Lower School Classroom Chronicle

For more than 35 years St. Paul’s third graders have investigated the impacts of a ‘secret discovery’ that took place in Coloma, California on January 24, 1848. John Sutter and James Marshall were working at their sawmill on the shores of the American River and were shocked to find a tiny nugget of gold. Was it possible to keep such a discovery a secret in the 1850s before the internet, social media, and the telephone?

No, it wasn’t.

Word spread and soon crowds of people came from all over the world to seek their fortune in the hills and rivers of Oregon Territory. After trying to find gold, many who came just stayed on land they did not own, forever changing the landscape of what is now the Sacramento Valley. Studying the California Gold Rush in Third Grade is still important because it helps our students understand how California grew, and why people came so far in search of opportunity. Greed, and get-rich-schemes are something to both discuss and learn from even today.

At the same time, it is essential to teach that this period was not fair or positive for everyone. Colonization is not something to overlook and gloss over. Many immigrants, including people from China, Europe, and Latin America faced racism, discrimination, and unfair treatment in the early settlements of California. The newcomers to California brought deadly diseases that ultimately wiped out thousands of Native American communities. Learning about both the excitement of the Gold Rush and the hardships it caused helps students begin to see history as complex and also understand the importance of fairness, respect, care for the land, and for one another.

Here are some photos of our 2026 Gold Rush trip, where students toured Coloma, visited a museum, participated in an activity to pack a real covered wagon and of course, panned for gold. Everyone found a gold nugget to take home! Eureka!