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The gold rush
Gold! Gold from the American River!

Who found the first gold ?
Before 1848, the state of California in the USA was
a very quiet place . The population was just 20.000
people. Then , on 24 th January 1848, a man called
James Marshall saw something shiny in a river in
a place called Sutter´s Fort. He showed his friends.
´Boys¨, he said, ¨I thinkthis is gold! ¨.

How did the gold rush start?
A man called sam Brennan started it . He heard about
the gold and opened a new store near sutter´s Fort.
He wanted to sell the tools that people needed to
look for gold .He needed a gold rush. In May 18480,
he filled a bottle with gold dust and ran through the
streets of san Francisco shouting ¨Gold! Gold! Gold
fromthe American River!¨

Did Brennan´s plan work?
Yes, it did. Everyone in san Francisco left their
Jobs and became gola diggers. San Francisco
was almost empty. Schools closed because there
weren´t any teachers. In August 1848, the Governor
of California sent some gold to the President of the
USA .When the people of New York saw the gold ,
The gold rush reallybegan. By 100,000 some men found a lot of
gold , but others weren´t so lucky.

What happened to James Marshall and Sam Brennan?
One man became a millionaire and the
Other man didn´t.Can you guess who became a millionaire?

Get started
1 imagine you find gold in a river .What do you do?
a) you take it home and don´t tell anyone
b) you only tell your friends.
c) Youtell everyone

Reading tip: scan for specific information
When you scan a text you look for particular information (e.g.a
Name, a place or a date). Don´t read from start to finish , just look for
The information you want.
Now do Exercise 2.

Read

d)
e)
f)
g)
h)

2 Read the article. what are the names of the four people.

New words
* Gold rush* Population * See (saw) * Shiny
* Show (ed) * hear (heard) * store * sell (sold)
* toll * fill(ed) * dust * run (ran) * through
* shout (ed)* became * gold digger * empty
* close(d) * Govemor * send (sent) * President
* begin (began) * find (found) * millionaire

New words

Comprehension
3 Number the events in the correctorder.
1-c) Marshall found goid in the river
a) people left their jobs to go and find gold.
b) The Governor of California sent some gold to the president .
c) Marshall found gold in the river.
d) People form New York joined the gold rush.
e) Brennan opened a new store .
f) Marshall told his friends about the gold.

4 Answer the questions. Scan thetext for dates and places.
When
1….. did Marshall discover the frist place of gold?
2…. Did sam Brennan put gold dust in a bottle?
3… did the governor of California send some gold to the president?
Where
4… did Marshall discover gold?
5…. Was Brennan´s store ?

Listen
5 A) listen and note which man became a millionaire: James Marshall or
Sam Brennan.
B) listenagain and answer true (T) or false (F).
1 A lot of gold diggers became rich
2 Levi Strauss sold water for $100 a glass
3 People from other countries came to California.
4 California gold diggers didn´t smell good.

6. a) work in pairs. Read the conversation and write five more lines. Then act it.
What are they?
Hello. My name´s leviStrauss.Ithink you need a new pair of...