California Gold Rush Images
Ships to California!
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Handbill advertising steamship travel to California, 1849.
Hydraulic Mining: Environmental Disaster
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Effects of hydraulic mining in Nevada County, California.
"The Slickens"
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Deposits from Gold Rush-era hydraulic mining—"the slickens"—remain visible today in NASA satellite images taken of the Yuba River goldfields.
From China to Gold Mountain
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A Chinese miner in California.
No Crew Available
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Masts of abandoned ships line San Francisco harbor, 1849. Ships could not leave the port because all sailors rushed to the gold fields.