of America and the world. The result was new wealth and a dramatically increased and diverse population. Small settlements grew into cities, business boomed, and California became a state in 1850.

Detailed explanation-3: -The “49ers” is the nickname for those who flocked to northern California in 1849 hoping to take advantage of the gold rush. The influx of opportunists was a boon for California’s economy, and hastened its admittance into the union in 1850.

Detailed explanation-4: -Whole indigenous societies were attacked and pushed off their lands by the gold-seekers, called “forty-niners” (referring to 1849, the peak year for Gold Rush immigration).

Detailed explanation-5: -Others tried hiding it beneath logs, behind wall-boards, in tree trunks, tin pots and pans; one even kept live snakes in his cache to deter thieves. Sometimes they were lucky enough to have a person of “outstanding character” take in their dust and nuggets for safekeeping.