The California Gold Rush

James worked on a farm in the West
He dreamed one day he’d be rich.
Then one morning he found something shiny
Lying in a ditch.

“It’s gold!” thought James, excited
And showed it to farmer Sutter.
But he saw that the farmer was not pleased
He saw him frown and mutter.

“Please don’t tell anyone” said the farmer
“About the gold you found.
If people hear about it
They’ll come from miles around.

They’ll come to look for gold
And trample over my farm.
They’ll trample on my vegetables
And do my animals harm.”

James said not to worry
He would button his lip.
But a few days later in a bar
He let the secret slip.

He mentioned it to his cousin
And that cousin told his brother
And that brother told his friend
And that friend told another.

So people started to go to the farm
To see what could be found.
They’d heard rumours of gold nuggets
Just lying around.

When the rumours started
Some of the sceptics laughed.
But then more gold was found
It was confirmed by President Taft.

So then people believed
That the hills were filled with gold.
Men and families packed up their things
And from the East wagons rolled.

Others came across the sea
From Mexico and Peru,
From Hawaiii, China, Chile,
France, and Britain too.

They left their lives behind them
To go and be gold miners.
The year was 1849
They were called the forty-niners.

Some people did not look for gold
But still got rich enough.
They set up shops for miners
And sold expensive stuff.

But as time went on
Gold became harder to find.
There were so many people looking
And all the best land had been mined.

And poor old farmer Sutter
Looked around his land.
His fields were thoroughly trampled
And his rivers thoroughly panned.

But now California had changed
Not boring old fields, no,
There was a big exciting city,
The city of San Francisco!