Gold Rush

Hello! In this game you will deal with issues people faced while the California Gold rush occurred. Your name is Benny and you are an 18 year old from New York. Your parents are struggling to make ends meet and you help them make just enough to get by. Its 1848, you just read in the newspaper that people have struck gold in the West. News is spreading that if you go west to get gold you will become rich. You are the perfect candidate for going! But First, you have some decisions to make. [[Start Here!]]

[[Stay home to help your parents]] [[Leave your family in search for gold and a better life]]

You decided to stay home and continue helping your family from your home town. The issue is there was a cholera outbreak where you're from. Luckly you did not catch it but... both your parents did and you can't afford to keep the family afloat by yourself. After your parents died you decide the best decision for you is to go to California on the search for gold. [[Leave your family in search for gold and a better life]]

You find the best way to get to California is to take a boat. Luckily, your parents have left you just enough money to buy a ticket for the boat to San Francisco, California. Once you get to California you will have many new obstacles to face. Before you have to deal with all of that, [[1 year voyage to California]]

Congratulations! you have finally made it to San Francisco, California! This was a long and rocky journey which took what seemed like forever. The year is 1849. The news of gold has continued to spread while you were away at sea. You may not be one of the first to come but lucky you are the first boat to make it to California in 1849 from New York. [[Next...]]

Shasta is riskier option compared to coloma. Shasta is farther away from the harbor in San Francisco and the journey is very difficult. Luckily you meet a Native American, Hiawatha, along the way. Hiawatha gave you some tips on how to make the journey easier. [[Have Hiawatha join you on your journey for gold]] [[Leave Hiawatha and join white men in your mining journey]]

You make your short journey from San Francisco to Coloma. You're so tired from your travels and need to set up camp in order to start mining for tomorrow. However, on your trip you met some new friends and they are headed to the saloon. [[Go to the Saloon with your new friends]] [[Set up camp and get some rest]]

Hiawatha leaves his tribe to go find gold with you in Shasta but first...[[Visit Hiawatha's Home]]

A few days later you notice Hiawatha is mining in Shasta too! You notice Hiawatha struck gold but now a man you journeyed with, Charles, is claiming it is his and not Hiawatha's. [[Stand up for Hiawatha and help get his gold back.]] [[Let Charles take Hiawatha's gold.]]

Charles denies it being Hiawatha's gold and that Nativa Americans are here to give us gold not take it from us. Charles forces you to take the gold back from Hiawatha and give it to him. Charles explains he will kill anyone who gets in his way of taking his gold. [[Stick up for Hiawatha]]

Congratulations, since you stood by Charles you have been rewarded with an indentured servant. It is the Native American you met on your journey Hiawatha. You realize Hiawatha is more than an indentured servant to you because of all he has helped you with. [[Keep him as your indentured servant]] [[Let him go and stay helping each other find gold]]

Hiawatha is not accustomed to the diseases you brought from New York. As you take advantage of his ability to mine for too long he becomes weak and dies. With no help in the gold rush you learn it is much harder to do alone. With no support and finding little gold irregularly, you are forced to go back to New York and continue Shoemaking.

Your friends are getting a little wild and you want to fit in with them. They have been doing shots while you've been sipping on a beer. You can't forget about your big opportunity and sacrifices you made to come to California in order to find gold. [[Take a shot]] [[Keep enjoying your beer]]

You have a great time with your new friends but it is getting late and everyone decides to go to bed. Since you decided to go to the saloon instead of setting up camp you have nowhere to sleep as of now. John, one of your new friends, offered for you to sleep in his tent. [[Set up camp]] [[Sleep in Johns tent]]

Due to your big day tomorrow you decided to continue enjoying your beer. However, sipping on your beer doesn't last long. Two beers later and you are tipsy enough to be easily persuaded by your new friends to take shots with your friends. [[Take a shot]]

You got a little more rest because you spent the night in your friends tent but now it is time to set up camp. [[Set up camp]]

Soon you realize this is the hardest kind of labor you have ever done and there are so many people out here. News must have spread fast! There is a lot of competition to find gold. You are very new to mining and do not know much about it. You did hear a few techniques while on your journey about how to find gold. Which out of the three techniques you know of will find you the most gold? [[You move a big rock to find gold]] [[Dig in the dirt to find gold]] [[Waded into a stream to find gold]]

OOPS!! You dropped the big rock on your foot! It was so heavy you couldn't even walk on it... How will you continue mining now? [[Continue on]]

OOPS! While digging in the dirt you lose a finger nail and have to stop for the day so your open wond won't get infected. Your friend John gives you bandages so you are protected and good to go mining the next day. [[Go mining with John]]

You decide to wade through freezing water to look for gold with a friend you made on the journey, John. EUREKA! You struck gold! You are used to the harsh weather since you are from New York. Poor John did not deal with the freezing water so well. [[Keep mining with John]]

Without care for your broken foot it becomes infected. You aren't making enough money to stay in California with your hurt foot so you must move back to New York. Too bad this wasn't all just a dream of your future journey and you could do it all differently... or was it? [[Start Here!]]

John gets sick, so for a few days you go mining alone. Each day you come back from very successful days of mining and John explains how upset he is that he could not join you. He becomes more and more impatient. John decides to power through and go with you even though he is feeling very weak. You warn him it may not be a good idea but he insists. [[Go mining with John]]

Halfway through the day John starts feeling even more sick from before. He is getting upset because he is having no luck finding gold unlike you in the past. John gets so frustrated and in his fit of rage he forgets his gun is loaded, accidentally John ends up shooting himself in the leg. [[John's gun shot]]

John got gangrene from shooting himself in the leg and not taking care of the wond. His body tissue began to die and he lost a lot of blood. You put on a funeral for your good friend John. It was hard for you to find the energy to do anything while mourning your friend. Despite your sadness you decide John deserves a proper burial. After Johns death you could not bear being in Coloma any longer and think it may be best to go mine in Shasta. Go to [[Shasta]]

Now you have heard of two different mines. The first mine camp you heard of is Shasta, a far away mine that is hard to get to and not well explored.The second place is Coloma which is closer to San Francicso. You met friends on your voyage and they have decided to go to Coloma. Where will you go? [[Shasta]] [[Coloma]]

You are feeling well rested from not going out last night and now its time for breakfast. This included time to make breakfast which included a biscuit, bacon, and a cup of coffee. Not too fancy but that will all change once you find gold so, lets start mining. [[Start mining]]

You're feeling tired from the night before and kind of regret your decisions but it is time to make breakfast which included a biscuit, bacon, and a cup of coffee. Not too fancy but that will all change once you find gold so, lets start mining. [[Start mining]]

At Hiawatha's home you see a piece of paper laying on the ground while Hiawatha is making dinner for you. You can't help but be curious what the piece of paper says. Does it have to do with the gold rush? Hiawatha does seem to know a decent amount about it.. [[Look to see what the piece of paper says]]

5 Secondary Sources Editors, History.com. “California Gold Rush.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 6 Apr. 2010, www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/gold-rush-of-1849. Haas, Lisbeth. Saints and Citizens Indigenous Histories of Colonial Missions and Mexican California. University of California Press, 2014. Roberts, Brian. American Alchemy: The California Gold Rush and Middle-Class Culture. The University of North Carolina Press, 2000. Starr, Kevin. California: a History. Modern Library, 2015. Vaught, David. After the Gold Rush: Tarnished Dreams in the Sacramento Valley. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009. 2 Primary Sources Ensigns & Thayer, “Map of the Gold Regions of California, Showing the Routes via Chagres and Panama, Cape Horn, &c,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/ec1f0392ebe9d61292b47259ee08b371. Nahl, Charles Christian, “A road scene in California,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/e544b1080183969702773660cc535af4. [[Continue on your journey with Hiawatha to Shasta]]

On your journey with Hiawatha he explains how the savage white men are know for taking Native Americans findings and claiming them for themselves. You and Hiwatha make it to Shasta but an issue arises while mining for gold. A white man, Charles, tries to claim Hiawathas findings for himself! This happens pretty frequently when people would take gold from Native Americans. [[Stand up for Hiawatha and help get his gold back.]] [[Let Charles take Hiawatha's gold.]]

In an angry rage, Charles pulls out his gun and shoots Hiawatha in the head right in front of you. You are in a state of shock and next thingyou know Charles points the gun right at you and pulls the [[trigger.]]

END GAME.

Since Hiawatha left his tribe, when you let him go free he has no home to go back to. Due to this reason he stays in shasta with you to find gold. While there you and Hiawatha thrive uring the gold rush and set up a great, comfortable life for yourself back in San Francicsco where you meet people coming to find the same future you were so fortunate to obtain. [[CONGRATULATIONS!]]

You have won the game of the California Gold Rush.