Below is the full Quizmo quiz devoted to the theme "The Gold Rush": each question, its four options, the correct answer highlighted and, where available, its source. A chance to brush up on your general knowledge and then test what you know.
▶ Play today's quizWhich precious metal did prospectors mainly search for in a gold rush?
Source: Though silver and copper booms also happened, the classic 'rush' was for gold, prized for its rarity and shine.
A person who searched for gold deposits was commonly called a what?
Source: The word 'prospector' comes from 'prospect', meaning to explore an area for valuable minerals.
On which continent did the famous California Gold Rush take place?
Source: California's rush drew over 300,000 people to the western United States in just a few years.
What everyday tool did miners swirl in water to separate gold from gravel?
Source: Gold is denser than gravel, so it sinks to the bottom of the pan as the lighter material washes away.
A sudden flood of people arriving to find gold caused a population what?
Source: Towns that exploded in size during a rush were called 'boomtowns' — many emptied just as fast afterward.
Abandoned mining settlements left empty after the gold ran out are called what?
Source: Thousands of 'ghost towns' dot the American West, frozen in time once the ore was exhausted.
The California gold seekers of 1849 became known by which nickname?
Source: The 'forty-niners' were named for 1849, the peak year of arrivals — the San Francisco football team borrowed the name.
Tough denim trousers riveted for miners launched which lasting brand?
Source: Levi Strauss sold sturdy work pants to miners — the riveted jeans outlasted the gold itself as a fortune.
Gold mixed with sand and gravel in a riverbed is known as what gold?
Source: 'Placer' gold sits loose in streambeds, washed down from eroded rock — the easiest kind to pan for.
Which Australian colony saw a major 1850s gold rush around Ballarat?
Source: Victoria's rush nearly tripled Australia's population in a decade and sparked the Eureka Stockade rebellion.
At which California sawmill was the 1848 discovery that started the rush made?
Source: James Marshall spotted gold flakes while building Sutter's Mill — ironically, the find ruined Sutter financially.
The 1896 Klondike Gold Rush drew stampeders to which territory?
Source: Gold was found in Canada's Yukon, but most stampeders sailed through Alaska to reach it — a common mix-up.
The 1886 Witwatersrand gold rush built which major city?
Source: Johannesburg grew from empty grassland into a metropolis — the Witwatersrand still yields much of the world's gold.
Blasting hillsides apart with high-pressure water jets was known as what mining?
Source: Hydraulic mining tore down entire hills but choked rivers with debris, prompting some of America's first environmental laws.
Which toxic metal did miners use to bind tiny gold particles into a lump?
Source: Mercury clings to gold to form an amalgam — but it poisoned waterways still contaminated today.
Author Jack London set adventure tales during which gold rush?
Source: London joined the Klondike stampede; he found little gold but mined the experience for 'The Call of the Wild'.
Klondike stampeders had to haul a 'ton of goods' over which mountain pass?
Source: Mounties required a year's supplies before entry, so men climbed the icy Chilkoot Pass dozens of times.
Which event triggered the 1849 surge of 'forty-niners' across the U.S.?
Source: President Polk confirming the gold in a December 1848 message, splashed across newspapers, set off the national frenzy.
Roughly how long was the deadly sea route from the U.S. East Coast to California?
Source: Sailing around Cape Horn took about six months — the overland trails were just as brutal and slow.
Which mining technique recovered gold by trickling cyanide solution through crushed ore?
Source: Heap leaching with cyanide unlocked low-grade ore that panning never could, reviving mining long after the rushes.