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The California Gold Rush

"If one can manage to get themselves to California, that faraway frontier, neither pick nor shovel is required to reveal the plentiful gold which is scattered upon the ground!"

 

While San Diego County's own Gold Rush came some 20 years later in Julian it turned out gaining riches was not so easy!  You and your students will learn to use Pans, Rockers, and the 'Long Tom' or Sluice box to reveal gold and other minerals in this 3 hour Gold Rush field trip. 

     

Expect to complete 7-10 of the bulleted activities.

 

  • Pan for Gold

  • Use Gold Rockers

  • Work the Sluice Box

  • Dry Diggin's / Curly's lost treasure

  • Mine-tunnel train ride

  • Square Dance

  • Tomahawk Throw

  • Assayer's Visit

  • Miner's Laundry

 

Cost is $18.50 per person and a group minimum of 25 is required to reserve a date.  Families or smaller groups can be added to an existing date for $18 each. Call ahead for availability (951) 312-9940.  Activities may vary and other schools, groups, or organizations may be present.  Number of costumed guides varies with size of group.   Most field trips start at 10:00 AM and conclude around 2:00 PM.  No portion of this field trip will be repeated for late arrivals, please make arrangements to arrive 10-15 minutes before your field trip is scheduled.  All deposits are non-refundable and required to reserve a date. 

 

Click here to make a reservation! 

 

See California Curriculum and Content standards met by this field trip for History and Social Studies. 

 

 This field trip is performed from a 1st person perspective which means that you and your group will live the day in the life of an early Californian gold miner.  After being greeted by costumed guides as fresh arrivals to the diggins', your group will quickly be persuaded to spend the day working the claim for a percentage of the gold finds.  Groups called 'companies' are divided usually by class sizes and given names in order to maximize time and space during station rotations which are the bulleted activities listed above.  The Company Store has toys, souvenirs, gems and minerals for sale to those that bring pocket spending money. 

 

Warning: This field trip has been known by the state of California to cause 'Gold Fever' in an alarming number of it's participants!  Nevertheless... we hope to see soon!

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