Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration by workers to an area where gold has been newly discovered. Typically driven by rumors or reports of significant finds, gold rushes historically attracted prospectors, merchants, and fortune-seekers in massive numbers, reshaping the demographics and economies of entire regions virtually overnight.
Well-known examples include the California Gold Rush of 1848, which drew over 300,000 migrants to the Sierra Nevada foothills; the Australian gold rushes beginning in 1851 near Bathurst and Ballarat; and the Fraser River Gold Rush in British Columbia, Canada in 1858, which brought tens of thousands of prospectors north from California.[1]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ "Fraser River Gold Rush". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
